Whoops Apocalypse ** (1986, Loretta Swit, Peter Cook, Rik Mayall, Ian Richardson, Alexei Sayle, Herbert Lom, Richard Wilson, Michael Richards, Richard Pearson) – Classic Movie Review 13,547

Whoops Apocalypse (1986): Loretta Swit stars as US President Barbara Adams fending off the Russkies after a British colony is invaded by its neighbour under dictator General Mosquera (Herbert Lom) and the UK Premier (Peter Cook) wants a nuclear strike.

Director Tom Bussmann’s 1986 British comedy film Whoops Apocalypse stars Loretta Swit, Peter Cook, Rik Mayall, Ian Richardson, Alexei Sayle, Herbert Lom, Richard Wilson, Michael Richards and Richard Pearson.

A funny British six-part TV show from 1982 gets a surprise big-screen spinoff from ITC Entertainment and an unexpected star in M.A.S.H.’s Loretta Swit as a female American President called Barbara Adams fending off the Russkies. It’s all because the Brits, led by Premier Sir Mortimer Chris (Peter Cook), want to launch a nuclear strike after a South American country invades a small British territory.

The TV show’s writers Andrew Marshall and David Renwick have come up with a shaky, only occasionally amusing script with a different plot from the series for this slapstick satire, which unfortunately brings to mind the vastly superior Dr Strangelove.

A highly impressive roster of talented British comics such as Rik Mayall (as Specialist Catering Commander) and Alexei Sayle (as Alexei Sayle in a Hawaiian Shirt) are slightly at sea with the material, but canny Cook adds spice to the lumpy, but fairly tasty broth, and Loretta Swit, Ian Richardson and Herbert Lom are good value.

Loretta Swit (November 4, 1937 – May 30 2025) is best known as Hot Lips Houlihan on TV’s M*A*S*H, for which she won two Emmy Awards. She starred in films including Freebie and the Bean (1974), Race with the Devil (1975), Beer (1985), Whoops Apocalypse (1986), and Blake Edwards’s biting Hollywood satire S.O.B. (1981).

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,547

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