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Michael Crawford, John Lennon, Roy Kinnear, Lee Montague, Jack MacGowran ... see more see more... , Michael Hordern , Jack Hedley , Karl Michael Vogler , Ronald Lacey , James Cossins , Ewan Hooper , Alexander Knox , Robert Hardy , Sheila Hancock , Charles Dyer , Bill Dysart , Paul Daneman , Peter Graves , Jack May , Richard Pearson , Pauline Taylor , John Ronane , Norman Chappell , Bryan Pringle , Fanny Carby , Dandy Nichols , Gretchen Franklin , John Junkin , John Trenaman , Mick Dillon , Kenneth Colley

Among the first of the late 60s anti-war films that reflected growing concern over the Vietnam War, How I Won the War takes a cold, dark look at the Good War, World War II. In adapting Patrick Ryan's ... read more read more...1963 novel, screenwriter Charles Wood and director Richard Lester offered a narrative fractured by characters making side comments to the camera, stylized cinematography, inserts of newsreel war footage, and plenty of absurdist humor and slapstick. Ernest Goodbody (Michael Crawford) is a bumbling British officer who manages to get most of his small company of musketeers killed while on a mission in North Africa to set up a cricket pitch behind enemy lines for officers of the advancing British army. The rest of the company dies in an ensuing campaign in Europe near the war's end, but all of the men continue to march along, appearing as monochromatic ghosts. (Original prints of the film intercut real battle footage tinted to match the color of the soon-to-be ghost soldier. Some prints of the film, including one shown on Turner Classic Movies, present the newsreel shots in black and white, undercutting the stylized touch.) The story is framed as a flashback, with Goodbody relating his version of events to a German officer (Karl Michael Vogler), while the real version of events, demonstrating Goodbody's ineptitude, plays out on screen. Among the supporting players are John Lennon, who had worked with Lester on A Hard Day's Night and Help; Roy Kinnear, a Lester regular, as a fat soldier who is certain his wife is cheating on him; Jack MacGowran as the troop's designated fool, and Michael Hordern as a general almost as oblivious to his suffering men as Goodbody. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi

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54% liked it

1,295 ratings

Critics

58% liked it

12 critics

R, 1 hr. 51 min.

Directed by: Richard Lester

Release Date: January 1, 1967

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DVD Release Date: April 10, 2001

Stats: 111 reviews

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How I Won The War (poster) Gripweed.3 How I Won the War How I Won The War (DVD) Juniper.3 Gripweed & Transom Gripweed & Goodbody Gripweed & Goodbody.2 Two Dead Soldiers Gripweed.1 Gripweed.6 Gripweed.3 Gripweed.2 Transom - (Lee Montague) Clapper & Transom Goodbody Hitler Juniper - (Jack Macgowran)
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Flixster Reviews (111)

  • flixsterman
    July 16, 2009
    flixsterman
    George Bernard Shaw once wrote that England and America are two countries separated by a common language. Nowhere is that more apparent than here in How I Won the War. The accents are so thick and the humor so uniquely British that even when I could understand it I couldn... read more't understand it.
  • BInch1
    December 9, 2006
    BInch1
    ...a very underratted british comedy...shouldn't just seen by beatles fans but by anyone who opposes war...

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Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
September 10, 2007
Variety Staff, Variety

Patrick Ryan's novel has been adapted into a screenplay which, as directed by Richard Lester, substitutes motion for emotion, reeling for feeling, and crude slapstick for telling satire. Full Review

Bosley Crowther
May 9, 2005
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

I am afraid Mr. Lester has not added a single discouragement of war, but simply a little discouragement toward patronizing too-pretentious films. Full Review

Roger Ebert
October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

I got no impression from this film that Lester really, personally, cares very strongly one way or the other about war. It was only a currently fashionable subject, a good excuse to make a movie. Full Review

Dave Kehr
January 1, 2000
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

Lester's op-pop style, jump cutting from incident to incident, seems too inherently cheerful for the material, which features fountains of stage blood. Full Review

Steve Crum
February 23, 2008
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com

Thought provoking, at very least, John Lennon starrer.

September 10, 2007
TV Guide's Movie Guide

This seemingly incongruous mixture will work for some viewers, and, though the seriousness of Lester's intent may not be appreciated by everyone, most should at least find something here to make them ... Full Review

Geoff Andrew
February 9, 2006
Geoff Andrew, Time Out

Dated, maybe, but Lester's gruesomely black anti-war comedy still looks inventive, and manages occasionally to hit home with its blend of surreal lunacy and barbed satire. Full Review

Ken Hanke
May 31, 2004
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

It still has an edge most films would shy away from. It's brilliant, bitter, defiant and angry. Full Review

Christopher Null
August 27, 2003
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

This war farce (about World War II) is just not funny. Full Review

Jon Fortgang
May 24, 2003
Jon Fortgang, Film4

Ambitious, stylised British satire. Written and acted with conviction, it pulls no punches. Full Review

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