Confessions of a Driving Instructor

CONFESSIONS OF A DRIVING INSTRUCTOR is the third of the CONFESSIONS series, which start out with the surprisingly enjoyable CONFESSIONS OF A WINDOW CLEANER. Sadly, this film is far from enjoyable: it's saddled with a rubbish script, peppered with dumb jokes and scenarios which simply rehash those that have come before.

The main cast are all present and correct, but it really is a case of ever decreasing circles this time around. Robin Askwith tries his best as a cheeky chappy whose attempts at the titular career get him embroiled in all manner of sexual shenanigans, but his schtick is wearing thin by now. Anthony Booth is relegated to the sidelines, and Bill Maynard barely gets a cameo.

Better are Windsor Davies as the villain of the piece and George Layton as his gloriously un-PC sidekick Bender, who ends up being the butt of some homophobic humour. The film also includes an early role for Lynda Bellingham as the film's romantic interest, although her performance is hardly great; better are veteran players Liz Fraser and Irene Handl who have some funny scenes between them. Sadly, such effective moments of humour are few and far between in what is overall a lacklustre movie.

It's st. Stephen's Day / Boxing day, and I'm so bored I'm watching Driving Instructor again.

Delighted to see Malchwriter (comment above) get the little add-in bits which highlight why the entire Carry On and Confessions series were such a turning point for British cinema. We might have grown up on them, but Elstree was financially screwed shortly thereafter. Brian Rix did farces which were silly but funny, Confessions is a sort of a farce but wasn't really, and in the '90's 'Allo 'Allo resurrected the entire genre to devastating effect.

But on to why I'd watch it again. Was Sally Adez the girl who passed Robin Askwith as an Instructor (only noticed her name because of "Malchwriter")?. If so, her underwear is a wonderful example of why the '60's and '70's could be so much fun. And Lis Frazer's appearance early on in the film (while the daughter is otherwise engaged) - Beautiful.

Another reviewer might have said the Confessions films were cr*p. Driving Instructor is arguably the least worst of the series, but they are one star pictures - if not Bombs. I find this film worth a look for historical interest. Anthony Booth is always dreadful; Robin Askwith a bit more likeable.

This is probably the weakest of the British "Confessions of" series which was generally inferior (albeit much more nudity-saturated) than the much longer running "Carry On" series. Still, if you're talking about British T and A films (I guess that would be "teats and arses"), the "Confessions of" series was the top of the heap, and even this weaker entry is a lot better than most. In this entry (which follows the superior "Confessions of a Pop Performer") Timmy Lea and his brother-in-law Sid have opened up a driving school. All of their customers, of course, are beautiful, sex-crazed women except for one half-blind septuagenarian (Irene Handl). And, of course, they're ALL terrible drivers. As usual "Timmy" has a truly ridiculous amount of sex, but true love--this time with the rugby-obsessed daughter (Linda Bellingham) of the owners of a rival driving school--continues to elude him.

Robin Askwith who plays "Timmy" is about the same as ever, but his goofy family--brother-in-law Sid, his housewife sister, and his cantankerous provincial parents--again provide the best comedy. Bellingham, who was the wife of the producer, probably benefited from nepotism to some extent because she is pretty weak, especially compared to Linda Hayden who typically played the main love interest in these. As for the rest of the girls, you get to see all of Suzy Mandel, but not enough of her as she only has a small part. Sally Faulkner too has a small part as a "golf widow" who somehow ends up up naked in a sand-trap with "Timmy" while her negligent husband plays a round of golf. Faulkner was not ridiculously sexy like Mandel or Mary Millington, but she always made the most of these small comedy-type roles (she also appeared in Jose Larraz's "Vampyres" and later played Glory Annnen's murderous lesbian lover in Norman J. Warren's "Prey").

It really depends on what you compare it to, but I would probably recommend this. It's funnier than most T and A films, and has more T and A than most of the funnier Britidsh films.

CONFESSIONS OF A DRIVING INSTRUCTOR one for all lovers of highbrow comedy, witty, clever, cool, incisive in it almost devastating portrait of 1970's working class life - Mike Leigh and Ken Loach's films have nothing on this one, obvious inspiration for the later comedies of Richard Curtis - don't worry, just joking - instead it's a very broad unembarrassed Carry On style comedy - If you hate the Carry On's,WATCH SOMETHING ELSE. For the rest of us, there's some great talent on display - and not just in a female sense - Windsor Davies, Avril Angers, the great Irene Handl, Doris Hare, Donald Hewlett, Geoffrey Hughes, George Layton, to name but a few - Best of all is Liz Fraser as the very lusty landlady Mrs Chalmers - She's one landlady who would have no trouble getting her rent - a stunning looking woman, even as here at the age of 43 - very underrated character actress as well - pity she's not seen more these days. She would be a natural now for playing the sort of part that the great Irene plays in this one ( The splendidly named Miss Slenderparts ). See Liz in a later Minder episode, if you have any doubts. Also watch out for Sally Adez as the female instructor - wow, what a babe!. On a trivia note another great character, Sam Kydd featured in the first cut of the film as Mr Gilson but was cut out to bring the running time down to 90 minutes. So give it a chance !.