Alternative Character Interpretation: In the pre-credit heists, Egon often resigns and accepts his impending arrest, even if he still has a chance to run. While no official reason is given, some people interpret it as him giving Kjeld and Benny a better chance to escape.
The jazzy theme (written by Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, the man behind the "Alley Cat") remains one of the most beloved tunes in Denmark today.
Same with the Swedish theme by Ragnar Grippe, a short electronic tune with different arranges in each of the films. In general, the soundtracks he wrote for the movies really add to the more intense scenes.
Fanon Discontinuity: Parodies and fanworks of the Swedish series typically ignore anything established in the last three films, such as the characters who replaced Sickan as the gang's leader or Doris having a child called Lillan from a previous relationship.
Fridge Horror: More of a fridge Tear Jerker, but watching the Olsenbanden Jr movies and getting to know the younger, more heroic and vastly more successful version of the gang, it's definitely a bit of a shock to go over to the regular movies where the adult gang are criminals who never catch a break, with Egon going in and out of prison... but after a fashion, the development makes sense. No matter how much the gang are hailed as heroes at the end of one movie, they're back to being viewed as hooligans at the beginning of the next. Get one corrupt and greedy head of the orphanage fired, and another head who's just as corrupt and greedy will soon take his place. Nothing really changes; the rich douchebags keep on being rich douchebags and the poor people never catch a break. Small wonder, really, that Egon as he grew up lost his faith in humanity and decided that he might as well become a criminal for real.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Though never unpopular in Denmark, the films enjoyed great popularity in Eastern Germany, where they were easily allowed broadcast as the target of the gang's heists were pretty much all greedy capitalist archetypes. Allegedly the people of the DDR liked it because they saw it as a tale of "the little man vs. the system".
When Egon Krenz replaced Erich Honecker as East Germany's leader shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the slogan "Do you have a plan, Egon?" became very popular among the opposition.
Benny's brother Harry is a minor character in the original Danish series, but in both the Norwegian and Swedish versions he was so popular he got much larger roles, even replacing Kjeld and becoming a permanent member of the gang in the Swedish series in his second appearance.
To much lesser extent than in Eastern Germany, the Danish series was still very popular throughout the rest of Eastern Block. Censors had no political issues with it, while audiences considered them both amusing and a window to the Western world.
Growing the Beard: The first two movies in the Danish version mainly rely on sight gags and love stories. The third, Olsen Banden in Jutland, is widely considered the first real Olsen-Banden movie.
Harsher in Hindsight: Jensen's expository speech about how the politicians are letting a group of large multinational companies take control of Europe from 1979 has only gotten more worrying over the decades:
You see, young man, the politicians have to consider the voters. The people and suchlike. The big multinational companies don't have to do that. They can just focus on the real issues. Budget control, contribution margin, management, profitability. Survival of the fittest. They'll run everything just fine.
Hilarious in Hindsight: In the 9th Danish movie Olsen Banden Deruda (1977) Yvonne's computer-savvy nephew Georg mocks Egon's age, saying that in America leaders are burned out and fired when they hit forty. Three years later the septuagenarian Ronald Reagan was elected president, becoming the oldest American president ever. Disproven once again when Donald Trump became president, just barely edging out Reagan in age (70 vs. 69), and again when Joe Biden became a President-elect at age 77.
More Popular Replacement: From the third Jönssonligan movie and on, Dynamit-Harry replaces Rocky as the third member of the gang (a major deviation from the original Danish movies). While Rocky was never unpopular, Harry, Sickan and Vanheden became the most enduring incarnation of the trio, being featured in spin-off media such as the Lilla Jönssonligan movies and the licensed games, while Rocky only has had a role in one of the reboot movies (Jönssonligan - Den perfekta stöten) after being replaced.
Egon is walled up alive in Olsenbanden Ser Rødt. Many suffered the same fate before him and they weren't rescued. It is strongly hinted at, although not shown, that this is what happens to the villain, Baron Løvenwold, in the end.
If you have a fear of heights, the infamous clocktower scene is scary, with the characters forced to climb around on the clock face hundreds of feet above the air. It's especially bad for Sickan in the Swedish movie when his arms are tied behind his back and he can't even cling to safety - and he almost detaches himself from the clock and falls to his knees from trying to loosen up the ropes around his wrists.
Jönssonligan på Mallorca has a few tense scenes:
In one scene, the gang has to break into a seaside mansion, where the only access is a trap door leading to a system of seaside caves. The only way to get up to the door is by flooding the shaft and floating up, which is a very claustrophobic scene. Making it worse is that Dynamite-Harry lets the waters out too soon, leading to Sickan having no way to escape the room with the safe, and is caught by the villains. Vanheden also has to climb up a nearly-vertical cliff to reach the mansion pool and drain it to flood the shaft for Sickan. He almost falls down several times, like when Harry has to blow up part of the caves to allow the water in.
One of the villains, Ödlan ("the Lizard"), stands out a lot from the rest of the cast in an unsettling manner. He's a dwarf with extremely pale skin, which makes him stand out from not just the native Mallorcans but also the other Swedes, including his own brother.
No Problem with Licensed Games: The two Swedish games, while very short, fall under this. The series staple of Charles-Ingvar listing the items needed for his plans translates well to a Point-and-Click Game, with the player having to figure out how to collect and actually use said items, and the characters have unique, voiced reactions to most of the interactable objects and NPCs in the game. It helps that most of the original actors lended their voices to the game, except for Charles-Ingvar's actor, Gösta Ekman Jr; while his replacement takes a different and comically exaggerated approach to the character, it still fits the mood. That said, the second game, while definitely an upgrade in the graphics department, is sometimes considered not as fun as the first.
Sequelitis: Olsen-bandens sidste stik, as a consequence of having been filmed 17 years after the intended finale of the series. The new film didn't manage to capture the magic of old, in part due to Kirsten Walther (Yvonne) passing away before the film started production and Poul Bundgaard (Kjeld) passing away half way through filming, necessitating obvious use of a body double. It was a bittersweet experience for most to see the gang back together, but looking rather decrepid, in a story that clearly had to be rewritten to excuse Kjeld from the action.
So Okay, It's Average: The Norwegian version of the very last movie, Olsenbandens siste stikk. As listed in the Sequelitis entry above, the original Danish version (Olsen-bandens sidste stik) is not very well liked — but the Norwegian version of the movie got a more positive reception. While fans agreed that it's not the best in the series, it was generally viewed as at least an okayish finale. Carsten Byhring, the Norwegian Kjell, had been dead for years, and so Kjell doesn't appear in the movie at all, but it helped that his role in the gang was taken over by Valborg (the Norwegian Yvonne) and Harry, who were both popular with fans, and whose actors still had the charm and comic timing that had made them popular in the first place. The characters and actors have also aged better than as the Danish ones; they are older and less agile than before (which gets Lampshaded by Harry, who now walks with a cane after an explosion-related accident, and at one point raises a fuss because he doesn't want to climb a staircase with his bad leg), but they still bring a lot of heart and energy to the movie, which is accepted by the fans as a much-deserved happy ending for the surviving members of the gang.
(written by Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, the man behind the "Alley Cat") remains one of the most beloved tunes in Denmark today.