After leaving the army and returning to university, newly graduated upper class Stanley Windrush is looking for a job but fails miserably at interviews for various entry level management positions. His uncle, Bertram Tracepurcel and his old army comrade, Sidney DeVere Cox, persuade him to take an unskilled blue-collar job at Tracepurcel's missile factory, despite Aunt Dolly's misgivings. At first suspicious of the overeager newcomer, communist shop steward Fred Kite takes Stanley under his wing and even offers to take him in as a lodger. When Kite's curvaceous daughter Cynthia drops by, Stanley readily accepts. Meanwhile, personnel manager Major Hitchcock is assigned a time and motion study expert, Waters, to measure how efficient the employees are. The workers refuse to cooperate but Waters tricks Windrush into showing him how much more quickly he can do his job with his forklift truck than other more experienced employees. When Kite is informed of the results, he calls a strike to protect the rates his union workers are being paid. This is what Cox and Tracepurcel want: Cox owns a company that can take over a large new contract with a Middle Eastern country at an inflated cost. He, Tracepurcel and a Mr Mohammed, the country's representative, would each pocket a third of the £100,000 difference. Things don't work out for either side. Cox arrives at his factory to find that his workers are walking out in sympathy for Kite and his strikers. The press reports that Kite is punishing Windrush for working hard. When Windrush decides to cross the picket line and go back to work, Kite asks him to leave his house. This provokes the adoring Cynthia and her mother to go on strike. More strikes spring up, bringing the country to a standstill. Faced with these new developments, Tracepurcel has no choice but to send Hitchcock to negotiate with Kite. They reach an agreement but Windrush has made both sides look bad and has to go. Cox tries to bribe him with a bagful of money to resign quietly but Windrush turns him down. On a televised discussion programme moderated by Malcolm Muggeridge, Windrush reveals to the nation the underhanded motivations of all concerned. When he throws Cox's bribe money into the air, the studio audience riots. In the end, Windrush is convicted of causing a disturbance and everyone else is exonerated. He is last seen with his father relaxing at a nudist colony, only to have to flee from the female residents' attentions.
The film was a big hit, being the most popular film in Britain for the year ended 31 October 1959. It was reportedly the second most profitable British movie that year after Carry On Nurse. As well as Sellers' BAFTA, it also won the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay. Bosley Crowther in The New York Times called it "the brightest, liveliest comedy seen this year." On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 88% based on reviews from 8 critics.
