IT'S the most successful British movie ever - but it's got a way to go to beat The Sound of Music in Oxford. The Oxford Mail's Stephanie McKeown looks at the city's reaction to The Full Monty... CINEMA manager Mike Plews thought 28 weeks was an impressive record - but an aging 1960s relic lasted twice as long.

Mike, manager of Oxford's ABC cinemas, was convinced British movie The Full Monty - now in its 28th week in the city - was Oxford's longest-running film.

How wrong he was. More than 30 years ago, national treasure Julie Andrews climbed every mountain every evening for more than a year at the ABC in Magdalen Street.

The Sound of Music started on Boxing Day 1965 as a stop-gap before My Fair Lady: 58 weeks later it ended, having been seen by 600,000 people in Oxford - which had a population of just 106,000.

By comparison, The Full Monty has pulled in a mere 75,000 in Oxford, making £300,000 at the box office here. Even with plans to run until Easter, its chances of catching up do not look good.

But while the film about unemployed Sheffield steelworkers transforming into a troupe of cut-price male strippers - think The Chippendales without the benefit of baby oil or hair extensions - may not be the equal of the Edelweiss epic for staying power, it is the most successful movie ever in Britiain. It has taken more money than Jurassic Park and has topped its success with four Oscar nominations, including Best Film and Best Director.

Mike sees the success of the small-scale, low-budget movie as some kind of reaction against the excesses of Hollywood blockbusters, all whizz-bang special effects and no plot.

"It's British, it's down to earth, it's a film people can associate with. There are no special effects, unlike the American movies. It's just good British humour."

But to attract 600,000 viewers and truly follow in the footsteps of The Sound of Music, The Full Monty perhaps needs that little extra something.

What if, for instance, they bid Robert Carlyle auf wiedersehen, goodbye, substitute a guitar-strumming trainee nun and end up with The Full Julie - steelworkers shed their kit in an Alpine meadow to the kickin' groove of Climb Every Mountain: The Club Remix?

Oscars, here we come.

Our picture shows Oxford's ABC cinema assistant manager Mark Brown hiding his blushes with help from staff Rachel Stubbington, left, and Cristina Ferrer Nun too far for ushers EVEN the finest film can lose its freshness - so who can blame the projectionist who threatened to jump off the roof when The Sound of Music was shown in Oxford for the 500th time?

George Anderson, projectionist at the ABC in Magdalen Street back then, never did jump on that fateful day in 1966.

He sensibly arranged to be on holiday during the 500th showing instead.

But there was no such relief for the ushers of the time, who quit in droves - driven distracted by the 'problem called Maria' and utterly unable to cope with one more rendition of chirpy Doh A Deer.

Not like their successors at the ABC in George Street, where today's ushers are content to watch Robert Carlyle and co drop their drawers up to four times a day in The Full Monty.

As usher Alan Wiggins put it: "It is one where if you go more than once you'll spot things you missed before."

Colleague Ann Byles is also mad for Monty.

She said: "I have watched it every day and night and it is really good. It does get a bit boring but it is a really good film."

But not all movies are so popular among cinema staff.

If a film packs a particularly heavy emotional punch - recent examples have included Schindler's List, Michael Collins and Malcolm X - ushers may ask to be taken off duty at the screen where it is showing.

As Alan explained: "There are a few things one does not particularly want to take time sitting in." What the critics say... Success comes

at a cost to others (By David Parkinson, Oxford Mail film critic) THE news that The Full Monty has overtaken Jurassic Park at the top of the British box office charts should be cause for celebration.

It's somehow very British that a little film about underdogs triumphing in the face of adversity should have made it to the top of the greasy pole.

Yet the longevity of films such as The Full Monty is anything but good news for the movie-goer.

While cinema managers are rubbing their hands in glee, the rest of us are missing out on dozens of films that would otherwise have reached Oxford had we not gone Monty-mad.

Only a fraction of a year's releases are ever going to reach Oxford - especially as we have no multiplex. So there's no blame attached to the ABCs, the Phoenix or the Ultimate Picture Palace.

Indeed, they do well to come up with such varied programmes. Many's the time the Phoenix would have dearly loved to hang on to a film only to have to let it go to stick to its schedule.

But it's hard to see how the situation will change in the near future. Distributors are unlikely to offer cinemas cut-price rental rates simply to allow the humble viewer the chance to see their films.

A multiplex might ease screen congestion, but it would only result in an increase in Hollywood pulp and might well spell disaster for the art houses.

No-one expected The Full Monty to be a hit, let alone a sensation. While few would begrudge the producers their windfall and the cast their moment in the spotlight, it's a shame its success has cost other films their chance to reveal what they had to offer. The bare facts (By Colin Brown and Kevin Rose, strippers from Carterton) FOR entertainment value, it's ten out of ten. It's a very good film indeed.

The comedy elements within the film are true to life, although there is not as much about male stripping and hen nights as we thought there would be.

They strip in the film as a gang of lads in a one-off situation for friends and family. But if they were to turn up in real life, in real venues, being paid to do their show, they would probably be lynched by the women.

They are only on stage for two minutes and it comes to an end very suddenly, which surprised us. Had they done it in real life it would have to have been for at least 20 minutes.

As soon as they reveal themselves the film stops, so it is wide open for The Full Monty Part 2, with them on tour.

We both thought the film was a bit tame for a film about stripping. It could have been a lot saucier. We thought the Carry-On films were naughtier than that.

We felt strange as two men going in to see a film about strippers. There were mainly gangs of women or husbands and wives. But we would highly recommend it to lads, because we thought men could relate to the problems the characters went through.

When we got home we both felt it could have been a bit of a life-story for us, because we have experienced the embarrassing audition scenes in the film. And we were ridiculed at first for stripping.

It was definitely true to life - the directors chose a stripper's worst nightmares. They have obviously talked to people in the business.

We did, however, think the characters would spend more time 'on the road' as a strip troupe. Nevertheless, as entertainment, we would highly recommend it. It was a good laugh with very British humour. DO you remember The Sound of Music coming to Oxford? Perhaps you were an usher at the ABC and got sick of it? Tell the Newsdesk by calling 01865 425262

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.