By Richard Harland Smith
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
Brief Synopsis
American tourists wreak havoc while traveling through Europe.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Mel Stuart
Director
Suzanne Pleshette
Samantha
Ian Mcshane
Charlie
Mildred Natwick
Jenny Grant
Murray Hamilton
Fred Ferguson
Sandy Baron
John Marino
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Comedy
Release Date
Jan
1969
Premiere Information
New York opening: 24 Apr 1969
Production Company
Wolper Pictures, Ltd.
Distribution Company
United Artists
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 38m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (DeLuxe)
Synopsis
Under the guidance of a roguish womanizer named Charlie, a group of American tourists have assembled in London for a whirlwind 18-day bus tour of Europe. Although Charlie plans to keep his evenings free by exhausting his charges during the day, he has failed to reckon with Samantha Perkins, an indefatigable Minneapolis careerwoman who is determined to get her money's worth while trying to decide whether she should marry her conservative boyfriend George. Following a day and night in London, the travelers descend on Amsterdam, and there Edna and Fred Ferguson have trouble keeping their somewhat oversexed daughter, Shelly, away from a young hippie named Bo, and Harve Blakely loses his wife, Irma, when she climbs on the wrong bus and goes off with a group of Japanese tourists. As the sightseers are hustled through Brussels, up the Rhine by steamer, and on to Switzerland, Charlie tries to add Samantha to his list of conquests, but with little success; even when she gets drunk on spiked fondue, she remains immovable. Upon arriving in Venice, Italian-American John Marino has a disastrous encounter with his relatives and is forced to jump out of a bathroom window into a canal in order to avoid being married off to his cousin. As the tour nears its end, Charlie is at last beginning to make progress with Samantha when her boyfriend suddenly appears; but by now certain that life with George would be too dull, Samantha sends him away. Reaching their final stop at Rome, Samantha is involved in an automobile accident, and Charlie has to free her from jail. That night, the long-lost Irma, dressed in kimono and sandals, arrives at the farewell banquet and discovers her husband dancing with the entertainers; and Charlie finally succeeds in getting Samantha to make love to him. At the airport the next day when he begs her to marry him, however, she realizes that he is irresponsible. Saying "I'm a square," she bids him goodby and boards an airplane bound for the States.
Director
Mel Stuart
Director
Cast
Suzanne Pleshette
Samantha
Ian Mcshane
Charlie
Mildred Natwick
Jenny Grant
Murray Hamilton
Fred Ferguson
Sandy Baron
John Marino
Michael Constantine
Jack Harmon
Norman Fell
Harve Blakely
Peggy Cass
Edna Ferguson
Marty Ingels
Bert Greenfield
Pamela Britton
Freda
Luke Halpin
Bo
Reva Rose
Irma Blakely
Sonia Doumen
Miss Belgium
Lilian Atterer
Miss Germany
Lucien Krier
Miss Luxembourg
Aubrey Morris
Harry Dix
Hilarie Thompson
Shelly Ferguson
Mario Carotenuto
Giuseppi
Patricia Routledge
Mrs. Featherstone
Marina Berti
Gina
Ermelinda De Felice
Fiat driver's wife
Paul Esser
German sergeant
Jenny White
Dot
Roger Six
Marcel
Frank Latimore
George
Ben Gazzara
John Cassavetes
Card players
Vittorio De Sica
Shoemaker
Anita Ekberg
Nightclub performer
Elsa Martinelli
Woman on bridge
Catherine Spaak
Woman posing for photographer
Robert Vaughn
Photographer
Senta Berger
Joan Collins
Virna Lisi
Crew
Derek Ball
Sound
Ron Berkeley
Makeup
Vittorio Biseo
Makeup
Jim Brennan
Prod Manager (england)
Karl-heinz Eisner
Prod Manager (germany)
Marc Frederix
Art Director
Vilis Lapenieks
Director of Photography
Ken Lewington
Wardrobe
Wim Lindner
Prod Manager (holland)
Stan Margulies
Producer
Patrick O'brien
Assistant Director
Tom Pevsner
Supervisor prod Manager
Louis Pitzele
Prod Manager (belgium)
John Pullen
Sound Recording
Michel Rittener
Prod Manager (switzerland)
Fritz Roland
2nd unit Photographer
David Saxon
Film Editor
Walter Scharf
Music
David Shaw
Scr-story
Orazio Tassara
Prod Manager (italy)
David L. Wolper
Presented By
David L. Wolper
Executive Producer
Videos
Movie Clip
Hosted Intro
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Comedy
Release Date
Jan
1969
Premiere Information
New York opening: 24 Apr 1969
Production Company
Wolper Pictures, Ltd.
Distribution Company
United Artists
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 38m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (DeLuxe)
Articles
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
Long-time documentarians (The Making of the President 1960, Four Days in November) David L. Wolper and Mel Stuart had their first go at narrative filmmaking with If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969), a tour group comedy inspired by a 1957 New Yorker cartoon. If David Shaw's screenplay aims squarely at the lowest common denominator (grumpy husbands and frumpy wives, time-honored ethnic stereotypes and literal toilet humor), Wolper and Stuart are well-served by a lively cast of television actors (Norman Fell, Michael Constantine, Peggy Cass), the odd feature player (Murray Hamilton, between Seconds and Jaws) and a pair of well-matched leads in Suzanne Pleshette (transitioning from big screen roles to TV stardom) and Ian McShane (close to the beginning of a long and highly diverse career), all of whom give the material personality and spark. A bonus is the location cinematography of Vilis Lapenieks, which bestows upon the hoary hijinks freshness and spontaneity, but the film's trump card is the stunt casting of John Cassavetes and Ben Gazzara (taking five during production of Husbands in London and made to share the frame with Marty Ingels), Senta Berger, Virna Lisi, Elsa Martinelli, Vittorio De Sica, Anita Ekberg, and Robert Vaughn (like Gazzara, pointed towards the Wolper-produced war movie The Bridge at Remagen) in star cameos. Wolper and Stuart's next project was Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971).
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
Long-time documentarians (The Making of the President 1960, Four Days in November) David L. Wolper and Mel Stuart had their first go at narrative filmmaking with If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969), a tour group comedy inspired by a 1957 New Yorker cartoon. If David Shaw's screenplay aims squarely at the lowest common denominator (grumpy husbands and frumpy wives, time-honored ethnic stereotypes and literal toilet humor), Wolper and Stuart are well-served by a lively cast of television actors (Norman Fell, Michael Constantine, Peggy Cass), the odd feature player (Murray Hamilton, between Seconds and Jaws) and a pair of well-matched leads in Suzanne Pleshette (transitioning from big screen roles to TV stardom) and Ian McShane (close to the beginning of a long and highly diverse career), all of whom give the material personality and spark. A bonus is the location cinematography of Vilis Lapenieks, which bestows upon the hoary hijinks freshness and spontaneity, but the film's trump card is the stunt casting of John Cassavetes and Ben Gazzara (taking five during production of Husbands in London and made to share the frame with Marty Ingels), Senta Berger, Virna Lisi, Elsa Martinelli, Vittorio De Sica, Anita Ekberg, and Robert Vaughn (like Gazzara, pointed towards the Wolper-produced war movie The Bridge at Remagen) in star cameos. Wolper and Stuart's next project was Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971).
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Location scenes filmed in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, and England. Inspired by a New Yorker cartoon and a 1966 CBS-TV News Special of the same title.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Spring April 1969
Released in United States Spring April 1969
