The Olsen Gang Never Surrenders (1979)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Good concept, poorly executed.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

It's around this point that the budget(if not the actual number, then the effort put into making the relatively high amount shine through) and the stakes were raised. The vaults of the ninth, the Copenhagen City Hall Clock in the tenth... and then this one. The gang go to Bruxelles, and there's no doubt that at least much of it was shot on location. They also hijack a tank. The first of those two expenses begets some hilarious scenes. The plot is quite good, even if the main thing at stake is basically the same as it was last time... Denmark's fate. Børge returns, though he's hardly in the film at all. Fie's pregnant, and some attention is placed upon the fact that Kjeld will be a grandfather, though one is left wondering what happened to the first child of the young couple(then again, this *is* the series of the disappearing kids... just watch the transition from the first film to the second). The pacing is quite intense... not a moment is wasted, though I don't think I would say that it goes too quickly. Arthur Jensen portrays the meter maid(Parkeringsvagt) that he did in the ninth, in a very brief but irresistibly funny scene. Solveig Sundborg appears for the last time in one of these films. Interestingly enough, she had very small roles in exactly seven of these films... which makes up half of the entire series(if one counts the '98 reunion film, which, I suppose, one should, as painful for us fans as that can be). Edward Fleming shows up again, in a smaller role, though he does have one gag. Bøffen is hardly in the film at all, though his scene is fairly funny(though his death trap isn't as creative as some of the others seen in the series). As a fun piece of trivia, his character seems to dress slightly differently in each film... new hat, different pieces of footwear and such... but he always wears a blue and white striped shirt with a black leather vest over. Peter Steen has his final role in this film, and with more luck and less of a pitiful overplayed performance than that seen in the three other films(the first three, incidentally) that he appeared in. It's amusing to see Bjørn Watt-Boolsen - in the role of Bang-Johansen - criticizing Holm Hansens big mouth... the very character he played twice, just a few films back. As my father pointed out while we watched, this seems to have more coups than any of the other entries. The opening scene contains what for my money is the single coolest break-in ever committed to film, at the very least for this franchise. The humor is still going strong, in spite of this not being as funny as the former film... the running gag about the police force's view on reporters, the Minister's wife who has a mania to turn out her rooms and the joke pointing out the solemnity of the profession of being a guard all spring to mind. There is poked some fun at the Danes'(and perhaps that of many human beings, in general?) love of good food and beers. The police is parodied, for the umpteenth time. Not much else to say... it's clear that the series is reaching its end at this point, though there is still some creativity left in Bahs and Balling. An entertaining film in the series, and worth watching for at least a few great sequences. I recommend it to any fan of Olsen-Banden and/or Danish comedy in general. Having seen as many of the other films as possible first is a must. 8/10

My all time favorite Olsen-banden movie: Olsen-banden overgiver sig aldrig (1979). This Olsen-banden movie was always different. The movie starts out the same way as all the others; Egon gets released from the Prison in Vridsløse. He has a plan to steal some money from some rich people. Benny is enthusiastic about the idea. Keld is not, because his wife (Yvonne) does not like. But the manage to manipulate her to accept and embrace the plan. On this first half of the movie, Olsen-banden overgiver sig aldrig looks like almost any other of the 14 Olsen-banden movies. But now the similarities ends. Now the Olsen-bande is going to Europa-parlament to steal their money back. The second half really is good. But as all Olsen-banden film, the gang gets scammed as always. They have to travel back to Denmark. There they have to steal the money from a meeting of ministers of Europa. To do this, the gang steals a m-41 walker bulldog tank from the Danish army, and rolls it up to the meeting, steals the money, and gets away. Though the gang never wins in the end, the finale of the movie really is good - bringing a tank into the movie really was a surprise, a good surprise. That is one of the most memorable finales in all of the Olsen-banden movies. If your are Danish: watch this movie. 8/10 - Nuff said.