If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

source: If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

I've been waiting for years for this gem to come out on DVD. Now I have my own copy and I still love this film. One of the many reasons I love it is that the year it was released (1970) I took almost the same tour; we also hit Paris, France. It's quite accurate and I love the humor. You can't put American tourists in one category. They are as varied as all Americans are. Taking a speed tour of Europe can be exhausting, but oh, the memories. Most will return on a more relaxed itinerary. What a great cast too! I agreed with most ALL the above reviews save the negative ones. Pleshette's character was not snobby, nor a complainer. She was friendly to the other tourists. Although many complained, by the end of the film a good time was had by all the tourists. I would've enjoyed traveling with this cast of tourists, but not with anyone who thought them boorish. I highly recommend this terrific little classic to anyone, tourist or homebody.

This was a big studio attempt to tap into the counter-culture movement. It attempts to be satiric, ironic, quirky, and off-beat. And it succeeds much of the time. The direction, editing, and sound can be witty, playing with the subject matter, situations, and setting. The comedy doesn't always work, the pace drags in places, and the characters get tedious at times riding their respective hobby-horses. But there's a lot of fun on the way, and a decent love story between antipathies, played by Suzanne Pleshette, and Ian McShane. You'll also see a lot of faces more familiar to you from TV of the era and succeeding decades. In the end, the movie does manage not to be bound by conventions of Hollywood storytelling. To know what I mean, you'll have to watch it all the way through yourself. Just know some of these 60s counter-culture films worked and some didn't. Those that didn't usually had one foot in the production code era and one foot in the cultural revolution that had not yet hit the suburbs yet, with a script seeming to be at war with itself. This is one film that worked and did not have these problems.

This film is quite dated and not funny. And looking at the beautiful stannary is not enough.

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969) A complete throwaway, and delightful, entertainment, with a charming Suzanne Pleshette as the sporadic leading lady in a romantic comedy set all over Europe. As the tour bus glides its way through the usual hot spots, in a typical (to this day) whirlwind race through major capitals from London to Rome, we see a playful satire of down home American types out of their element. It has funny moments, and some good comic actors, but it's almost thrown together and the story, whatever its short laughs, is pretty thin stuff. But then, a lot of comedies have no desire to be great films, and don't even worry about plot so much as finding some way under heaven to get as many funny situations in an hour and a half as possible. Pleshette I think is meant to play a kind of simpler American Audrey Hepburn, and she really does have a spark and sincerity on screen that works. She falls in love with the tour guide, a sharply dressed British fellow who seems more 1963 than 1969 (picture John Lennon by 1969) played by Ian McShane, an appealing but easily caricatured type. The rest of the cast is only present for gags and one liners, including a few very cameo cameos that get a lot of attention but are hardly worth watching the film for. The one exception, though, is a complete run through of Donovan singing "Lord of the Reedy River" in his faint precious tenor, alone on his guitar, surrounded by a room full of strung out kids dressed in perfect hippie clothes, a poster of Che on the wall. The movie makers knew this was a small coup, Donovan being at the time still a famous remnant of the early folk and folk rock movement (and a famous part of the Bob Dylan tour of England in 1965). A crude youtube version (with subtitles) is here: http://youtu.be/7M4D2B18cz8. Another reviewer notes that this is a truly "retro" film and what they really mean is that this isn't retro at all but it's the real deal, 1969 in 1969, and is a kind of capsule of some characteristic aspects of the time. It's a frivolous version of those scenes, from the exaggerated Italian extended family in Venice to the dancing to Swiss traditional music, but it does show a common liberation of the time, including a painfully sexist amateur photographer who photographs girls in miniskirts in each and every country as a kind of countdown. Of course, the director makes the movie equally sexist in the process, gawking at each of the models (victims?) as it goes. Harmless fun for some, cheesy demeaning distraction for others, and typical of many 1960s movies either way. Overall it's fun and funny and a joyful film, rather upbeat in more ways than just the humor. It's not New Hollywood, there is no socially cutting edge here, and no filming innovations (aside from some playful fast edits). But it tours the viewer through some wonderful, if well known, parts of Western Europe and has some laughs. And it has a beautifully unexpected ending, very poignant after all. Thank you Suzanne Pleshette.

British wag leads group of polyester Americans on a crash coach tour of Europe. Yet another of the drive-in classics of my youth. And as I've taken a few of these tours, the movie will always have a place in me heart. But for a ton of reasons, I daresay this flicker won't really appeal to many people these days. Its beyond dated and completely idiotic in many respects, the voice-over jokes/complaints of the passengers that play while the bus is shown plodding through Europe, are so lame you cringe, but... there's a certain charm in the quaintness of what American life was once like. The young girl who gets dragged on the trip by her parents so they can keep her away from her boyfriend, is supposed to represent rebellious youth, yet she's an 18 year old virgin. The film contains so many 'side trips' that a few were bound to be amusing, and they are. The adventure of the guy visiting his relatives in Venice is pretty damn funny. Bottom line is if you don't know about this film already, there's a reason and you're probably best served by keeping it that way. But if you never got to see Europe before its culture got power stripped by a combination of American wannabeism and irresponsible immigration policies, well then you might enjoy it.

Okay, we all know that when we go on vacation, some unexpected things are bound to happen (when I went to Russia, I didn't expect them to put the wrong dates on my visa, but they did). Well, nothing could be more whacked out than what the people in "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" experience on their European vacation! I sort of figured that the movie would have some of what it had - like the girl always sneaking off to be with friends - but the scene where Fred Ferguson (Murray Hamilton) has trouble communicating with the Italian cobbler was a surprise, as was the embarrassment suffered by Harve Blakely (Norman Fell). One of the most interesting scenes has Donovan playing either himself or someone like himself, serenading the teenagers while their parents eat fondue. I also really liked the scene where Jack Harmon (Michael Constantine) is recounting his war story to his wife...well, I'll let you find out what happens. Also in the cast are Suzanne Pleshette, Ian McShane, Mildred Natwick, and some others. You'll love it. I have to admit, this is the only movie in which I've seen Michael Constantine, aside from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Although I did see him on an episode of "The Flying Nun".

This film has some good one liners and an interesting premise but is let down by a wafer thin main story line about the Lothario Tour Guide and the headstrong but beautiful American Tourist. ore of the other tourists and less of these two would have made for a much more entertaining film

I'm a child of the 90's (born in '85) so I missed out on a lot of things... I'm most upset about not being around when this movie first came out. Being hilarious... one of my favorites along with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Dead Poets Society (which might strike many of you as odd), it is no wonder that i'm taking the time to request it to all of you! Pure comedy genius! Ian McShane and Suzanne Pleshette (i have no gift for spelling) are an amazing team and though it does not have the characteristic hollywood ending, it's good enough for me!

If nothing else, IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE BELGIUM serves as a nice travelogue for any armchair traveler to enjoy with a glass of wine (or beer, if that's your taste!) It's a funny, uncomplicated look at a bevy of assorted American tourists doing a quick tour of several foreign countries--and the various humorous situations stemming from just such a tour. Funniest bit has one of them (Reva Rose) getting on the wrong tour bus and spending the rest of the film trying to catch up to her husband. SUZANNE PLESHETTE attracts the attention of tour guide IAN McSHANE, so there's love interest going on amid the comical situations. Among the other tourists are MILDRED NATWICK, MURRAY HAMILTON and PEGGY CASS. It's all in good fun and entertaining enough whether you've been on such a trip or not. Trivia note: The N.Y. Times noted that it was appropriate for this one to wind up at Radio City Music Hall during the height of the summer season, since that's where most tired tourists went to see a show in New York.