You Must Be Joking!

One of several off-beat '60s English comedies directed by the irrepressible Michael Winner (Death Wish), this cult favorite finds five soldiers -- including one Yank played by Michael Callan (Cat Ballou) -- sent on a 48-hour scavenger hunt by a military psychiatrist (the legendary Terry-Thomas) who is himself in need of a spot of analysis. The object: to determine which one is the quickest thinker in unpredictable circumstances. An enormous collection of Britain's finest farceurs plus a lively score by Laurie Johnson (TV's "The Avengers") make this an irresistible treat. Newly remastered.

YOU MUST BE JOKING' draws its laughs from an Army endurance test. Over a 48-hour period, five officers in the British army-including American transplant Michael Callan-must wend their way through a maze, retrieve a hood ornament from a Rolls Royce and steal a lock of hair from beauteous pop singer Gabriella Licudi. There's a big prize in store for the officer who finishes the test first, and since the other contestant include such middle-aged huffers and puffers as Lionel Jeffries and Denholm Elliot, it doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to figure out who the victor will be. Director Michael Winner was still in his "mad mod" period when he lensed the wacky goings-on of YOU MUST BE JOKING' His DEATH WISH pictures of the 1970s were in 1965 as remote as another galaxy.