The Young Ones (TV series) Basterd (Adrian Edmondson); conceited wannabe anarchist sociology student, Rick (Rik Mayall); oppressed paranoid hippie peace studies student, Neil Wheedon Watkins Pye (Nigel Planer); and the suave, charming would-be underground mob boss, Mike The-Cool-Person (Christopher Ryan). It also featured Alexei Sayle, who played various members of the Balowski family—most often Jerzei Balowski, the quartet's landlord—and occasional independent characters, such as the train driver in "Bambi" and the Mussolini-lookalike Police Chief in "Cash". The show combined traditional sitcom style with violent slapstick, non-sequitur plot turns, and surrealism. These older styles were mixed with the working and lower-middle class attitudes of the growing
The Lucky Ones (film) consideration. But when the similarly war-themed films "In the Valley of Elah", "Rendition", and "Lions for Lambs" opened and failed to generate much box office revenue, the studio and Neil Burger decided to schedule it for Spring 2008. When the film's future remained in limbo, producer Rick Schwartz acknowledged the difficulty in marketing a war-related film to an audience that recently had rejected three, although "The Lucky Ones" primarily is a road movie, and its sole combat scene lasts only forty seconds. "What should we do with this one?," Schwartz wondered. "Do you do a trailer that’s more light and