''Ooh... You Are Awful'' is a 1972 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Cliff Owen Cliff Owen (22 April 1919 – November 1993) was a British film and TV director best known for his comedy ''The Wrong Arm of the Law'' which starred Peter Sellers. He also directed two of the three films, made in the mid-1960s, featuring the double ...

. It is a feature-length adaptation of ''

The Dick Emery Show ''The Dick Emery Show'' is a British sketch comedy show starring Dick Emery. It was broadcast on the BBC from 1963 to 1981. It was directed and produced by Harold Snoad. The show was broadcast over 19 series with 166 episodes. The show experienced ...

''. It starred

Dick Emery Richard Gilbert Emery (19 February 19152 January 1983) was an English comedian and actor. His broadcasting career began on radio in the 1950s, and his self-titled television series ran from 1963 to 1981. Life and career Richard Gilbert Emery was ...

Derren Nesbitt Derren Nesbitt (born Derren Michael Horwitz; 19 June 1935) is a British actor. Nesbitt's film career began in the late 1950s, and he also appeared in many television series in the late 1960s into the 1970s. He is known for his role as Major von ...

, Ronald Fraser and Cheryl Kennedy. Its

alternative title An alternative title is a media sales device most prominently used in film distribution. Books and films are commonly released under a different title when they are screened or sold in a different country. This can vary from small change to the ...

on its North American release was ''Get Charlie Tully''. It was Emery's sole starring vehicle. Before his death, Reggie Campbell Peek deposited a stolen £500,000 into a

Swiss bank account Banking in Switzerland dates to the early eighteenth century through Switzerland's merchant trade and has, over the centuries, grown into a complex, regulated, and international industry. Banking is seen as Culture of Switzerland, emblematic of ...

. But Peek left a record of the account number: the digits tattooed on the bottoms of four young women, none of whom knows the value of her asset. His friend and partner-in-crime Charlie Tully, using his talent as a "master of disguise", sets out to locate those women and gain sight of the digits. Meanwhile, Tully is being watched by other - more dangerous - criminals.

Plot summary

Conmen Charlie Tully and Reggie Peek have successfully conned a couple of Italian men, and are making an easy escape with £500,000. Flushed with success, Tully is unable to resist running a "quick and easy" minor con on a passing American tourist. But "quick and easy" unexpectedly goes awry, and Tully is arrested. While Tully is imprisoned, Peek manages to escape and deposit the £500,000 in a Swiss bank account. Eventually, when Tully is finally released, he is met by Peek, intending to give him the bank account number. But Peek has been having an affair with the sister of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

crime lord Sid Sabbath, and his reunion with Tully is cut short when Peek is murdered, on the orders of Sabbath. Peek has left a record of the bank account number, but in an unusual way. Befitting his reputation as a womaniser, the digits are tattooed on the bottoms of four young women. Tully adopts a range of disguises, to track down each woman in turn to see her naked bottom. Meanwhile, Tully's antics are being tracked by other - more dangerous - criminals: from London and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

... The first woman Tully finds is a British Rail announcer, who disrobes inside a photo booth at

Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of t ...

. The second is a bride on her wedding day, who is exposed in front of her guests. The third is the daughter of a peer, who Tully spies through her bedroom window. Fourth and last is a policewoman at a police training school. Tully enters the school, dragged up as a trainee WPC. After spying on a multitude of nubile young recruits, he discovers the digits during a physical training session. Throughout, Tully is confronted by members of Sid Sabbath's gang, with orders to kill - only for them to mysteriously die themselves. Tully thinks he is "lucky", while Sabbath thinks Tully is perhaps a one-man army. But neither realise Tully is being secretly guarded by Italian gangsters. It transpires the two Italian men, conned at the start of the film, had

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

connections - and a "Godfather" has ordered Tully be kept safe until he can be brought to Rome...

Cast

.... Charlie Tully *

.... Sid Sabbath * Ronald Fraser .... Reggie Campbell Peek *

Pat Coombs Patricia Doreen Coombs (27 August 1926 – 25 May 2002) was an English actress. She specialised in the portrayal of the eternal downtrodden female, comically under the thumb of stronger personalities. She was known for many roles on radio, ...

.... Libby Niven *

William Franklyn William Leo Franklyn (22 September 1925 – 31 October 2006) was a British actor, perhaps best known for voicing the "Schhh... You Know Who" adverts for Schweppes from 1965 to 1973. He also performed on stage, film, television and radio, ...

.... Arnold Van Cleef * Cheryl Kennedy .... Jo Mason *

Norman Bird John George Norman Bird (30 October 1924 – 22 April 2005) was an English character actor. Early life Bird was born in Coalville, Leicestershire, England. A RADA graduate, he made his West End debut in Peter Brook's production of ''The Wi ...

.... Warder Burke *

Roland Curram Roland Curram (born 1932) is an English actor and novelist. Curram was educated at Brighton College and has had a long film, television and theatre career. His appearances include Julie Christie's travelling companion in her Oscar-winning film ...

.... Vivian *

Liza Goddard Louise Elizabeth Goddard (born 20 January 1950) professionally known as Liza Goddard, is an English television and stage actress, best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s. Early life Goddard was born in Smethwick, Staffordshire.Before 1 ...

.... Liza Missenden Green *

Ambrosine Phillpotts Ambrosine Phillpotts (13 September 1912 – 12 October 1980) was a British actress of theatre, TV, radio and film. '' The Times'' wrote, "She was one of the last great stage aristocrats, a stylish comedienne best known for playing on stage a ...

.... Lady Missenden Green * Brian Oulton .... Funeral Director * David Healy ... Tourist (as Dave Healey) *

Steve Plytas Phokion Stavros Plytas, known professionally as Steve Plytas (9 January 1913 – 27 December 1994), was a Greek film and television actor based in the United Kingdom. His stage work included West End appearances in Tennessee Williams' ''The Nig ...

... Signor Vittorio Ferruchi *

Louis Negin Louis Negin (20 October 1929 – 2 December 2022) was a British-born Canadian actor, best known for his roles in the films of Guy Maddin."Enchantment". ''In Toronto'', September 2011. Career Born in London, England, and raised in Toronto, Ontari ...

... Emilio Ferruchi * Neil Wilson ... Attendant Price * Henry Gilbert ... Don Luigi * Anthony Stamboulieh ... Dino (as Antony Stamboulieh) * Guido Adorni ... Carlo * Stefan Gryff ... Capo Mafioso *

Louis Mansi John Louis Mansi (born John Patrick Adams; 8 November 1926 – 6 August 2010) was a British television and film actor whose career spanned the years from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. Born in London to an Italian father and an Irish moth ...

... Mancini * Frank Coda ... Mafioso (as Frank Codo) *

Sheila Keith Sheila Keith (9 June 1920 – 14 October 2004) was a British character actress, active in theatre, films and TV. She was born to Scottish parents in London while they were visiting the city and brought up in Aberdeen, Scotland. Longing to act, ...

... Lady Magistrate *

Tucker McGuire Anne Tucker McGuire (29 January 1913 in Winchester, Virginia, USA - 3 August 1988 in London, England) was an American-born actress who appeared largely in British films and television. She married actor Tom Macaulay. She appeared in the 1949 We ...

... American Woman * Phil Brown ... American Man * Joan Ingram ... Woman in Art Gallery * Julie Crosthwaite ... Patsy * Anna Gilchrist ... Jane * Margaret Courtenay ... W.P.O. * Dinny Powell ... Arthur (as Dinnie Powell) *

Larry Taylor Samuel Lawrence Taylor (June 26, 1942 – August 19, 2019) was an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee L ...

... Hood

Production

The National Film Finance Corporation invested £62,000 in the film. It was the first investment from the NFFC following the decision of the British government to pull funding from that organisation. They subsequently sought finance from a consortium of merchant banks, and decided to only make "safe" films. ''Ooh... You Are Awful'' was the first of these.

Reception

''The Observer'' called it "the best British comedy in many years." The film made a profit. Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 280. Figures are distributor's gross.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ooh... You Are Awful 1972 films British independent films 1972 comedy films Films based on television series Films directed by Cliff Owen Films scored by Christopher Gunning British Lion Films films Films set in London 1970s English-language films 1970s British films