Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Lawbolisted Powerful

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

SimonJack The 1960s saw two comedy films made about two real, legendary automobile contests. The first was "The Great Race" in 1965. It was a hilarious rendition of an actual event held in 1908. That was a race around the world that involved far fewer cars than shown in the movie. In my comments on that film (18 April 2014), I give a history of that event, and some details about the museum where the winning car and trophy are housed today. The National Automobile Museum is located in Reno, Nevada. One can spend more than a day going through that world-class museum.The second race film of the 1960s was this one, about the Monte Carlo Rally. "Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies" came out four years after the first film. The rally is a real event that has taken place annually since 1911, except during the years of World War I and World War II. Critics generally panned "The Great Race," which was the most costly comedy made to that time. It had a budget of $12 million. But the public liked the film. The critics and public liked "Jaunty Jalopies," which also made a nice profit. But it wasn't as popular in the U.S. as had been "Race." I think "Race" clearly was a much funnier comedy. It had some outrageously funny scenarios, including the best and longest filmed pie fight in history. "Jaunty Jalopies" on the other hand, has many moments that bring chuckles or smiles. But there ae no standout hilarious scenes. What's best about this film is its international cast and the cars and reproductions that showed innovations. The rally in its early years was a showcase for new automobile innovations. In this film, this is show with two English characters and a car entry by Major Dawlish and Lt. Barrington, played respectively by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Terry-Thomas plays the part of a cad so well, but in this film his part isn't that funny. Many of the actors give good performances, and the string of mishaps one after another is funny. But "Jalopies" never rises above a chuckle. The original European title for this movie was, "Monte Carlo or Bust." Movie buffs may be interested in some more history of the real event in this film. The Monte Carl Rally is sponsored annually by the Automobile Club de Monaco. Since 1973 it has been run in stages – as many as 35 in 1986, and as few as 13 in 2011. As in the movie, contestants have choices of places to start from – usually four to six – all equidistant from Monte Carlo. Until 1972, the event was as shown in the movie – with cars traveling a long route from five different staring places, to arrive at the same place. Then, the surviving cars competed in a short timed distance race. Since 1973 and the multiple stages, the total distances have ranged from 867 km (539 miles) in 1986, to 329 km (204 miles). Since 1995, all rallies have been below 500 km (310 miles), and they have tended to level off at around 400 km or lower (248 miles). While the rally remains highly popular, the reduced distances likely are due to considerable increases in traffic on the roads and difficulties in shutting down roads to public traffic and other logistics of the event.

Kfatbob163 On reading reviews and ratings for a similar movie to this 'The Great Race' i was expecting that to be much better than Monte Carlo Or Bust but the opposite is true, having Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in the cast is a huge plus to start with, then add Terry Thomas, Eric Sykes, Tony Curtis to name a few. All are cast perfectly for the characters they play with Peter Cook teamed with Dudley Moore Thomas with Sykes acting superbly. I loved this movie when i watched it years ago and for me anyway it has stood the test of time, some brilliant characters, gorgeous women, and very funny. Definitely recommend it, and the 6.6 IMDb rating it has is way off mark in my opinion it should be at least 7.5 if not an 8.

ptb-8 My comment above is not at all to dissuade you from watching this frequently funny film it is mostly to recognize the colossal amount of money invested in these all star road romps that raced thru the 60s. MAD MAD WORLD and MAGNIFICENT MEN and GREAT RACE and then this along with the whopper period musicals (DARLING LILI) had production accountants suicidal. From 1964 to 1970 I can count 33 massive 'roadshow' musicals and 20 'roadshow' comedy adventure epics. Cinemas were weekly opening something with 22 stars and costing 22 million and all in 70mm and on reserved seats. Like concert overload, these overloaded films became so frequent that they lost their appeal. Like eating a ton of fruit salad. I found this film: THOSE DARING YOUNG MEN IN THEIR JAUNTY JALOPIES as a 3rd rung on the 'race' list extremely well made but with an inordinate amount of back projection and insert studio shots edited into scenes that were already in the can from location shooting, almost duplicating the film indoors for small spot shots. The rear projection scenes even involved crowded backgrounds (see the Sweden scenes) and duplicates of the main actors who only were inserted in the close ups... so some major stars actually did not go to some locations, just the second unit and the extras and stand-ins ... all cleverly inserted together with studio pick-up and dialog bits. The Terry-Thomas scenes and the Pete and Dud pukka British dastardry are by far the funniest and the Italian nonsense by far the most grating, sadly because they also feature the adorable Walter Chiari. So overloaded with scenes, antics and pantomime J-JALOPIES almost becomes impossible to follow, a fact itself recognizes because of the frequent split screen 'where are they now' compilation assemblies. Tony Curtis is hilarious and replays his Great Leslie image from THE GREAT RACE. J-JALOPIES is all terrific expensive Euro fun and well worth watching with kids and teens on family movie night. But the cost of this production! eek!

theowinthrop It tries hard, and it has some energy from a few of the stars in it, but MONTY CARLO OR BUST lacks the verve of it's predecessors, THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES and THE GREAT RACE, and some of the goofiness of it's less remembered successor, ROCKET TO THE MOON. It may be the script, which lags at times, or it may be the fact that the super-nationalism of Pre-World War I Europe is not translatable in the 1920s (oddly enough). The cast includes people from the two preceding films including Tony Curtis (THE GREAT RACE), Terry-Thomas, Eric Sykes, and Gert Frobe (THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN), and some welcomed new faces (Susan Hampshire, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore). But there is less time for the character development found in the earlier films. For example, the three French female drivers and the two Italian male drivers never really have individual personalities, although one of the Italians has "topic A" constantly on his mind when he thinks of the amorous awards awaiting him if he wins.The idea is that 1924 marks the first Grand Prix to Monte Carlo across Europe. The various characters are interested in winning the race - well most of them are. Poor Gert Frobe (in a far more sympathetic role than his pompous German Colonel in THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN) is Willy, a well-known superior "getaway - car" driver in Germany who has been sprung from prison by the Count (Jack Hawkins, in one of his last - really silent film parts). He resembles a wealthy playboy who has been entered in the rally, but has been "removed" so that Willy can replace him. A fortune in stolen jewels is in Willy's car, and it is going to be transported secretly across Europe so it can be brought to the men who can sell it. Willy doesn't mind, at first, but he resents the constant threat over his head by the Count's men (who are everywhere), and he knows he could win the rally - he's a better driver than anyone else. But the Count doesn't care.SMALL SPOILER: At the conclusion, Willy is freed from the threat from the Count, and cuts loose. Although he does not get official recognition because of his fraudulently replacing the actual driver who entered, Willy actually does win the race for a few minutes.There is also the British Army Colonel, Major Digby-Dawlish (Peter Cook) and his batman/assistant Lt. Kit Barrington (Dudley Moore). There addition to the cast actually is a recognition of two previously successful comedies this team appeared in: the original BEDAZZLED and THE WRONG BOX. Digby-Dawlish is an inventor of motorcar devices he has tested in India, and he hopes to win the rally so he can market these to the world. The devices (like attaching skis to the car in the snowy regions) seem to be sensible, but always come acropper - but Dawlish and Barrington never say die, and always seem to have another device to undue the chaos and damage of the first device!Then there is the antics of Terry-Thomas and Tony Curtis. Terry-Thomas is Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage, the son of the Sir Percy Ware-Armitage who tried to cheat his way to the trophy of the 1910 London to Paris flight in THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN. Daddy has been killed at the start of the new film in the crash of another airplane, and Cuthbert is as happy as possible - he is now owner of the family industrial empire. But then he learns that daddy sold half the business to Chester Schofield (Curtis), an American with ideas of his own. Ware-Armitage is not going to let a Yank control half that empire. He bets Schofield that he will beat Schofield to Monte Carlo - the winner gets to keep the entire industrial empire. Schofield agrees, not realizing that Cuthbert is as crooked and ruthless as his father was. Using (or misusing and blackmailing) his family retainer Perkins (Sykes) to do his dirty work, he also blackmails a young cousin (Hampshire) to vamp Schofield and make him lose interest in the race.The reduction of plot themes should have strengthened the script - but there are gaps. Chester is drugged at one point, but Hampshire gives him some medication she has and he snaps out of his sleepy behavior automatically. Perkins puts up with a lot of crap from his boss - far more than most people reasonably accept. In the end he gets a fine revenge, but it should have been earlier in the film. The film is amusing enough - but try to catch the other films in the series which were better.