User reviews

One of the better movies in the Jönssonligan series. This 1984 adventure is the third movie and great fun. The plot is alright and the acting (as always) great. Jönssonligan får guldfeber is mostly recommended for its thrilling scene at the city hall in Stockholm. High up in the tall building Jönssonligan is trapped climbing on to the large clock outside the tower. I rate it 5/10 close to 6/10.

In Jönssonligan får guldfeber, the third and arguably the best entry in a long-running Swedish franchise of comedic heist films, the gang is back with another ludicrously complicated plan and a plot with many twists and turns. By now, each member of the gang had established their specific roles, sort of like a lowbrow, farcical version of the Marx brothers (inasmuch as they were highbrow). There's the explosion-crazy drunkard Harry (Björn Gustafson), there's the sleazy Vanheden (Ulf Brunnberg) with his heavy Stockholm accent, and there's the brain behind the heists – the arrogant genius Charles Ingvar Jönsson (Gösta Ekman).

These are hardly their best roles, but Brunnberg and Ekman might actually be two of my favourite Swedish actors. Ekman in particular is quite brilliant in his particular brand of physical comedy, but they play off each other very well. As a Swede, it is also amusing to see supporting actors such as Peter Harryson as a fervent chauffeur.

While not to be taken very seriously, the film does have two genuinely suspenseful scenes. Firstly, it has a sweat inducing heist scene taking place inside a van. Secondly, the finale at the clock of the Stockholm City Hall is also very good. (Fun fact: as can be seen from the extremely poor special effects, the city hall does not actually have a clock.) However, most of all, it is just a very entertaining film. Though he is not my favourite, the two funniest scenes involve Harry. In the first one, he tries to open the most impossible package of beer I have ever seen. In the second, he dresses up as an old man in a wheelchair and coins the phrase "pump it up, Gren", which became sort of a catch phrase in my group of friends.