The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979)

Director
Roger Graef

Main cast
Rowan Atkinson; John Cleese; Billy Connolly; Peter Cook; Michael Palin

Genres
Comedy, Music

Description
Amnesty decided not to present a benefit show in 1978 in order to consider how to make better use of the performing talent so favourably disposed to assist it in raising funds. Peter Luff left Amnesty in 1978 and the organisation's new fund-raising officer, Peter Walker, was deputed to work with Lewis on reconfiguring the show to raise more money and greater awareness of Amnesty. Lewis proposed to Cleese that in addition to the comedy performances the show should feature some contemporary rock musicians. Cleese delegated this responsibility to Lewis who recruited Who guitarist Pete Townshend to perform, as well as New Wave singer-songwriter Tom Robinson.


Similar movies

Direct out of jail, Jake Blues and his Brother Elwood are off on a “mission from God” to raise funds for the orphanage in which they grew up. The only thing they can do is do what they do best: play music. So they get their old band together and they're on their way yet not without getting in a bit of trouble here and there.
Jimmy and Mary get a group of kids together to play in a school orchestra. A huge contest between schools is coming up and they have a hard time raising money to go to Chicago for the contest.
A matchmaker named Dolly Levi takes a trip to Yonkers, New York to see the "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire," Horace Vandergelder. While there, she convinces him, his two stock clerks and his niece and her beau to go to New York City. In New York, she fixes Vandergelder's clerks up with the woman Vandergelder had been courting, and her shop assistant.
Singer Dewey Cox overcomes adversity to become a musical legend.
After their production "Princess Ida" meets with less-than-stunning reviews, the relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan is strained to breaking. Their friends and associates attempt to get the two to work together again, which opens the way to "The Mikado," one of the duo's greatest successes.
Following the success of the 1979 show and the financial benefits accruing to Amnesty from the spin-off movie, TV special and record albums – Cleese, Lewis and Walker planned the next show to be a more spectacular event. Cleese focused on broadening the comedic talent to be presented at the show. In addition to the Amnesty show stalwarts drawn from the Oxbridge/Monty Python/Beyond The Fringe orbit, he invited newcomers such as Rowan Atkinson’s colleagues from the BBC TV show Not the Nine O'Clock News including Pamela Stephenson and Griff Rhys Jones; comedian Victoria Wood and regional comic Jasper Carrott. Lewis secured a return appearance by Billy Connolly and a debut appearance by "alternative" comedian Alexei Sayle who Lewis had recently discovered and was managing. Building on the success of Pete Townshend's 1979 appearance Lewis recruited other rock musicians to perform at the 1981 show including Sting, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Donovan and Bob Geldof.
"Touring makes you crazy," Frank Zappa says, explaining that the idea for this film came to him while the Mothers of Invention were touring. The story, interspersed with performances by the Mothers and the Royal Symphony Orchestra, is a tale of life on the road. The band members' main concerns are the search for groupies and the desire to get paid.
Janet and Brad become contestants on a game show... but wind up as captives instead.
Showman Jerry Travers is working for producer Horace Hardwick in London. Jerry demonstrates his new dance steps late one night in Horace's hotel, much to the annoyance of sleeping Dale Tremont below. She goes upstairs to complain and the two are immediately attracted to each other. Complications arise when Dale mistakes Jerry for Horace.
Playboy Andy Mason, on leave from the army, romances showgirl Edie Allen overnight to such effect that she's starry-eyed when he leaves next morning for active duty in the Pacific. Only trouble is, he gave her the assumed name of Casey. Andy's eventual return with a medal is celebrated by his rich father with a benefit show featuring Eadie's show troupe, at which she's sure to learn his true identity...and meet Vivian, his 'family-arrangement' fiancée. Mostly song and dance.
Nick cannot stop obsessing over his ex-girlfriend, Tris, until Tris' friend Norah suddenly shows interest in him at a club. Thus beings an odd night filled with ups and downs as the two keep running into Tris and her new boyfriend while searching for Norah's drunken friend, Caroline, with help from Nick's band mates. As the night winds down, the two have to figure out what they want from each other.
Ample teen Tracy Turnblad wants nothing more than to be on the hip local TV dance program, "The Corny Collins Show" -- and when her dream comes true, her lively moves and bubbly personality meet with unexpected popularity. But after witnessing firsthand the terrible state of race relations in 1960s Baltimore, Turnblad becomes an outspoken advocate for desegregation.
Hyderabadi Hiralal, who is also referred to as 'Hero' due to his obsession with Bollywood movies, drives an auto-rickshaw and often gets into fisticuffs. Things change when he meets with actress, Roopa, shows her around, and falls head-over-heels in love with her - so much so - when the unit leaves, he drives all the way to Bombay to be close to her. It is here that he will come to know that she has no similar feelings for him - and he will be thrown into contact with beautiful and manipulative actress, Sitara Devi, who has new and different role for him - one that will change his life forever.
Dinah (Barbara Ferris) is a famous model and actress who is getting tired of life in the limelight and wants to take a break. While shooting a commercial spot for meat, she meets Steve (Dave Clark), a stuntman. Dinah and Steve hit it off and decide to head to an island to get away from it all (bringing along four of Steve's friends, Mike Smith, Lenny Davidson, Denis West Payton, and Rick Huxley, who -- surprise! -- play music with him). Before long, Dinah is reported missing and everyone is looking for her, making their getaway anything but tranquil.
Comedy western about a cowboy who is hired by a stagecoach boss to stop the railroad reaching his territory and putting him out of business. He uses everything from Indians to dance hall girls to try to thwart the plan. But the railroad workers, led by a female sharpshooter and an ambitious salesman, prove tough customers. Featuring a brief early appearance by Marilyn Monroe.
Fired from his band and hard up for cash, guitarist and vocalist Dewey Finn finagles his way into a job as a fourth-grade substitute teacher at a private school, where he secretly begins teaching his students the finer points of rock 'n' roll. The school's hard-nosed principal is rightly suspicious of Finn's activities. But Finn's roommate remains in the dark about what he's doing.
The grunge girl band "No Exits" is just about to get a record deal. At this time Jimmy is appearing again, the former boy-friend of the band guitarist Shelly. She had left him because his friend had raped her. But he doesn't know that - up to now. Shelly has fallen in love with the band singer Suzy in the meantime. But she still loves Jimmy, too. So she moves to him again, what Suzy doesn't like that all. Especially because she is becoming a feminist.
An updated version of the 1980 musical, which centered on the students of the New York Academy of Performing Arts.
Bruce Macdonald follows punk bank Hard Core Logo on a harrowing last-gasp reunion tour throughout Western Canada. As magnetic lead-singer Joe Dick holds the whole magilla together through sheer force of will, all the tensions and pitfalls of life on the road come bubbling to the surface.
Two feuding rock stars get handcuffed together for 24 hours at a music festival where they are both due to perform.
Guitarist Ko-chanis a mess of sexual repression after a childhood at the mercy of two elder sisters eager to use him as a guinea pig for their make-up skills. Bassist Gaku-chan keeps a bucket in the wings for whenever his nerves get the better of him, and drummer Momo-chan is doomed to forever carrying the botched childhood attempts at self-tattooing. It's not until this foursome is forced to look for an additional guitar player after Jin's dad burns his Stratocaster, that attitude and musical ability enter into the equation. Leather-clad, shade-wearing Tani (Tamaki), inseparable from his black Les Paul, is introduced as the king of R'n'R cool and Jinnai keeps him firmly seated on his throne throughout the film, retroactively proclaiming the guitarist, rather than himself, as the band's true hero.
Set in pre-World War II Zagreb, the story is seen through the eyes of 6-year-old Perica Šafranek (played by Tomislav Žganec). A dandy from Zagreb, Mr Fulir (played by Relja Bašić), starts flirting with Perica's mother during a family picnic. At first, Perica's father doesn't notice anything, but wants to marry off Perica's aunt, so he invites the man to their residence. After multiple rendezvous, Perica's father becomes aware of Fulir's attempts to seduce his wife.
In a mythical Japan, Ko-Ko, a cheap tailor, has been appointed Lord High Executioner and must find someone to execute before the arrival of the ruling Mikado. He lights upon Nanki-Poo, a strolling minstrel who loves the beautiful Yum-Yum. But Yum-Yum is also loved by Ko-Ko, and Nanki-Poo, seeing no hope for his love, considers suicide. Ko-Ko offers to solve both their problems by executing Nanki-Poo, and an agreement is reached whereby Ko-Ko will allow Nanki-Poo to marry Yum-Yum for one month, at the end of which Nanki-Poo will be executed, in time for the arrival of the Mikado. But what Ko-Ko doesn't know is that Nanki-Poo is the son of the Mikado and has run away to avoid a betrothal to an old harridan named Katisha. The arrival of the Mikado brings all the threads of the tale together. This is the Stratford Festival of Canada, directed by Brian Macdonald. This is a filmed version of a stage performance, and the sets are beautifully spare and economical.
In a mythical Japan, Ko-Ko, a cheap tailor, has been appointed Lord High Executioner and must find someone to execute before the arrival of the ruling Mikado. He lights upon Nanki-Poo, a strolling minstrel who loves the beautiful Yum-Yum. But Yum-Yum is also loved by Ko-Ko, and Nanki-Poo, seeing no hope for his love, considers suicide. Ko-Ko offers to solve both their problems by executing Nanki-Poo, and an agreement is reached whereby Ko-Ko will allow Nanki-Poo to marry Yum-Yum for one month, at the end of which Nanki-Poo will be executed, in time for the arrival of the Mikado. But what Ko-Ko doesn't know is that Nanki-Poo is the son of the Mikado and has run away to avoid a betrothal to an old harridan named Katisha. The arrival of the Mikado brings all the threads of the tale together
An aspiring singer, Denise Waverly/Edna Buxton, sacrifices her own singing career to write hit songs that launch the careers of other singers. The film follows her life from her first break, through the pain of rejection from the recording industry and a bad marriage, to her final triumph in realizing her dream to record her own hit album.
Socially prominent Michael Ashburn, is the chief assistant to Rufus Trent, wealthy London loan broker. He has allowed himself to become engaged to the Rufus' daughter, Roberta, the match engineered primarily by socially-ambitious Mrs. Trent. As Michael is closing the shop in the late afternoon, a man named Douglas takes out a large loan, using his niece's (Julie Evans) earring as a deposit. He scurries right off with the money but, to his dismay, Michael finds that the earrings are fastened to Julie's ears and can not be removed. Much to his socially-prominent position he is very disgusted as he must now keep a guard of her. Soon, he finds himself in jail and Julie has his flat keys.
Gretta's celebrity boyfriend breaks up with her after a long-term relationship, leaving the singer to find success on her own. With the help of record producer, Dan and hip-hop celebrity, Trouble Gum, Gretta strives to fulfil her musical ambitions.
A singer goes to a small town for a performance before he is drafted
Salsa singer screws over everybody on his way to the top; when his latest record flops, his career starts doing downhill.
When Neurotic, struggling songwriter, Catherine Brown's life in New York City falls apart, she is forced to confront her past when she spends the summer at her childhood home in Woodstock.
Married songwriters almost split up while putting on a big show.
Successful songwriter falls for society girl who is just playing around. He doesn't realize that his girl-Friday is the one he really loves until it is almost too late. Although he is dazzled by high society, he overhears the society girl's admission of just fooling in time to avoid marriage.
For Rod Kimball, performing stunts is a way of life, even though he is rather accident-prone. Poor Rod cannot even get any respect from his stepfather, Frank, who beats him up in weekly sparring matches. When Frank falls ill, Rod devises his most outrageous stunt yet to raise money for Frank's operation -- and then Rod will kick Frank's butt.
Clyde Williams and Billy Foster are a couple of blue-collar workers in Atlanta who have promised to raise funds for their fraternal order, the Brothers and Sisters of Shaka. However, their method for raising the money involves travelling to New Orleans and rigging a boxing match.
Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore – and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle.
Pune-based widower Omkar Nath used to work as a Headmaster with a local school. When he was fired, his son, Deepak, hired a lawyer to sue the school. The school was represented by none other than Omkar's live-in son-in-law, Vinayak Agrawal. After some years the Court finally came to a decision and the verdict was in favor of Omkar. However, since the school had no funds, it was directed to surrender it's school bus in lieu of wages. Deepak takes charge of this bus, finds out it's dilapidated and makes it roadworthy. He also decides to ply in on the Sonawadi - Ratna Chowk route, not knowing that his problems are just about to start.
Two orphans named Jory and Tess live with their grandparents. However, their cousins Bart and Bertha try to take them away because the two kids have trust funds from their dead parents. When Bart and Bertha kidnap the newborn puppies, Rusty the dog decides to save them.
When obscenely rich hedge-fund manager James is convicted of fraud and sentenced to a stretch in San Quentin, the judge gives him one month to get his affairs in order. Knowing that he won't survive more than a few minutes in prison on his own, James desperately turns to Darnell-- a black businessman who's never even had a parking ticket -- for help. As Darnell puts James through the wringer, both learn that they were wrong about many things, including each other.
Wong Zi Kit (Wong Cho Nam) is an investment guru who handles more than 800 million investment funds daily. He yearns to have more investment funds while at the same time trying to spend away his fortune. Hence, he spends his money wastefully on luxury products, good wine and women -- until the start of the economic recession. After the economic recession, Zi Kit found his fortune decreased by a little. He felt he was lucky after seeing his clients and friends going bankrupt overnight. However, his girlfriend Lily thought that he lost all his fortune and broke up with him. After the painful breakup, Zi Kit decided to chase after his dream girl by living a "normal" life and that the girl would love him for who he is and not for his wealth.
At a time when superheroes have lost government funding and public support, a superhero meets a girl who can help him overcome his own emotional crisis.
In the spirit of the old west variety shows, Vaughn played host to the ensemble of comedians and performed improvisational sketches with surprise celebrity and musical guests. The film chronicles the journey of Vaughn and the comedians as travel over 6,000 miles and perform 30 shows in 30 consecutive nights in cities across the nation.
The Coen Brothers tell the story of a absurd yet likable family with an unproductive couple as the focal point. The couple has gotten themselves into some trouble while kidnapping a baby and give Hollywood one of the most memorable chase scenes to date.
The Boxtrolls is a comedic fable that unfolds in Cheesebridge, a posh Victorian-era town obsessed with wealth, class and the stinkiest of fine cheeses. Beneath its charming cobblestone streets dwell the Boxtrolls, foul monsters who crawl out of the sewers at night and steal what the townspeople hold most dear: their children and their cheeses. At least that’s the legend residents have always believed. In truth, the Boxtrolls are an underground cavern-dwelling community of quirky and lovable oddballs who wear recycled cardboard boxes the way turtles wear their shells. The Boxtrolls have raised an orphaned human boy since infancy as one of their dumpster-diving and mechanical junk-collecting own. When the Boxtrolls are targeted by a villainous pest exterminator who is bent on eradicating them as his ticket to Cheesebridge society, the kind-hearted band of tinkerers must turn to their adopted charge and an adventurous rich girl to bridge two worlds amidst the winds of change – and cheese.
Two drag-queens and a transsexual contract to perform a drag show at a resort in Alice Springs, a resort town in the remote Australian desert. They head west from Sydney aboard their lavender bus, Priscilla. En route, it is discovered that the woman they've contracted with is the wife of one of the drag queens. Their bus breaks down, and is repaired by Bob, who travels on with them.
A high school biology teacher moonlights as a mixed-martial arts fighter in an effort to raise money to save the school's music program.
Stockbroker T.T.Ralston has promised his neice Gwen to double it if she can raise $20,000. for charity. But he connives so those she asks refuse to give her more than the $10,000 she's already raised. Gwen secretly gives T.T.'s new partner Steve Bennett the $10,000 and asks him to double it. Later in a discussion with T.T., business partner Dick and client Van, about truth in business Steve bets the $10,000. that he can tell the truth for 24 hours. Having already accepted an invitation for a weekend on T.T.'s houseboat, Steve is subjected to 24 hours of attempts to get him to lie or divulge the bet, which would lose him (and Gwen) the $10,000.aving already accepted an invitation for a weekend on Ralston's boat Steve is subjected to a campaign to make him loose the bet
It is New Year's weekend and the friends of Peter (Fry) gather at his newly inherited country house. Ten years ago, they all acted together in a Cambridge University student comedy troupe, but it's less clear how much they have in common now.Peter's friends are Andrew (Branagh), now a writer in Hollywood; married jingle writers Roger (Laurie) and Mary (Staunton); glamorous costume designer Sarah (Emmanuel); and eccentric Maggie (Thompson), who works in publishing. Cast in sharp relief to the university chums are Carol (Rudner), the American TV star wife of Andrew; and loutish Brian (Slattery), Sarah's very recently acquired lover. Law plays Peter's disapproving housekeeper, Vera; and Lowe, her son Paul. Briers appears in a cameo role as Peter's father.
Bastien, an ambitious young production assistant, catches the attention of Jean-Louis, a producer of high regard, and is granted a shot at his own television show.
Me and Orson Welles is a period-drama film directed by Richard Linklater and starring Zac Efron, Christian McKay and Claire Danes. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name, the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar, where he becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant.
FBI agent Malcolm Turner and his 17-year-old son, Trent, go undercover at an all-girls performing arts school after Trent witnesses a murder. Posing as Big Momma and Charmaine, they must find the murderer before he finds them.
Set in a world where the concept of lying doesn't exist, a loser changes his lot when he invents lying and uses it to get ahead.
A comedy of manners, its cast of characters devouring each other in a small world awash with big money. Set against the backdrop of contemporary London and the international art scene, it casts an eye over the appetites and morality of some of its major players. Dealers, collectors, artists, wannabees vie with each other in a world in which success and downfall rest on a thin edge.
When the incompetent Officer Frank Drebin seeks the ruthless killer of his partner, he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth.
To test its top-secret Human Hibernation Project, the Pentagon picks the most average Americans it can find - an Army private and a prostitute - and sends them to the year 2505 after a series of freak events. But when they arrive, they find a civilization so dumbed-down that they're the smartest people around.
Clue finds six colorful dinner guests gathered at the mansion of their host, Mr. Boddy -- who turns up dead after his secret is exposed: He was blackmailing all of them. With the killer among them, the guests and Boddy's chatty butler must suss out the culprit before the body count rises.
When the coach of the France soccer team is killed by a poisoned dart in the stadium in the end of a game, and his expensive and huge ring with the diamond Pink Panther disappears, the ambitious Chief Inspector Dreyfus assigns the worst police inspector Jacques Clouseau to the case.
A group of people from different backgrounds have one thing in common: when they hear the world "gumball" whispered by one of the others, they know that it's time for the Gumball Rally: a no-holds barred, secret, winner-take-all rally across the USA.
Wilby Daniels, a successful lawyer running for District Attorney, suddenly finds himself being transformed into an English sheepdog. Somehow he has to keep his change a secret and find just what is causing it, all the while eluding the local dog catcher.
In this wacky military spoof, Lemmon plays a terminally bored Army private waging a war of wits as he tries to throw a party under the nose of his obnoxious commanding officer.
After an attempted assassination on Ambassador Han, Inspector Lee and Detective Carter are back in action as they head to Paris to protect a French woman with knowledge of the Triads' secret leaders. Lee also holds secret meetings with a United Nations authority, but his personal struggles with a Chinese criminal mastermind named Kenji, which reveals that it's Lee's long-lost...brother.

© Valossa 2015–2024