Product Details

• Actors: Suzanne Pleshette, Ian McShane, Mel Stuart
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302641942
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,027 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Suzanne Pleshette, who never got the career she deserved, achieved TV success as the skeptical wife on The Bob Newhart Show, but If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium--a 1969 comedy about tourists on a speed tour of Europe--shows off the movie star that Pleshette could have been. The movie sounds like an excuse for a lot of cheap gags, and there are plenty of broad jokes, but they're balanced by sly satirical bits that cut both ways (the vulgar Americans and the cynical Europeans get equally mocked). Even more unexpected are moments of lyricism, cross-cultural generosity, and bittersweetness, such as when a veteran finally re-meets the Italian woman he's been holding a torch for since World War II. These swift but skillful vignettes get fleshed out by a great crew of late-60s character actors and comedians. Holding the episodes together is the ongoing flirtation between Pleshette's no-nonsense Minnesota businesswoman and the wily British tour guide played by Ian McShane (fans of Deadwood will gape in astonishment at his boyish youth). McShane is shamelessly charming, but Pleshette is ravishing, both sensible and drop-dead sexy. The combination sounds improbable, but when she's standing on a balcony, drowsily surveying Rome in the morning light, and wearing nothing but a man's shirt, Pleshette fuses what-the-hell pleasure with the knowledge that, sometimes, things just don't work out. She's heartbreaking and resilient; this woman should have been a star. If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium is a deeply enjoyable movie with a unique combination of humor and humanity that holds up remarkably well. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Madcap! Zany!! Very Enjoyable!, January 9, 2003

By 

Deborah MacGillivray "Author," (US & UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: If It's Tuesday This Must Be Belgium [VHS] (VHS Tape)

9 countries in 18 days is responsible from lines such as "I think I was born on this bus"...to which a reply came "I think I died on this bus." It's a riot, with some great comedic stars of the 60's. The core of the story is Yank Suzanne Plushette (with wigs that make her hair look like it grows a years growth in those 18 days!!) is woman on the verge of committing to marriage, and not really thrilled about it, so she joins a tour bus to see Europe. Charlie (Ian McShane) is the womanising tour guide, who marks her for a good time, but their relationship grows to the point Susan must decide whether to stop being the middle class Yank with the boring, but safe middle class marriage ahead of her, or to toss it all to the wind for Charlie and his life of little substance, but one that is exciting. You have family with daughter who has found 'boys!!', a man and wife who end up on separate buses and keep missing each other, a WWII vet visiting the site of his former battles, a man wanting an expensive pair of Italian shoes for cheap price, another visiting his long lost relatives, another who is stealing 'souvenirs' from every hotel to where he cannot lift their luggage, but never speaks, and one put upon husband who keeps threatening his wife 'I'm an going to get you for this'.

Its a great fun movie, that you will watch again and again.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Funny...after all of these years!, January 7, 2002

By 

Steve Nakamoto "The Friendly Voice of the... (Huntington Beach, California USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: If It's Tuesday This Must Be Belgium [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Besides being an author, I am also a professional tour director. So this movie is especially funny and interesting as both a tourist and as a tour director.

Today as in 1969, American still go on packaged group tours. And I've also led group tours in America for Europeans. What happens on these tours is a lot like the movie....going to all the tourist highlights, getting lost, culture/customs misunderstandings, hotel disappointments, etc. Whatever could go wrong eventually does go wrong.

I like this movie so much that I bring it along on my longer tours to watch. In the group tour business, this is a hilarious classic.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travel Europe with Laughter, September 25, 2002

By 

W. Budris (Rosedale, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: If It's Tuesday This Must Be Belgium [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I saw this film 2 or 3 times when first released with my parents. They were not ones to pay for a movie twice, but they did on this one. Very funny from start to finish, with another great ensemble cast, and a ton of cameos. I discovered Iam McShane in this film, who is now currently on PBS is a mystery series from the BBC. I've always loved Suzanne Pleshette, and she is a delight in a romp with a very buxom Italian lady who has poor Suzanne land in a fountain after their little car accident in Rome (POLICIA!). Reva Rose gave poor Norman Fell (Mr. Roper on Three's Company) a run for his money by joining the wrong tour in Amsterdam, and actually passing each other on different boats on the Rhine. Peggy Cass is married to Murray Hamilton (pre-Jaws) who keeps threatening to "Get her for this". A lovely lively romp and so much better than the TV Movie remake.