... but no movie stars in key roles, unless you (graciously) count Murray Hamilton, Norman Fell or Mildred Natwick. There are cameos by Robert Vaughn, John Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara, Vittorio De Sica and Anita Ekberg, but the main roles were played by yet-to-be (TV) stars - like Ian McShane and Suzanne Pleshette - and other somewhat unknown (at least today) character actors like Sandy Baron, Michael Constantine, Pamela Britton, Reva Rose, Marty Ingels and Peggy Cass.
The story is about a busload of Americans tourists in Europe that get a surface-level road & boat tour of many of the continent's highlights in less than 3 weeks time. Charlie Cartwright (McShane) is their guide, who is necessarily part parent, nanny, psychiatrist, coach, friend and even lover to his charges, a job he's apparently done for more than a dozen years. Kind of like a sailor with a girl in every port, charming Charlie's off-duty exploits are frequently interrupted by various problems that crop up during this, his 225th tour.
Of the tourists, Suzanne Pleshette as Samantha Perkins gets most of the screen time, and the film's title could have been "Prudence returns to Rome all grown up" after her 'Adventure' with Troy Donahue in 1962. She being the only young single woman on the bus, Charlie flirts with her throughout but doesn't make any progress until late in the movie, stereotypically after getting her drunk. In fact, the filmmakers exploit quite a few stereotypes throughout the movie, though none offensively even when available.
Even at only 98 minutes, it drags a bit when Donovan - who wrote the title song, which refers to the routine nature of the tour - sings "Lord of the Reedy River" (catch it on youtube, if you'd like) at a youth hostel. All in all it's a fairly harmless romp and there are some sweet scenes, but probably too few humorous ones to recommend it very highly.
The story is about a busload of Americans tourists in Europe that get a surface-level road & boat tour of many of the continent's highlights in less than 3 weeks time. Charlie Cartwright (McShane) is their guide, who is necessarily part parent, nanny, psychiatrist, coach, friend and even lover to his charges, a job he's apparently done for more than a dozen years. Kind of like a sailor with a girl in every port, charming Charlie's off-duty exploits are frequently interrupted by various problems that crop up during this, his 225th tour.
Of the tourists, Suzanne Pleshette as Samantha Perkins gets most of the screen time, and the film's title could have been "Prudence returns to Rome all grown up" after her 'Adventure' with Troy Donahue in 1962. She being the only young single woman on the bus, Charlie flirts with her throughout but doesn't make any progress until late in the movie, stereotypically after getting her drunk. In fact, the filmmakers exploit quite a few stereotypes throughout the movie, though none offensively even when available.
Even at only 98 minutes, it drags a bit when Donovan - who wrote the title song, which refers to the routine nature of the tour - sings "Lord of the Reedy River" (catch it on youtube, if you'd like) at a youth hostel. All in all it's a fairly harmless romp and there are some sweet scenes, but probably too few humorous ones to recommend it very highly.