Carry on Dick
Written by Graeme Huggan
Copyright 1998
This is the last Carry on film with its almost intact regular cast and it is the swansong of Hattie Jacques and Sid James. Dick Turpin (Sid James) and his gang which includes Harriett/Harry (Barbara Windsor) and Tom "Doc" Scholl (Peter Butterworth), terrorise the countryside by staging highway robberies: "Stand and Deliver!" Owing to the increased occurrence of Turpin's robberies, Captain Desmond Fancey of the Bow Street Runners (Kenneth Williams) and his sidekick Sergeant Jock Strapp (Jack Douglas) visit Turpin's area of influence to bring him to justice. They are under the express orders of Sir Roger Daley (Bernard Bresslaw). Their intellect does not count for much and when they increasingly become suspicious of Reverend Flasher aka Dick Turpin (Sid James), whom they confided in earlier, they still cannot believe that the rector has any part in these robberies. However, once they catch Harriett and put her in jail, and Sir Roger Daley takes complete charge, it seems that there is no hope for Dick Turpin. Then again, Sir Roger has assigned the dimwits Fancey and Jock Strapp aswell as the old dithering Constable (Kenneth Connor) to keep an eye on their prisoner! There is no doubt that this is a 'Sid James' Carry on movie. He excels in double roles (as in 'Carry on- Don't lose your head') and his performance as Flasher and Turpin is hilarious. Barbara Windsor is also funny as Harriett the sex mad housemaid and member of the gang, and Hattie Jacques' small but effective role as the rector's housekeeper Martha Hoggett is played to perfection. Jack Douglas plays a milder version of his excruciatingly annoying on-screen persona and Kenneth Williams is given a rather mundane part. Peter Butterworth is not allowed to shine in his boring performance as Tom, and Bernard Bresslaw's character appears only briefly in the film. The only notable performance from the support cast comes from Joan Sims as Madame Desiree, who is travelling around the country escorting her starlets the 'Birds of Paradise' and sporting a fake French accent. When her girls and her are robbed by Turpin, she is determined to catch him and helps the Reverend to find the culprit! A Carry on by the numbers, this movie is only notable for the great performance by Sid James in his last Carry on movie. The jokes are bluer, the script is poorer (it is the last script written by Talbot Rothwell), but the music is a marked improvement. Although nearly all the regulars appear, they seem to be just going through the motions. None of the high spirits of the earlier films are apparent here. Just a selection of crude jokes and repititive double-entendres.
My rating:- 2 out of 5 stars.
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