On the Beat Backdrop Blur
On the Beat Poster

On the Beat

"As the COPPER who comes a CROPPER!"

Norman Pitkin wants to be a policeman like his father was, but he fails the height test (amongst others). One day he gets out his father's old uniform and "walks the beat". This leads to a level of chaos that only Pitkin could cause

Top Cast

  • Norman Wisdom

    Norman Wisdom

    Norman Pitkin / Giulio Napolitani

  • Jennifer Jayne

    Jennifer Jayne

    Rosanna Guardia

  • Raymond Huntley

    Raymond Huntley

    Sir Ronald Ackroyd

  • David Lodge

    David Lodge

    Inspector Cecil Hobson

  • Esma Cannon

    Esma Cannon

    Mrs. Timms

  • Eric Barker

    Eric Barker

    Police Doctor

  • Eleanor Summerfield

    Eleanor Summerfield

    Sergeant Lucilla Wilkins

  • Ronnie Stevens

    Ronnie Stevens

    Oberon

  • Terence Alexander

    Terence Alexander

    Chief Superintendent Bert Belcher

Overview

Norman Pitkin wants to be a policeman like his father was, but he fails the height test (amongst others). One day he gets out his father's old uniform and "walks the beat". This leads to a level of chaos that only Pitkin could cause

Rating

7.7 / 10
33 Reviews
1 Popular

1 Reviews

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    6 Mar 25, 2023

    Sometimes I forget just how charismatic and talented Norman Wisdom was. I was never a fan of slapstick humour, but somehow he always manages to inject the tiniest elements of class - even sophistication - into his performances. Here, he delivers one of his better and harder-working efforts as "Pitkin"; son of a decorated police officer who, it had been deemed, is too short to serve in the constabulary himself - so he gets a job cleaning their cars! Now cue for a fun water fight; the Commissioner gets soaked and he gets fired. Luckily for him, though, the police are under huge pressure to apprehend a jewel thief whom they think is masquerading as an high-end hairdresser. Guess what? "Neopolitani" is the spitting image of "Pitkin" and so back he is drafted to infiltrate the salon and hopefully bring down this criminal kingpin. This benefits strongly from an established cast of film and theatre actors who are no strangers to comedy: Terence Alexander, the scene-stealing Esme Cannon, David Lodge and Raymond Huntley (whom I could swear I saw struggling to contain his smiles at times). "Pitkin" even manages to find himself a little love interest in "Rosanna" (Jennifer Jayne) and, of course, there's not the merest doubt that Scotland Yard will get their man. It's a bit too long, and there is a decent smidgeon of stereotyping going on - but I think it fair to remember it's all pretty harmless and representative of British humour in the early 1960s and taken in that spirit is a good example of a star leading an enjoyable enough ensemble effort on a trail of mischief and mayhem.

Recommendations

See Spot Run

A drug sniffing agent canine is a target for an assassin boss so the FBI calls Witness Protection to send him somewhere else. Meanwhile a single Mom puts her 6 year old boy James in the care of her irresponsible, mailman, neighbor, Gordon, when the babysitter bails on her. Meanwhile, an assassin mob boss hires 2 goons to kill Agent 11. But when 11 escapes from the van when they tried to kill him, he hides in Gordon's Mailtruck that James is in too. And guess what they name him. Spot.

See Spot Run

6.1 2001