''Uuno Turhapuro'' is a 1973 Finnish

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

Ere Kokkonen Erkki Olavi "Ere" Kokkonen (7 July 1938 – 16 October 2008), born in Savonlinna, was a Finnish film director and screenwriter. He worked closely with Spede Pasanen all the way from the 1960s until Spede's death, as a director, writer and also ...

, and the first, black and white

Uuno Turhapuro Uuno Turhapuro is a Finnish comedy character created by Spede Pasanen and played by Vesa-Matti Loiri. Originally appeared in ''Spede Show'' during 1971–1973, the character gained popularity through the Uuno Turhapuro films. Dramatis personae ...

film. It stars

Vesa-Matti Loiri Vesa-Matti "Vesku" Loiri (4 January 1945 – 10 August 2022) was a Finnish actor, musician and comedian, best known for his role as Uuno Turhapuro, whom he portrayed in a total of 20 movies between the years 1973 and 2004. According to Yle Ne ...

Marjatta Raita Marjatta Raita (17 February 1944, Pori – 27 September 2007) was a Finnish actress, who was best known for her role as Elisabeth Turhapuro in the Uuno Turhapuro movies directed by Spede Pasanen. Raita also appeared in many other films, althoug ...

, Pertti Pasanen, and

Simo Salminen Simo Veli Atte Salminen (8 November 1932 – 2 September 2015) was a Finnish comic-actor best known for his many performances in movies and television shows by Spede Pasanen, usually playing his sidekick in some fashion. Salminen alongside Vesa- ...

. Uuno Turhapuro is the main character of the film, which was created by Spede and Loiri for Spedevisio. The unexpected success led to the creation of a 19-movie series. In an effort to save money, Uuno became Spede's first feature to be filmed and edited on video before being printed to film for theatrical distribution. This method was employed by Spede all the way into his late 1980s features. The film was the first produced by Spede after nearly a two-year-long hiatus, when Spede's three feature films released in 1971 ('' Hirttämättömät'', '' Saatanan Radikaalit'' and '' Kahdeksas Veljes'') all failed to make a notable profit.

Plot

Uuno (Vesa-Matti Loiri) is shabby and lazy man, who has married a rich woman Elisabeth (Marjatta Raita) in order to eat and sleep from day to day without any worries. Completely tired of overtaking Uuno, Elisabeth tries to get her husband to look for a job, but Uuno has other plans: he wants to build a

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

for himself. But has Uuno really found his true calling?

Reception

The film was the second most popular in Finland between 1972 and 1976 with 593,744 admissions, behind ''

The Earth Is a Sinful Song ''The Earth Is a Sinful Song'' ( fi, Maa on syntinen laulu) is a 1973 Finnish drama film directed by Rauni Mollberg and based on the novel ''Maa on syntinen laulu'' by late Finnish author Timo K. Mukka. It was entered into the 24th Berlin Intern ...

''.

References

External links

* 1973 films Spede Pasanen 1973 comedy films 1970s Finnish-language films Finnish comedy films Finnish black-and-white films {{1970s-comedy-film-stub