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{{short description|1969 film by Ken Annakin}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Monte Carlo or Bust!
| image          = Monte carlo or bust 1969.jpg
| caption        = British theatrical poster
| director       = [[Ken Annakin]]<br/>[[Sam Itzkovitch]]
| producer       = Ken Annakin
| writer         = Ken Annakin<br>[[Jack Davies (screenwriter)|Jack Davies]]
| starring       =  {{Plainlist|<!-- PER POSTER CREDITS BILLING BLOCK ORDER. -->
* [[Bourvil]]
* [[Lando Buzzanca]]
* [[Walter Chiari]]
* [[Peter Cook]]
* [[Tony Curtis]]
* [[Mireille Darc]]
* [[Marie Dubois]]
* [[Gert Fröbe|Gert Frobe]]
* [[Susan Hampshire]]
* [[Jack Hawkins]]
* [[Nicoletta Machiavelli]]
* [[Dudley Moore]]
* [[Peer Schmidt]]
* [[Eric Sykes]]
* [[Terry-Thomas]]
}}
| music          = [[Ron Goodwin]]
| cinematography = Bertil Palmgren<br>Gábor Pogány<br>Walter Wottitz
| editing        = 
| studio         = Marianne Productions<br>Basil Keys Productions<br>Les Films Concordia<br>Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica
| distributor    = [[Paramount Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1969|05|28|New York|1969|06| |UK|1969|11|06|Italy|1970|08|28|France|df=y}}
| runtime        = 130 minutes<br>122 minutes (edited international release version)
| country        = United Kingdom<br>France<br>Italy
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = $1,125,000 (US/ Canada rentals)<ref>"Big Rental Films of 1969". ''Variety'', 7 January 1970, p. 15.</ref>
}}

'''''Monte Carlo or Bust!''''' is a 1969 [[Epic film|epic]] [[comedy film]], also known by its American title, '''''Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies'''''. A co-production of the United Kingdom, France and Italy, the story is based on the [[Monte Carlo Rally]] – first raced in 1911 – and the film, set in the 1920s, recalls this general era. A lavish all-star film (Paramount put $10 million behind it), it is the story of an epic car rally across Europe that involves a lot of eccentric characters from all over the world who will stop at nothing to win.<ref>[[Joe Brown (singer)|Brown, Joe]]. "The movie that changed my life". ''BBC Radio 2'', 21 August 2009.</ref>

The film is a sequel to the 1965 hit ''[[Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines]]''. [[Terry-Thomas]] appeared as Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage, the equally dastardly son of Sir Percy Ware-Armitage, whom Thomas had played in the earlier film. Some others of the cast from the first film returned, including [[Gert Fröbe]] and [[Eric Sykes]]. Like the earlier film, it was written by [[Ken Annakin]] and [[Jack Davies (screenwriter)|Jack Davies]] and directed by Annakin, with music by [[Ron Goodwin]]. The title tune is performed by [[Jimmy Durante]]. The credits sequence animation was the work of [[Ronald Searle]], who was also featured in Annakin's earlier ''Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines''. [[Tony Curtis]] and [[Susan Hampshire]] played other contestants in the race; Curtis also starred in the similar period-piece comedy ''[[The Great Race]]'' (1965) from [[Warner Bros.]]

The film was originally intended to be called ''Rome or Bust''. The American distributors [[Paramount Pictures]] re-titled it ''Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies'' to tie it to Annakin's 1965 film; re-editing also meant cuts, up to a half-hour, from the original British release.<ref>Galbraith, Stewart. [http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/33638/those-daring-young-men-in-their-jaunty-jalopies-monte-carlo-or-bust/ "Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (Monte Carlo – or Bust!)."] ''DVD Talk'',, 3 June 2008. Retrieved: 13 May 2013.</ref>

[[File:Monte Carlo or Bust - 1969 UK film poster.jpg|thumb|Lobby card for ''Monte Carlo or Bust!'']]

==Plot==
In the 1920s, the Monte Carlo Rally attracts competitors from all over the world. Rivals from Britain, Italy, France and Germany find that their greatest competition comes from the United States in the form of Chester Schofield, who had won half of an automobile factory in a poker game with the late father of [[baronet]] Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage. Ware-Armitage has entered the race in a winner-take-all to exact revenge and win back the lost half of the company.

The international cast of characters appear to mirror their national foibles. British Army officers Maj. Digby Dawlish and Lieut. Kit Barrington, who have entered to preserve the honour of the British Empire, drive an outlandish vehicle festooned with odd inventions. Italian policemen Angelo Pincelli and Marcello Agosti seem to be more interested in chasing three French women, led by Doctor Marie-Claude). The German entry from overbearing Willi Schickel and Otto Schwartz turn out to be convicts, driving with stolen gems on board.

As the race begins, the contestants find that not only are they in a 1,500-mile battle with each other, but dangerous roads and the elements including a massive avalanche, are just as formidable. Chester and his new co-driver, Betty, end up duelling with Cuthbert. Various misfortunes plague each of the contestants, with Cuthbert, poised to win, being disqualified for cheating, the British Army team blowing up, the Germans being arrested and Chester falling asleep at the wheel. In the end, the Italians are declared the winners and share their winnings with the French women's team to help people injured in the snowslide. Chester does eventually cross the finish line, albeit because Betty and some others have pushed his car.

==Cast==
<small>In alphabetical order</small>
* [[Bourvil]] as Monsieur Dupont
* [[Lando Buzzanca]] as Marcelo Agosti
* [[Walter Chiari]] as Angelo Pincilli
* [[Peter Cook]] as Major Digby Dawlish
* [[Tony Curtis]] as Chester Schofield
* [[Mireille Darc]] as Marie-Claude
* [[Marie Dubois]] as Pascale
* [[Ulf Fransson]] as French peasant (uncredited)
* [[Gert Fröbe]] as Willi Schickel/Horst Muller
* [[Susan Hampshire]] as Betty
* [[Jack Hawkins]] as Count Levinovitch
* [[Nicoletta Machiavelli]] as Dominique
* [[Dudley Moore]] as Lt. Kit Barrington
* [[Peer Schmidt]] as Otto Schwartz
* [[Eric Sykes]] as Perkins
* [[Terry-Thomas]] as Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage
*
*
<small>and also with</small>
* [[Jacques Duby]] as motorcycle policeman
* [[Hattie Jacques]] as lady journalist
* [[Derren Nesbitt]] as Waleska
* [[Nicholas Phipps]] as Golfer
* [[Willie Rushton|William Rushton]] as John O'Groats race official
* [[Michael Trubshawe]] as German rally official
* [[Richard Wattis]] as golf club secretary
* Walter Williams as German customs official

==Production==
===Development===
Ken Annakin had a huge success with ''Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines''. In September 1965 he announced he would make a follow-up to that film set in the early days of automobile racing. Its working title was ''The Monte Carlo Rally and All That Jazz''. He wrote the script with Jack Davies, with whom he had collaborated on ''Those Magnificent Men''.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Annakin to Pen Auto Saga|author=Martin, Betty|date=25 September 1965|work=Los Angeles Times|page=B8}}</ref> He wanted to re-use some of the old cast, including Terry Thomas, Gert Fröbe and Alberto Sordi, plus one American, possibly James Garner.<ref>{{cite news|title=Makers of Magnificent Men Cooking Up More of Same|author=Tinee, Mae|work=Chicago Tribune|date=26 September 1965|page=g14}}</ref> Annaking estimated the film would cost under $6 million.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ken Annakin---on a Grand Scale|date=24 December 1965|work=Los Angeles Times|page=a9}}</ref>

In March 1968 Annakin announced that Tony Curtis would star. The cast would also include Terry Thomas, Gert Fröbe, Eric Sykes, Walter Chiari, and Alberto Sordi. Finance was provided by Paramount and filming would take over six months in Rome, Monte Carlo and the Italian and French Alps.<ref>{{cite news|title=News Is Made by Eddie and Debbie|author=Haber, Joyce|work=Los Angeles Times|date=11 March 1968|page=c33}}</ref> "I love the international flavor of it", said Annakin.<ref name="volvo"/>

===Shooting===
Besides the studio work at the Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Rome and Lazio, Italy, principal photography took place from 31 March–May 1968 at a large number of locations: England, Paris, France, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monte Gelato Falls, {{ill|Treja|it}} river, Italy and Åre, Jämtlands län, Sweden. Most of the exotic locations were from the second-unit directors while studio process shots mainly inserted the lead actors into the scenes.

Annakin had difficulties working with his American screen idol, Tony Curtis, and considered him, "brittle, self-centered and a bully".<ref>Annakin, Ken. [http://tomahawkpress.com/so-you-wanna-be-a-director/ "So You Wanna be a Director?"] ''Tomahawk Press'', 2012. Retrieved: 12 May 2013.</ref> Curtis, however, enjoyed his time in Rome, one of the primary filming locations and became romantically linked to his co-star, Susan Hampshire.<ref>Curtis and Golenbock 2008, p. 190.</ref>

An excerpt from composer Ron Goodwin's cue, "The Schickel Shamble" became the theme music for the long-running [[BBC Radio 4]] comedy series ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'' which later featured Willie Rushton as a regular panellist.

===Automobiles===
Tony Curtis is driving an [[Alvis Speed 20]] (1932–36) named the "Triple S, Six-Sylinder Special", and Gert Fröbe is in a [[Mercedes SSK]] (1928–32). Terry-Thomas's car first is a Ware-Armitage, while his official entry is in a "Nifty Nine, Mark II", probably it's a 1929 Austin Heavy 12/4 Burnham. The other British team is in a [[Lea-Francis]], outfitted with an array of ingenious contraptions including the Dawlish Klaxon, the Dawlish Periscope, the Dawlish Snow Stoppers, the Dawlish Snow Melter, bits to turn it into the Dawlish Super Snow Tractor, Dawlish Extending Foglamp and rocket boosters. Marcelo and Angelo are in a [[Lancia Lambda]], while Dominique drives a [[Peugeot 201]]&nbsp;... and lurking in the background are a bullnose [[Morris Oxford]] (1919–26) and a [[Blower Bentley]] (1927–31).<ref>Davies et al. 1969, pp. 26–27, 29, 39.</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Vintage Cars Star in 'Auto-biography'|author=Redmont, Dennis|work=Los Angeles Times|date=25 July 1968|page=e25}}</ref>

Ex-racer David Watson was in charge of the cars. "The automobiles should give me a good 30 percent of the comedy", said Annakin.<ref name="volvo">{{cite news|title=Now Annakin is racing with vintage cars: Highly complicated The Volvo likes spaghetti Stand-ins for cars|author=Kimmis Hendrick|work=The Christian Science Monitor|date=12 August 1968|page=10}}</ref>

===Music===
The music was composed by [[Ron Goodwin]]. The title track, (called "Monte Carlo or Bust" despite the US name change to the film) is sung by [[Jimmy Durante]].
A piece of music playing during a German prison escape scene, called "The Schickel Shamble", has been used as the theme music for ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'' since its inception in 1972.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clue/interviews/tim_barry_graeme_transcript.shtml|title = BBC – I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue – Interviews with the Panellists}}</ref>

==Release==
The film opened 28 May 1969 at the [[Astor Theatre (New York City)|Astor Theatre]] and Beekman Theatre in New York City.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=B'Way Catching Breath for Holiday; 'Winning,' $200,000; 'Columbus,' 60G 'Curious,' 41G, 12th; 'Slime' $35,000|date=28 May 1969|page=8}}</ref> The film grossed $46,800 in its opening week.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=50 Top-Grossing Films|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_variety_1969-06-11_255_4/page/9|date=11 June 1969|page=9}}</ref>

==Reception==
''Monte Carlo or Bust!'' was favourably received by audiences and critics alike. The comparison to Annakin's earlier work, notwithstanding, ''[[The New York Times]]'' review noted, "...&nbsp;the picture is lively and often hilarious, as the drivers hang on for dear life and the old cars honk, collide and careen. There is hardly a turn without a bang-up or a mix-up."<ref>Thompson, Howard. [https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9901E3DC1E3AEE34BC4151DFB3668382679EDE "Movie review: Monte Carlo or Bust (1969): In their jaunty jalopies; slapstick racing epic opens at Astor; Europe of the 1920s provides setting."] ''The New York Times'', 29 May 1969.</ref>

In the opinion of the writer [[Matthew Sweet (writer)|Matthew Sweet]], Peter Cook as Major Dawlish, and Dudley Moore as Lt. Barrington, are the performers who have the humour in the film that survives best. Peter Cook's Major Dawlish is the creator of a series of fairly ludicrous inventions – the feeling hovers "that it might be all over for Britain."<ref name="Sweet">Sweet, Matthew (speaking on). "The movie that changed my life'", ''BBC Radio 2'', 21 August 2009.</ref> Sweet states that it is a send-up of [[British Empire|the British Empire]], "which is very 1960s and not far from the sort of thing they would have been doing in [[The Establishment (club)|The Establishment Club]] in [[Soho]] a few years earlier, where really for the first time, these upper-class [[stereotype]]s had been sent up with a vein of cruelty as well as a vein of affection. I think you can see it as a kind of post-Empire film." Cook and Moore play the representatives of Empire:
::Major Dawlish (Cook): ''I think it's pretty clear whose side [[Jesus|the Lord]] is on, Barrington.''
::Barrington (Moore): ''England, sir?''
::Major Dawlish (Cook): ''Naturally.''<ref name="Sweet"/>

More recent reviews have not been as complimentary, with [[Leonard Maltin]] characterising it as mid-fare, a movie that has "some funny scenes, but backfires a bit too often."<ref>Maltin 2009, p. 1404.</ref>

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* Annakin, Ken. ''So You Wanna Be a Director?'' Sheffield, UK: Tomahawk Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-9531926-5-6}}.
* Curtis, Tony and Peter Golenbock. ''Tony Curtis: American Prince, My Autobiography''. New York: Harmony Books, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-307-40849-5}}.
* Davies, Jack, Ken Annakin, Allen Andrews and Ronald Searle. ''Monte Carlo or Bust!: Those Daring Young Men in their Jaunty Jalopies.'' London: Dennis Dobson, 1969. {{ISBN|978-0-234-77341-3}}.
* Hildick, E. W. ''Monte Carlo or Bust! ''London: Sphere, 1969. {{ISBN|978-0-7221-4550-0}}.
* Maltin, Leonard. ''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2009''. New York: New American Library, 2009 (originally published as ''TV Movies'', then ''Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide''), First edition 1969, published annually since 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-451-22468-2}}.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* {{TCMDb title|93021}}
* {{IMDb title|0064688}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|those_daring_young_men_in_their_jaunty_jalopies}}
* [http://www.imcdb.org/movie.php?id=64688 Entry at imcdb.org]
*''[[The Great Race]]'' (1965), a similar comedy film inspired by the [[1908 New York to Paris Race]] directed by [[Blake Edwards]].

{{Ken Annakin}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monte Carlo Or Bust!}}
[[Category:1969 films]]
[[Category:Films set in Monaco]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Ken Annakin]]
[[Category:American sequel films]]
[[Category:British sequel films]]
[[Category:French sequel films]]
[[Category:Italian sequel films]]
[[Category:1969 comedy films]]
[[Category:American auto racing films]]
[[Category:British auto racing films]]
[[Category:French auto racing films]]
[[Category:Italian auto racing films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Ron Goodwin]]
[[Category:English-language French films]]
[[Category:English-language Italian films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1960s American films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]
[[Category:1960s Italian films]]
[[Category:1960s French films]]
[[Category:Comedy epic films]]