Carry on Dick

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 This franchise is reaching it's end now, the originality and playful humour of those made ten years ago has been replaced by an almost bawdy form of in-your-face comedy that really isn't anyone's finest work.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 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.

England is rife with lawlessness and highway robbers but the Bow Street Runners are on the case – using all manner of traps and tricks to round the criminals up. However one robber has evaded captured and succeeded in even giving Sir Roger Daley a bloody nose in front of his own men. Thus Captain Fancey is assigned to go undercover and catch the famous Dick Turpin and bring him to justice. However the cunning Dick is not going to be caught that easily and for years has moved incognito under the alias Rev Flasher.

Although the better entries in the Carry On series tend to be the costume spoofs, this is not one of them. The story is a reasonable stab at having a frame for the jokes to roughly hang within but the problem is that the material just isn't there to deliver the goods. The humour will appeal to some because it is broad and the usual double-entendre stuff but for me it was lacking in any wit or intelligence and just felt like someone had collected up all the rejected gags from other films and put them together in a script of sorts. So, yes, some of it is funny but mostly it is uninspired and far from being the series at its best.

A lot of it seems to rely on the actors being a draw in themselves and it shows because most of them force their personalities forward in place of good material. James is the most obviously guilty of this as he overdoes his trademark laugh and is larger than the character. Windsor likewise just trades on her body and giggle; Williams is so-so but cannot raise the poor material he is handed and he can't rely on Jack Douglas for any help. Bresslaw at least gets a different role from his usual ethnic face-paint stuff but Jacques, Connor and Sims all seem stuck with nothing to do in minor roles. They all appear to be trying but none of them can make the material more than it is – lacklustre.

Overall this is a broad and crude affair that might please some Carry On fans but will be far too basic to be of interest to the majority of viewers. The cast are all trying hard but really the material isn't there for them to work with and the whole thing ends up being disappointing even by the standards of Carry On movies.

Carry on Dick is a hugely amusing entry in the series, it boasts a classic cast, they were somehow missing something beyond this one, maybe Sid James. James is fabulous, so funny, it is essentially the same character he plays in Don't lose your head, and the two films perhaps blur, but this one still boasts big laughs. The team had certainly pushed the boundaries, this is more smutty then usual, jokes galore about diddlers and bid Dick. It's still mind by today's standards though.

Laughs galore, Sid and Kenneth Williams are hilarious, the timing and delivery impeccable as always. Williams and Jack Douglas make a fine duo, it's the facial expressions from the former that get the laughs. Barbara Windsor is excellent in this film, but it's the interaction with Sid James that I find fascinating, you can see the real life closeness that existed between the pair very strongly.

Whenever I watch this one I always think how underused Patsy Rowlands was, too often only having minor roles, but wonderfully talented. Hattie Jacques is underused here, the delivery is fine, but her part was poor.

Great production values, fabulous costumes and a funny and in keeping score. Kenneth William's wig is a character in its own right.

It's a must for Carry on fans.

This film is perhaps the last truly amusing one from the carry on stable. With Sid James in the title role as Dick Turpin the usual jokes are bound to surface "Have you seen dick" etc, etc.

However this Carry on is the last one to use all your favourites ie; Williams, Jaques, James etc.

A good movie for a sunday afternoon.