The Bargee

Name: The Bargee
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1964-05-01
Duration: 1 h 42 min
Rating: 6.2
Cast: Harry H. Corbett, Hugh Griffith, Eric Sykes

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

540

YOUR RATING

Hemel Pike is a canal-barge Casanova, aided and abetted by his illiterate cousin Ronnie. Hemel has a girl in every town along his route, and each one is intent on marriage. He is finally caught when one of the girls, Christine, falls pregnant.

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Comedy

A lock-keeper entrusts his daughter with a canal Casanova, and she soon falls pregnant. He refuses to open his locks until the guilty party confesses.A lock-keeper entrusts his daughter with a canal Casanova, and she soon falls pregnant. He refuses to open his locks until the guilty party confesses.A lock-keeper entrusts his daughter with a canal Casanova, and she soon falls pregnant. He refuses to open his locks until the guilty party confesses.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

540

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
The narrow-boats Banstead and Bellerophon which were used in the film were built in 1936 and are still in existence (2016). Bellerophon became a horse drawn trip-boat on the River Wey and was renamed Iona. In this guise it made an appearance in the British TV soap Coronation Street (1960). Banstead continued to work for British Waterways until 1969 when it was sold to private use and after a career as camping boat and tearoom, Banstead is now fully restored to working condition and can often be seen on the Grand Union canal where it remains a minor celebrity, as many locals still remember the filming of The Bargee (1964) with fond memories.

Goofs
When planning the journey on the Grand Union Canal, the pair agree the first night at Rickmansworth, the second at Boxmoor and the third at Apsley. Geographically, Apsley is before Boxmoor and also the two places are only a mile apart, so would not both be overnight stopping points, even if in the correct order.

Quotes
[Doctor Scott has just told Joe that his daughter is pregnant]
Joe: She must have been drugged or something. She couldn't have done it by herself.
Doctor Scott: No, quite.
Joe: I'll kill him! So help me, I'll kill him! They way I've looked after her. I promised her mother I'd send her to grammar school. And now the first yob that comes along, this happens.
Doctor Scott: [trying to be reassuring] Oh come now. It may not have been the *first* one.

Soundtracks
In Party Mood
(uncredited)
Composed by Jack Strachey

User reviews15

Review

Featured review

10/10

A gentle comedy with bitter-sweet undertones of the end of an era

The film is unique in that it attempts to portray working life on the English canals as it really was in the 1960s, without the affected prettification of most accounts.

The bargees are workmen, Hemel (Corbett) the ladies man trapped by a pretty girl, and propelled to the altar on the end of a shotgun, and Ronnie (Barker) his none too bright right hand man.

The film is set immediately before the end of the way of life that it portrays, as commercial narrowboat carrying came to an end on Britains waterways. At the time of its release, this was a very recent memory, the trade having been finally killed off by the severe winter of 1963.

The boats seen in the film are the genuine article, used in a film about the end of the trade, mere months after it ended. Within a very short time after the film, most of the craft had been destroyed, leaving only a few in preservation.