Carry on Dick

CARRY ON DICK is one of the last in the long-running series and indeed the last proper CARRY ON film to feature the likes of Sid James, Barbara Windsor, and many others of the core team. It's also a last gasp for their historical romps (the previous of which was CARRY ON HENRY), and it's as low brow and crude as the title would suggest.

It's a shame to see that the scripts by this stage had become so puerile because the cast were clearly still game for a laugh and you get a feeling of wasted talent. James is as irresistible as ever, playing a DOCTOR SYN-style figure masquerading as a clergyman by day and acting the highwayman by night, and there are fairly substantial roles for Bernard Bresslaw and an on-form Barbara Windsor. Sad then that about halfway through you realise the script is a complete rip-off of the earlier CARRY ON DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD, only inferior in every respect.

It's been said that writer Talbot Rothwell had a breakdown while authoring the script for CARRY ON DICK, which would understandably be his last film for the franchise, and his paucity of imagination is more than evident. There are tired phallic jokes galore, along with one raunchy scene following another. Only a few moments offer genuine laughs, but it's nevertheless a treat to see the pros going through the old routines one last time.

To be honest, I struggled with this a bit. It all centres on "Capt. Fancey" (Kenneth Williams) on the hunt for the legendary highwayman "Dick Turpin" - aka "Big Dick". Sadly, that's about the level of the rather crass and banal humour that pervades the rest of this pretty mediocre costume drama. The more "Carry On" films I watch, the more I do realise just how much Joan Sims contributed and here she shines as "Madame Desirée", but the rest of the cast seem content to take us down a rather childishly written path of stereotypes and slapstick and through a story that is a poor relation of "Doctor Syn" (1937). This franchise is reaching it's end now, the originality and playful humour of those made ten years ago has been replaced by an almost bawdy form of in-your-face comedy that really isn't anyone's finest work. Sorry, but I thought that this was quite poor.

This film appears to be heavily influenced by Carry on Don't Lose Your Head, as it is similar in a number of aspects but with slight tweaks. To me, at least, it appears that Sid James was beginning to lose his touch here. He died two years later, this was his final role in the Carry Ons and he isn't as convincing here as he usually was in previous instalments. Kenneth Williams is fine but is given barely anything to do. Joan Sims is good in her role though. Bernard Bresslaw also gives a solid performance though he's underused. The script is pretty weak and there's a surprisingly high amount of jokes about, well, the title gives you a clue. There's some good individual gags here and there but it's mostly rather unfunny with weak dialogue. I think it could have been better than what it was but it's watchable at least.

This is another Carry On film, with most of the actors from the best films in the series, like Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, Barbara Windsor, Bernard Bresslaw etc. This story is about a group of masked highwaymen, with the leader being Richard Turpin (otherwise known as "Big Dick"-there are references to this throughout the film). The robberies have gotten to the point where Mr. Williams character goes undercover to find out who Dick really is. This film is good, not perfect, but with a great cast such as this, you can't miss. This was Sid James' last Carry On film and he is sorely missed, as he was a great comic talent. Of course, Joan Sims and Kenneth Williams also give their all, and they are always fun to watch also. Enjoy the foolishness, the sexual innuendos, the sharp one liners. If you like British comedy, you'll like this. Its not the best Carry On, but its fun, it makes you laugh, and thats as good of an endorsement as you'll ever need.

Filled to the brim with uninspired sexual innuendos and lame jokes, "Carry on Dick" is a far cry from two years prior "Carry on Abroad" which also had it's share of problems, but still managed to be hilarious because of some genius performances. Kenneth Williams and Jack Douglas are awful, uninspired and over the top in a wrong way and are really bad main characters, while almost every appearance of Sid James is unfunny and focused on sexual jokes. Kenneth Connor is present in the movie but is criminally underused. All in all, "Carry on Dick" is a bad comedy movie with very little funny moments in it and you will feel glad once it ends. 5/10! I don't really recommend it to anyone other than to the fans of the series.