Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

HeadlinesExotic Boring

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

ShadeGrenade The nearest British television ever got to a 'Fonzie'-type character was Walter Henry 'Wolfie' Smith. In his 'Freedom For Tooting!' T-shirt, khaki jacket, braces, jeans and black beret, he was an ineffectual youthful rebel somehow left over from the '60's, marvellously played by talented Robert Lindsay, fresh from I.T.V.'s 'Get Some In!'. Marxist Wolfie worshipped Che Guevara, and dreamt of 'the glorious day' when the downtrodden working classes rose up en masse and threw off the shackles imposed on them by their capitalist masters. Each episode began with 'The Red Flag' and concluded with Wolfie bellowing: "Power to the people!" often to the bemusement of passers-by. The excellent song over the end credits was sung by Lindsay.Also in the 'Tooting Popular Front' were Buddhist Ken ( Mike Grady ), sad cowboy Tucker ( Tony Millan ), and psychotic criminal Speed ( George Sweeney ). Luckily, Wolfie had an understanding girlfriend in the shape of Shirley ( Cheryl Hall, then Lindsay's wife ), who worked in a record shop. Her father Charles Johnson ( Peter Vaughan ) - a Tory voting chief security guard at Haydon Electronics - didn't see Wolfie's appeal, and disparaged him constantly as 'that long-haired Yeti in plimsolls!". Charlie's wife was Florence, who had an unfortunate habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time ( marvellously played by Hilda Braid ). Wolfie stood no chance of realising his dream. When he ran in a local by-election, he only polled six votes. But, rather than simply accept defeat, he ploughed on.This was the first major sitcom to be penned by the great John Sullivan. As you would expect, it is marvellously funny. One of the best episodes was 'The Hostage' in which the T.P.F. kidnapped a man they thought to be their local Tory M.P., only to discover that they had nabbed by mistake protection racketeer Harry Fenning ( Stephen Grief )!Cheryl Hall left after Season 2, as did Peter Vaughan. Shirley went to Italy to work, but her Dad was still around ( played by Tony Steedman ). Stephen Grief's 'Harry Fenning' was replaced in Season 3 by David Garfield's 'Ronnie Lynch'. Arguably the most famous episode was the final one of Season Three, in which the T.F.B. found an abandoned Scorpion tank on Salisbury Plain, and tried to take the reins of power by storming Parliament. But it was a summer recess and the M.P.'s were on holiday. After being in prison for a year, they came back for one final series, which concluded with Wolfie fleeing Tooting, having angered Lynch. 'Citizen Smith' had a good run, and is fondly remembered ( Lindsay was appearing on Broadway some years ago when someone in the crowd yelled "Freedom for Tooting!" ). He may have done other things since, but to me he'll always be 'Wolfie'. Sullivan's next series was the even more successful 'Only Fools & Horses'.We are still waiting for Smith's vision of a socialist utopia to come true. Where are you when we need you, Wolfie?

John Fernandez (kennelman) The running gag in this show was that every other character of note had their own name for him. 'Foxie' 'Yeti' 'Smudger' 'Trotsky' & 'Smiffy' with I think, only Ken actually calling him 'Wolfie' Am I right in believing nobody ever called him Walter Henry? I have a memory that he only revealed that as his real name in the penultimate show.I do remember the original BBC promo for this series. 'Wolfie' was spraying graffiti on a short section of wall while Ken watched. He'd managed to write "THINK AHEA" before running out of wall, and amidst the ironic laughter of the audience began to berate the council for not building a wall long enough… It set the tone for what followed, although almost immediately the show began to die in instalments as actor after actor left during its four season run. Some, like girlfriend Shirley were merely written out while her screen father, the more central character 'Charlie' was recast twice (if we include the pilot.) I feel though that when Stephen Grief's excellent 'Harry Fenning' was replaced, the show had peaked, perhaps reaching its zenith with "Glorious Day" the third season finale. Yep, it was 'that' episode where they 'liberate' the Scorpion Tank and invade London. I think even die hard aficionados would agree with me that should have been that.Particularly as season three had some of the most memorable episodes of all, introducing John Tordoff as the hyperbolically bizarre 'Tofkin.' Check out "Don't look down" and "Tofkin's revenge." Quite a few have pointed out the similarities between this series and Sullivan's next effort, the rather better known "Only Fools and Horses" and the similarities are indeed there. Both were set in a triangle of flat, pub and occasional exterior, and it is straightforward to recognise equivalent characters across both series. The malapropism that surrounded Wolfie's name was refined for Rodney, who was consistently called 'Dave' throughout by Trig, and of course there is the Citizen Smith episode that was called "Only Fools and Horses" which seems to round things up.I actually worked on this series in a minor, functionary role, during 1980. It is one of very few productions I can recall halting during the shoot as the studio crew were laughing so much it was putting the actors off, and this was during the fourth, and I consider poorest season. People were still talking about it for some time after, and quoting gags while Only Fools and Horses struggled to take hold in its early years.I think the reason that 'Only Fools' prospered and 'Smith' rather withered on the vine was the lack of breadth of story lines and a cast limited in numbers. There are only so many scrapes an Urban Revolutionary can get involved in and with so few lead characters, Sullivan ran out of steam rather early. This series has its moments though and is well worth a look. It had a recent re-run (late 2005) on one of the many BBC/ITV archive satellite channels (in this case UKTV Drama) and should re-appear before long. Until then we have the DVD's to keep us going.Power to the People!

vella-1 Citizen Smith was my favourite 70s sitcom.The first review on this gives an accurate picture of what it was about, and the people involved.Wolfie is one of lifes eternal losers, with visions of socialist political power (to the people).the most memorable scene I remember was when they launched a protest, and broke into the houses of parliament in order to vioce their disaproval, only to discover that all the MPs were on holiday.There are many similarities between 'Smith' and 'Only Fools & Horses' - the writing in both was superb.Perhaps the BBC & Robert Lindsay would consider a revival of this series, although I feel it is probably better left as it was - simply perfect!

greg-233 Wolfie Smith is a fanatic who craves revolution. Leader of the Tooting Popular Front ( a Marxist political party which numbers six members), Wolfie is a wannabe freedom fighter who likes to call himself an "urban guerilla". He wants to overthrow the Capitalist oppressors of the working class and create a fair, equal and just society (with himself in charge). While he waits for the glorious day, he plays the guitar and sings his raucous songs, dressed in a Che Guevara T-shirt and a black beret with one star on it.Wolfie's attempts to seize power are thwarted time and time again, usually with hilarious consequences. Wolfie keeps a book containing a list of anyone who gets on the wrong side of him. Come the Glorious Revolution they'll be first against the wall, blindfold, last cigarette etc. But it's a very long list..."Citizen Smith" was written by John Sullivan, who went on to write the even funnier "Only Fools and Horses". This show contains characters with similar personalities. Wolfie Smith is a fast talker like Del-Boy, Ken is artistic like Rodney and Tucker is vague and confused like Grandad. "Citizen Smith" was a witty comedy from the 1970s that got better as it went along. The later series seemed funnier than the early episodes. Hopefully the show will be screened again. This is a classic.