The Magnificent Two

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The Magnificent Two
Rank
Release date
5 July 1967 (London) (UK) (premiere)
Running time
100 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget£400,000[1]

The Magnificent Two (also known as What Happened at Campo Grande? and Campo Grande) is a 1967 British comedy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Morecambe and Wise.[2] It was the third and final of their 1960s films.

Plot

Two British Action Man travelling salesmen are sent to the South American country of Parazuellia to sell their goods. During the train journey, Eric accidentally opens a door leading to the death of the returning British educated Torres who is the figurehead of a revolutionary movement and a government secret policeman arresting him. Upon arrival in the city of Campo Grande, Eric is mistaken by the revolutionaries for Torres, and though they discover the death of the real Torres they pay Eric and Ernie to maintain Eric's impersonation of Torres to lead a revolution to oust a brutal dictator.[3] However, once the revolution is successful Eric gains an inflated opinion of himself.

Cast

Production

The film was shot at Black Park,[4] the Longmoor Military Railway[5] and Pinewood Studios.

Reception

Box office

It was one of the twelve most popular films at the British box office in 1967.[6] According to producer Hugh Stewart, due to high costs and the fact the film did not travel internationally, it made a loss.[1]

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Apart from a few jokes, ... the film's humour depends largely on the comic personalities of Morecambe and Wise. Their admirers will find much to enjoy, but others may feel that a lot of energy is being expended to small purpose. Cliff Owen keeps the film moving at a fair pace, and Margit Saad is on hand to supply the glamour and literally disarm the male opposition by leading the Women's Army in a bikini-clad attack through the very English-looking South American countryside."[7]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "Like most British comedians of the 1960s and 1970s, Morecambe and Wise failed to make it in movies because the situations that made their TV series so successful simply could not be sustained beyond an hour or the confines of a studio setting. Here Eric and Ernie do their utmost to kick-start this poor comedy of errors about travelling salesmen caught up in a South American revolution. But the plot is paper thin, the jokes aren't funny and the use of a bikin-clad army to instal Margit Saad as president is unworthy of the duo."[8]

Leslie Halliwell said: "More or less a Bob Hope vehicle, adapted for the less realistic Morecambe and Wise with unhappy results: too few sight gags and a curious emphasis on violence. The third and last of their attempts to find film vehicles."[9]

Time Out wrote: "Take Morecambe and Wise away from the stand-up TV routine and what do you have? A lame spoof adventure about travelling salesmen in a South American state torn by revolution ... in which the comedians' special talents are woefully misused. At least Cliff Owen keeps it pacy, making it the least awful of the trio of movies in which the duo failed to take the cinema by storm."[10]

TV Guide described it as a "fair comedy."[11]

References

  1. ^ a b "Hugh Stewart". British Entertainment History Project. 22 November 1989.
  2. ^ "The Magnificent Two". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  3. ^ "The Magnificent Two (1967)". IMDb. 14 September 1967. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  4. ^ Fielder, Harry 'Aitch' & Saunders, Clive Extra, Extra, Read All About It!: My Life as a Film and TV Extra Andrews UK Limited, 24 Jul 2015
  5. ^ "Magnificent Two, The". reelstreets.com. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  6. ^ "Sean Connery tops the bill again". The Guardian Journal. 30 December 1967. p. 6.
  7. ^ "The Magnificent Two". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 34 (396): 126. 1 January 1967 – via ProQuest.
  8. ISBN 9780992936440
    .
  9. ISBN 0586088946
    .
  10. ^ "The Magnificent Two". Time Out London. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  11. ^ "The Magnificent Two". TV Guide. Retrieved 17 October 2014.

External links

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