The ''Olsen Gang'' (, ) is a
Danish comedy film series created by Danish director
Erik Balling
Erik Balling (29 November 1924 – 19 November 2005) was a Danish TV and film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guid ...
and special effects expert
Henning Bahs about the
eponymous
An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...
fictional criminal gang. The gang's leader is the criminal genius and habitual offender
Egon Olsen and his accomplices are Benny and Kjeld (Kjell in Norwegian). The gang members are harmless, extremely rarely target ordinary citizens, and never deliberately use violence. The first film came in 1968; during the next thirty years a total of fourteen films were made.
A Norwegian version of the film series was also made (a total of 14 films from 1969 to 1999), in most cases based directly on the scripts for the Danish films. Later, starting in 1981, Sweden also produced their own version: ''
Jönssonligan''.
Plot
Most of the films start with Egon coming out of jail and being enthusiastically welcomed by Benny and Kjeld. The three men will then have a beer together in the living room of Kjeld's home in
Valby
Valby () is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark. It is in the southwestern corner of Copenhagen Municipality, and has a mixture of different types of housing. This includes apartment blocks, terraced housing, area ...
, where Egon will inform his friends of his latest plan for making them millionaires. Plans are often two-step plans, where the first heist will get the equipment for the real, second plan. The plans usually feature everyday artifacts such as
Lego
Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...
, party balloons, cigarettes, etc., which are then brought together in surprising ways in elaborate and well-timed plans, often including clever
social engineering. Benny's function in the heists, besides get-away-driver, is picking locks and starting machinery using "The Thing", a specially shaped brass piece used for manipulating machinery and opening doors. Egon often serves time in prison with lawyers or executives who provide him with the information he needs, such as duty rosters for the national public record office. Egon is also a brilliant
safecracker
Safe-cracking is the process of opening a safe without either the combination or the key.
Physical methods
Safes have widely different designs, construction methods, and locking mechanisms. A safe cracker needs to know the specifics of whicheve ...
, operating manually, specializing in the fictive "Franz Jäger" brand.
Egon's plans often bring the gang into perilously close contact with white-collar criminals from the Danish business (and political) elite. For example, in the ninth installment named "Olsen-banden deruda" well-connected people try to make money out of the so-called "butter mountain", a huge amount of butter bought up and stored by the
EEC
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
(now the
EU) to keep prices up. Egon Olsen learns about this from a lawyer who is serving prison time, and the gang interferes with the plan to secure the millions for themselves, but as always, Egon – after having succeeded with a genius plan – fails for a variety of reasons, for instance underestimating the power and unscrupulousness of these people, bad luck, interference from Kjeld's wife Yvonne, or other surprising elements. For several films, the role of the antagonist was filled by CEO Hallandsen of the fictive, multinational company Hallandsen Inc. - or variations thereof. Egon is usually arrested in the end, for various reasons: scapegoat, bad luck, some irrelevant crime, or even turning himself in as a matter of honor.
A recurring part of the film is making fun of Danish authorities, especially the police. In some earlier installments, the clumsy Police Inspector Mortensen is used for slapstick comic relief; he is later replaced by Superintendent Jensen, an older, troubled man who has seen better days. He is a resigned character who despises the Danish government as he often criticizes Hallandsen crimes going unnoticed and mentions to his assistant, Inspector Holm: "The only thing the police can do when the real big criminals come by is offer them protection!" Jensen incredulously uses the recurring exclamation "Bagmændene!" (Behind-men/Big Fishes) to reference the in-joke of powerful players moving outside of the law.
In the early installments, profanity and soft-erotica (scantily-clad women) were more freely used than in later ones, where such content was somewhat watered down to suit younger viewers. Later films focused on the satirical interplay between Jensen and Holm and Egon and his crew, with a frequent outburst of anger from Egon. His long list of slurs is especially famous, like "social democrats!", "insane woman!" (to Yvonne), "lousy amateurs!", "cowards!", "dog heads!", "porridge peasants!", "sop!", "scumbags!", to name a few.
Characters

Recurring characters in the Danish version:
*
Egon Olsen: Gang leader, expert safecracker, brilliant but short-tempered and occasionally overdramatic.
* Benny Frandsen: Gang member, get-away driver, always cheerful and handles practical stuff.
* Kjeld Jensen: Gang member, tool master, ever nervous and humble, but does on a rare occasion rise to meet any challenge.
* Yvonne Jensen: Kjeld's very bossy wife, often with firm plans on how to use the millions from the various plans.
* Børge Jensen: Kjeld and Yvonne's son, occasionally an impeccable part of the schemes.
* Dynamite Harry: Benny's brother, explosives expert (at least in his own opinion) and deeply alcoholic.
* Jensen: Superintendent at Copenhagen Police, somewhat disillusioned and mostly forgotten by the brass in his basement office.
* Holm: Detective with Copenhagen Police, young and with high ambitions, but somewhat naive.
* Mortensen: An overambitious but very clumsy inspector with Copenhagen Police appearing in the early films.
* Holm-Hansen/Bang-Johansen/Hallandsen: A role with the same actor playing various villains, always on top of the social hierarchy, most often also with international contacts.
* King and Knight: A confidence trickster and his violent nephew.
* Bøffen (''The Beef''): Enforcer and muscleman for Hallandsen and others.
* Hansen: Rival gang leader with theme music from ''
Bob le flambeur
''Bob le flambeur'' (English translation": "Bob the Gambler" or "Bob the High Roller") is a 1956 French heist gangster film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Roger Duchesne as Bob. It is often considered both a film noir and a pr ...
''.
International versions
The ''Olsen Gang'' have been made in Norwegian and
Swedish (''
Jönssonligan'') versions too. While both remakes follow a generally similar formula to the Danish films, the Swedish version diverges considerably from the Danish original in terms of storylines, character development, and overall quality.
Norwegian Olsenbanden
The Norwegian remakes were, with two exceptions, directed by
Knut Bohwim based on Balling and Bahs's original scripts with minor adaptations to Norwegian conditions. For example, some names of the main characters were changed: Kjeld became Kjell, Yvonne became Valborg, and Børge became Basse. The character of Benny's brother, Dynamite Harry, was used much more often in the Norwegian films than in the original Danish series, with six appearances.
Swedish Jönssonligan
In the Swedish version, the Egon character is called ''Charles-Ingvar "Sickan" Jönsson'', with a slightly different costume and mannerisms, and was a huge success for the actor
Gösta Ekman
Hans Gösta Gustaf Ekman (; 28 July 1939 – 1 April 2017) was a Swedish actor, comedian, and director.
Career
Ekman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to the Swedish actor and director Hasse Ekman and Agneta (née Wrangel). Ekman represent ...
until the actor got tired of the character and left the series. Benny's character was named ''(Ragnar) Vanheden'', a small-timer from
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
, played by
Ulf Brunnberg
Hans Ulf Brunnberg (born 7 April 1947) is a Swedish actor.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
1947 births
Living people
Male actors from Stockholm
Swedish male film actors
Best Supporting Actor G ...
. Kjeld's character was named Rocky, but appeared only in the first two films. From the second film, the character Dynamit-Harry played by
Björn Gustafson
Björn Herman Leonard Gustafson (born 30 November 1934) is a Swedish actor. He was born in Stockholm and has appeared in 93 films and television shows since 1956. He starred in the 1965 film '' Love 65'', which was entered into the 15th Berlin ...
(who has had rather minor parts in the original Danish films) was featured instead. Although starting out as a strict remake, after a while the franchise started writing their own scripts.
The Swedish franchise eventually expanded into films of the band as young kids: ''
Lilla Jönssonligan
''Lilla Jönssonligan'' () is a Swedish film series
A film series or movie series is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. It is a type of series fiction.
This articl ...
'' (little Jönsson band) with four features to date.
There was also an attempt to reboot the franchise, featuring brand new actors in the adult roles. ''
Jönssonligan – Den perfekta stöten
''Jönssonligan – Den perfekta stöten'' (''Johnson Gang – The Master Plan'', called ''Mastermind'' outside of Scandinavia) is a 2015 Swedish heist thriller comedy film, directed by . The film is a reboot of the Swedish film series '' Jönsso ...
'' (2015) was released to middling reviews and poor box office.
Danish films
The first thirteen films were directed by
Erik Balling
Erik Balling (29 November 1924 – 19 November 2005) was a Danish TV and film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guid ...
, while Tom Hedegaard and
Morten Arnfred
Morten Arnfred (born 2 August 1945) is a Danish film director and screenwriter. His 1983 film ''Der er et yndigt land'' was entered into the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival, where it won an Honourable Mention. Ten years later, his film ...
directed the fourteenth and final ''Olsen Gang'' film. The scripts were written by Balling and
Henning Bahs, who also worked as a
production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Work ...
.
Danish cast
*
Ove Sprogøe as Egon Olsen
*
Morten Grunwald
Walter Morten Grunwald (9 December 1934 – 14 November 2018) was a Danish actor, stage director and theatre manager.
Early life and education
He was born in Odense, Denmark, attended Odense Theatrical School in 1958, and graduated from the Roy ...
as Benny Frandsen
*
Poul Bundgaard
Poul Arne Bundgaard (27 October 1922 – 3 June 1998) was a Danish actor and singer. He is probably best known for his role as the henpecked Kjeld in the '' Olsen-banden'' films.
He also appeared in the 1966 spy film '' Strike First Freddy'' as ...
as Kjeld Jensen
*
Kirsten Walther as Yvonne Jensen
*
Jes Holtsø as Børge Jensen
*
Axel Strøbye
Axel Strøby Jacobsen (22 February 1928 – 12 July 2005), known as Axel Strøbye was a Danish stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1951 and 2000.
He was born in the Copenhagen borough Frederiksberg and died in Char ...
as Superintendent of police Jensen
*
Ole Ernst
Ole Ernst Pedersen (16 May 1940 – 1 September 2013) was a Danish actor, active on stage, TV and film. He appeared in 95 films and television shows from 1967 to 2013. He starred in the 1983 film ''Der er et yndigt land'', which won an Honou ...
as Police inspector Holm (
Dick Kaysø
Dick Kaysø, (born 13 February 1947) is a Denmark, Danish actor.
Filmography
* ''Mafiaen, det er osse mig'' (1974)
* ''Piger i trøjen'' (1975)
* ''Strømer'' (1976)
* ''Julefrokosten (1976 film), Julefrokosten'' (1976)
* ''Affæren i Mølle ...
replaces Ernst in one film)
*
Ove Verner Hansen as Bøffen
*
Preben Kaas as Dynamite-Harry
*
Peter Steen and
Jesper Langberg
Jesper Langberg (20 October 1940 – 29 June 2019) was a Danish film actor. He appeared in more than 50 films.
Biography
He was born in Frederiksberg, Denmark. He was the son of actor Sigurd Langberg and younger brother of actor Ebbe Langb ...
as Mortensen (Steen appeared in two films, Langberg in one film)
Spin-offs
A Danish TV series and a feature film have been made showing the main characters as children, following the Swedish success of ''
Lilla Jönssonligan
''Lilla Jönssonligan'' () is a Swedish film series
A film series or movie series is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. It is a type of series fiction.
This articl ...
'':
* ''
Olsen-bandens første kup'' (TV series, 1999–2000)
* ''
Olsen-banden Junior'' (2001)
Two animated films have been released in the 2010s:
* ''Olsen-banden på de bonede gulve'' (''
Olsen Gang Gets Polished'', 2010)
* ''Olsen-banden på dybt vand'' (''
The Olsen Gang in Deep Trouble'', 2013)
Norwegian films
* ''Olsenbanden Operasjon Egon'' (1969)
* ''Olsenbanden og Dynamitt-Harry'' (1970)
* ''
Olsenbanden tar gull
The ''Olsen Gang'' (, ) is a Danish comedy film series created by Danish director Erik Balling and special effects expert Henning Bahs about the eponymous fictional criminal gang. The gang's leader is the criminal genius and habitual offender ...
'' (1972)
* ''Olsenbanden og Dynamitt-Harry går amok'' (1973)
* ''Olsenbanden møter Kongen og Knekten'' (1974)
* ''Olsenbandens siste bedrifter'' (1975)
* ''Olsenbanden for full musikk'' (1976)
* ''Olsenbanden og Dynamitt-Harry på sporet'' (1977)
* ''Olsenbanden og Data-Harry sprenger verdensbanken'' (1978)
* ''Olsenbanden mot nye høyder'' (1979)
* ''Olsenbanden gir seg aldri'' (1981)
* ''Olsenbandens aller siste kupp'' (1982)
* ''
…men Olsenbanden var ikke død'' (1984)
* ''Olsenbandens siste stikk'' (1999)
* ''Olsenbanden – Siste skrik!'' (2022)
Several elements recur in the film series. As the Japanese carmaker
Toyota
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
was usually the main sponsor of the film series, most cars, including the villain's cars, the security cars, the police cars, the gang's car, civilian cars parked on the sidewalks, etc., were supplied by the company. Models include the
Crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...
as taxis,
Toyota Cressida as police cars,
Hiace as security vans and money transports, and so on. There have been exceptions, notably ''Olsenbandens aller siste kupp'' (''The Olsen-Gang's Very Last Coup'') from 1982, which was sponsored by
Datsun
Datsun (, ) was a Japanese automobile manufacturer brand owned by Nissan. Datsun's original production run began in 1931. From 1958 to 1986, only vehicles exported by Nissan were identified as Datsun. Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in Marc ...
.
In 2022, a film
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
with a new team of actors was released, where the Olsen Gang make plans to steal the painting ''
The Scream
''The Scream'' is an art composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893. The Norwegian name of the piece is ('Screaming, Scream'), and the German title under which it was first exhibited is ' ('The Scream of Nature'). The agonize ...
'' from the
Munch Museum
Munch Museum (), marketed as Munch (stylised in all caps) since 2020, is an art museum in Bjørvika, Oslo, Norway dedicated to the life and works of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch.
The museum was originally located at Tøyen, which was opene ...
.
Norwegian DVDs
Most of the Norwegian films have been digitally restored. The discs include English and Norwegian subtitles, 16:9 format and Dolby Digital 1.0 surround sound.
DVD release list:
* ''Olsenbanden Operasjon Egon'' (27 October 2004)
* ''Olsenbanden og Dynamitt-Harry'' (27 October 2004)
* ''Olsenbanden tar gull'' (27 October 2004)
* ''Olsenbanden og Dynamitt-Harry går amok''
* ''Olsenbanden møter Kongen og Knekten'' (1 December 2004)
* ''Olsenbandens siste bedrifter'' (1 December 2004)
* ''Olsenbanden for full musikk'' (1 December 2004)
* ''Olsenbanden og Dynamitt-Harry på sporet'' (8 December 2004)
* ''Olsenbanden og Data-Harry sprenger verdensbanken'' (19 January 2005)
* ''Olsenbanden mot nye høyder'' (19 January 2005)
*''Olsenbanden gir seg aldri'' (19 January 2005)
* ''Olsenbandens aller siste kupp'' (19 January 2005)
* ''...men Olsenbanden var ikke død''
* ''Olsenbandens siste stikk'' (1999)
Norwegian cast
*
Arve Opsahl
Arve Opsahl (14 May 1921 – 29 April 2007) was a Norwegian movie and stage actor, singer and stand-up comedian.
Opsahl began his career as a comedian in 1942, and played numerous roles both on stage and in more than forty movies. He was then ch ...
as Egon Olsen
*
Sverre Holm as Benny Fransen
*
Carsten Byhring as Kjell Jensen
*
Aud Schønemann as Valborg Jensen
*
Willie Hoel as Bartender Hansen (a character in the first two films; Hoel also plays various other small roles later in the series)
*
Ove Verner Hansen as Biffen
*
PÃ¥l Johannessen as Basse Jensen (appears in eight films)
*
Sverre Wilberg as Superintendent of police Hermansen
*
Øivind Blunck, Oddbjørn Hesjevoll, Ulf Wengård and Anders Hatlo as Police inspector Holm (Blunck appears in five films, and Hesjevoll, Wengård and Hatlo in one film each respectively)
*
Harald Heide-Steen Jr. as Dynamite-Harry
Spin-offs
The Danish TV series showing the gang during their childhood, ''
Olsen-bandens første kup'', was remade in Norway as ''
Olsenbandens første kupp''. There has also been made an entire feature film series, ''
Olsenbanden Jr.'', with six films from 2003 to 2010, inspired by the Swedish ''
Lilla Jönssonligan
''Lilla Jönssonligan'' () is a Swedish film series
A film series or movie series is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. It is a type of series fiction.
This articl ...
''.
In popular culture
The popularity of the film series inspired a Norwegian restaurant chain, Egon, with the logo alluding to Egon Olsen's iconic hat and cigar.
Semic published five Norwegian
comic album
a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...
s featuring the Olsen Gang, eight original stories, starting with ''"Olsenbanden raner hurtigruta!"'' published in 1983.
In June 2019, the Norwegian Postal service issued two stamps to celebrate the first film's 50th anniversary. The domestic stamp depicts Egon leaving prison, which is the opening scene in most of the films. The European stamp shows the whole gang, including Harry and Valborg.
The dubbed versions of the series have also enjoyed great popularity in the former
GDR and can still be seen regularly on regional television stations. More than 3000 people are members of the German Olsenbanden fan club. The stage name of
Betterov, a musician from
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
, is a reference to the eponymous supporting character Betterøv in the series.
References
Notes
External links
Olsenbande-Drehorte(Olsen Gang Film-Locations)
Some of the original Danish trailersIMDB on the original Danish film
{{Erik Balling
1960s heist films
1970s heist films
1980s heist films
Danish film series
Danish-language films
Fictional gangs
Films adapted into comics
Films directed by Erik Balling
Film series introduced in 1968