Steptoe & Son Ride Again

"The old man didn't die laughing, but you will."

1973 1h 39m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 35

DramaComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Albert Steptoe and his son Harold are rag-and-bone men, complete with horse and cart to tour the neighbourhood. They also live amicably together at the junk yard. Always on the lookout for ways to improve his lot, Harold invests his father's life savings in a greyhound who is almost blind and can't see the hare. When the dog loses a race and Harold has to pay off the debt, he comes up with another bright idea. Collect his father's life insurance. To do this his father must pretend to be dead.

“The old man didn't die laughing, but you will.”

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Cast

Wilfrid Brambell
Albert Steptoe
Harry H. Corbett
Harold Steptoe
Diana Dors
Woman in Flat
Milo O'Shea
Dr. Popplewell
Neil McCarthy
Lennie
Bill Maynard
George
George Tovey
Percy
Sam Kydd
Claude

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Peter Sykes
Writers: Ray Galton, Alan Simpson
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

53 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Steptoe & Son Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Peter Sykes, shot by Ernest Steward. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Roy Budd. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Bernard Gribble shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett and Diana Dors carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The old man didn't die laughing, but you will.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0070734 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Peter Sykes directs. Ernest Steward behind the camera. Roy Budd scores. Bernard Gribble cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

153 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Part of the "Steptoe & Son Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3Directed by Peter Sykes, shot by Ernest Steward. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Roy Budd. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Bernard Gribble shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett and Diana Dors carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The old man didn't die laughing, but you will.".
8IMDB entry: tt0070734 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 35 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Classified under 14 themes, including "funeral", "son", "horse", "dark comedy".

The technical file

Cinematography: Ernest Steward
Original score: Roy Budd
Editing: Bernard Gribble
Makeup / hair: Heather Nurse
Runtime: 99 min · 1h 39m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Steptoe & Son Ride Again (1973)

Part of

Steptoe & Son Collection

The two spin-off films of the BBC television series

Also by

Peter Sykes

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-02-13
★ 7.5/10
Hercules II, A Hearse and A Hovel. Steptoe and Son Ride Again is directed by Peter Sykes and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. It stars Wilfrid Brambell, Harry H. Corbett, Milo O' Shea, Neil McCarthy, Bill Maynard, Henry Woolf, Diana Dors and Yootha Joyce. Music is by Roy Budd, Jack Fishman and Ron Grainer and cinematography by John Wilcox. After the relative success of the first big screen foray for Steptoe and Son, a sequel was inevitable. More so as the 70s was fast becoming the decade for British situation comedies to make feature length versions of their popular shows. 1973 also saw the release of "Father Dear Father" and "Holiday on the Buses" (the third and final film in that series), so it may seem like a back handed compliment to say that "Steptoe and Son Ride Again" is the best feature length sit-com movie of that year, but it is, comfortably so. It's also considerably better than the first film, which was titled as just "Steptoe and Son" like the series itself. The writers go back to what made Harold and Albert Steptoe so popular in the first place, mercifully leaving behind the sombre beats of that first picture, where laughs were in short supply. The narrative here concentrates on their home and working life, their struggles to make ends meet, the mad cap idea that invariably goes wrong, the run ins with a local mobster and pets with problems. The laughs are plentiful and strong, OK! Albert being a dirty old man is a joke that had long been stretched to breaking point by 73, but there's something reassuring to have that still be the case in this one. Be it ciggie ash sandwiches and cheese being run through the mangler, or Harold being pestered for sex by a rampant Diana Dors - or bogus funerals and a greyhound who can't see for toffee but can smell Albert's tobacco a mile away! This is a treat for the fans of the series. 7.5/10

Production companies