People are voting emotionally.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

This was a big studio attempt to tap into the counter-culture movement. It attempts to be satiric, ironic, quirky, and off-beat. And it succeeds much of the time. The direction, editing, and sound can be witty, playing with the subject matter, situations, and setting. The comedy doesn't always work, the pace drags in places, and the characters get tedious at times riding their respective hobby-horses. But there's a lot of fun on the way, and a decent love story between antipathies, played by Suzanne Pleshette, and Ian McShane. You'll also see a lot of faces more familiar to you from TV of the era and succeeding decades. In the end, the movie does manage not to be bound by conventions of Hollywood storytelling. To know what I mean, you'll have to watch it all the way through yourself. Just know some of these 60s counter-culture films worked and some didn't. Those that didn't usually had one foot in the production code era and one foot in the cultural revolution that had not yet hit the suburbs yet, with a script seeming to be at war with itself. This is one film that worked and did not have these problems.

... 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.

Like some of the other reviewers, I too saw this movie when I was younger, and it stuck in my mind for years, until I finally saw it advertised in the TV guide some 2 or 3 months ago, and I made sure that I taped it.I am pleased to have it in my collection. It is a light-hearted romp through 1960's Europe with a bunch of American tourists, including a kleptomaniac, lead by a lonely Englishman. We are given glimpses into the personal lives of each of them, and there are attempts at holiday romance between some. There are several postcard-like scenes of many countries, and the canals play a major part in the scenery. The highlight is probably when one man "loses" his wife and she ends up on a completely different tour going in the opposite direction!This movie is not riotous or hilarious, but it is humorous and light-hearted fun with some great stars such as Suzanne Plashette, Norman Fell, and Michael Constantine. Ian McShane is the lonely tour-guide, and there are appearances by Robert Vaughan, Virna Lisi, Ben Gazzara, and Anita Ekberg, among others.It's a bit of fun, pretty typical of the romantic comedies of the era, and it is safe for the kids to watch! I think that you will enjoy this family movie.

If nothing else, IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE BELGIUM serves as a nice travelogue for any armchair traveler to enjoy with a glass of wine (or beer, if that's your taste!) It's a funny, uncomplicated look at a bevy of assorted American tourists doing a quick tour of several foreign countries--and the various humorous situations stemming from just such a tour.Funniest bit has one of them (Reva Rose) getting on the wrong tour bus and spending the rest of the film trying to catch up to her husband. SUZANNE PLESHETTE attracts the attention of tour guide IAN McSHANE, so there's love interest going on amid the comical situations.Among the other tourists are MILDRED NATWICK, MURRAY HAMILTON and PEGGY CASS. It's all in good fun and entertaining enough whether you've been on such a trip or not.Trivia note: The N.Y. Times noted that it was appropriate for this one to wind up at Radio City Music Hall during the height of the summer season, since that's where most tired tourists went to see a show in New York.