How I Won the War (1967)

58% of critics liked it
(12 reviews)
54% of users liked it
(1,295 ratings)

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 1963 novel, screenwriter Charles Wood and director Richard Lester offered a narrative fractured by… More 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 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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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 51 min.
Directed By: Richard Lester
Written By: Patrick Ryan, Charles Wood
Genres: Drama, Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1967 Wide
On DVD: Apr 10, 2001
Studio: MGM Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

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.
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.
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.
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.
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com
Thought provoking, at very least, John Lennon starrer.
, 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 laugh.
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.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
It still has an edge most films would shy away from. It's brilliant, bitter, defiant and angry.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
This war farce (about World War II) is just not funny.
Jon Fortgang, Film4
Ambitious, stylised British satire. Written and acted with conviction, it pulls no punches.

Read all 10 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Randy T

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 <i>How I Won the War</i>. The accents are so thick and the humor so uniquely British that even when I could understand it I… More
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 <i>How I Won the War</i>. The accents are so thick and the humor so uniquely British that even when I could understand it I couldn't understand it.

Cast

            Michael Crawford as Lt. Ernest Goodbody

            John Lennon as Gripweed

            Roy Kinnear as Clapper

            Lee Montague as Sgt. Transom

            Jack MacGowran as Juniper

            Michael Hordern as Grapple

            Jack Hedley as Melancholy Musketeer

            Karl Michael Vogler as Odlebog

            Ronald Lacey as Spool

            James Cossins as Drogue

            Ewan Hooper as Dooley

            Alexander Knox as American general

            Robert Hardy as British General

            Sheila Hancock as Mrs. Clapper's Friend

            Charles Dyer as Flappy-Trousered Man

            Bill Dysart as Paratrooper

            Paul Daneman as Skipper

            Peter Graves as Staff Officer

            Jack May as Toby

            Richard Pearson as Old Man at Alamein

            Pauline Taylor as Woman In Desert

            John Ronane as Operator

            Norman Chappell as Soldier at Alamein

            Bryan Pringle as Reporter

            Fanny Carby as Mrs. Clapper

            Dandy Nichols as 1st Old Lady

            Gretchen Franklin as Old Lady

            John Junkin as Large Child

            John Trenaman as Driver

            Mick Dillon as 1st Replacement

            Kenneth Colley as Replacement
See full cast