How I Won the War *** (1967, Michael Crawford, John Lennon, Roy Kinnear, Jack MacGowran, Michael Hordern) – Classic Movie Review 8220

Director Richard Lester’s iconic 1967 British comedy How I Won the War is a frenzied and frantic send-up of war movies, working from a surreal script by Charles Wood, based on Patrick Ryan’s novel.

It features a magnetic performance by John Lennon as Gripweed, a private soldier in specs, a bland one by Michael Crawford as an inept British World War Two officer called Lieutenant Ernest Goodbody, who leads his enlisted men into trouble in North Africa and Europe, and amusing turns from Roy Kinnear (Clapper), Jack MacGowran (Juniper) and Michael Hordern (Grapple).

A lot of the black comedy jokes and the serious points misfire, and Lester cannot keep the film’s unruly elements under control. But, if How I Won the War is a failure, it is still a fascinating, often very funny one, and now a remarkable document of its long-gone time and star, and all the lovely character actors of the era.

Also in the vintage cast are Lee Montague, Jack Hedley, Karl Michael Vogler, Ronald Lacey, James Cossins, Alexander Knox, Robert Hardy, Sheila Hancock, Charles Dyer, Paul Daneman, Peter Graves, Jack May, Richard Pearson, Bryan Pringle, Dandy Nichols, John Junkin, Fanny Carby.

Lester also directed Lennon in A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, and Crawford in The Knack …and How to Get It and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), which also features Hordern and Kinnear.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8220

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com