British comedy movies have had their highs and lows, one of the highs being the Monty Python films, such as Life of Brian. One of the Python team, Graham Chapman, did a movie just before the biblical comedy, which was called The Odd Job, directed by Peter Medak.
Chapman stars as happily married Arthur Harris, who becomes suicidal when his wife suddenly leaves him. Unable to complete the task himself, he asks a strange handyman (David Jason), in a role once intended for The Who drummer Keith Moon, to kill him instead. But when Arthur’s wife comes back, he discovers that his homicidal hire has every intention of finishing the job.
This story was originally made as an episode of the Ronnie Barker series ‘Six Dates with Barker’ (1971) with Barker as Arthur Harris and David Jason as The Odd Job Man.
While Chapman was a good actor, he never really gets to shine in this outing; he is never really likeable and gets annoying after a while. The comedy premise is a good one, but it runs out of steam after the first 40 minutes.
It has dated, of course, while it’s great to see the old 1970s London, it also shows how the humour has changed, and many skits just fail to be funny. David Jason is always a joy to watch, but even he struggles with the script at times.
The film itself is now a curiosity from that era, and it shows that Chapman always shone when around his Monty Python friends and writers. The negative for the film was lost and has yet to be found, so this new 2K restoration is from a 35mm print owned by the director.
It has a decent, if flat transfer, but shows some great detail in places. Audio is sufficient in glorious original mono, and the set has some interesting extras, which are –
Introduction By Director Peter Medak
Audio Interview With Peter Medak
The Odd Job Men – Zoom Reunion Between Star Sir David Jason And Peter Medak
The Unusual Work – Interview With Writer Bernard McKenna
Producer, An Odd Job – Interview With Co-Producer Mark Forstater
The Odd Batch – Interview With Actor Richard O’Brien
The Naughty Neighbour – Interview With Actress Carolyn Seymour
Most Peculiar Craft – Interview With Actor Simon Williams
A good Blu-Ray release with a lot of effort put into the transfer as well as the extras. It’s a pity that comedy just doesn’t work for the most part.
FILM – 5 PICTURE – 7 AUDIO – 7 EXTRAS – 8.5
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