Carry on Dick (1974)

Dick Turpin is terrorising the countryside around Upper Dencher. Captain Fancey and Sergeant Jock Strapp plan to put an end to his escapades, and enlist the help of the Reverend Flasher. ... See full summary »

Director:

Gerald Thomas

Writers:

Talbot Rothwell (screenplay), Lawrie Wyman (treatment)

Stars:

Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Barbara Windsor

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sidney James	...	Big Dick Turpin / Reverend Flasher
Barbara Windsor	...	Harriet
Kenneth Williams	...	Captain Desmond Fancey
Hattie Jacques	...	Martha Hoggett
Bernard Bresslaw	...	Sir Roger Daley
Joan Sims	...	Madame Desirée
Kenneth Connor	...	Constable
Peter Butterworth	...	Tom
Jack Douglas	...	Sergeant Jock Strapp
Patsy Rowlands	...	Mrs. Giles
Bill Maynard	...	Bodkin
Margaret Nolan	...	Lady Daley
John Clive	...	Isaac the Tailor
David Lodge	...	Bullock
Marianne Stone	...	Maggie

Storyline

Dick Turpin is terrorising the countryside around Upper Dencher. Captain Fancey and Sergeant Jock Strapp plan to put an end to his escapades, and enlist the help of the Reverend Flasher. Little do they know that the priest leads a double life. Then Madame Desiree and her "Birds of Paradise" arrive in the village...

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Plot Keywords:

carry on | british | british humour | british comedy | arrest | 

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Taglines:

Dick Turpin carries on with his flintlock cocked

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Carry On Line

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der total verrückte Straßenräuber

Filming Locations:

Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Rank Organisation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's title refers to the legendary highwayman Dick Turpin of which this picture was a spoof and parody of the Richard "Dick" Turpin highwayman legend, the real life persona living between 1705 and 7th April 1739.

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Goofs

Kenneth Williams and Jack Douglas are sitting on a bench next to the stairs in the inn. They are sitting so close together that their arms are touching. However when Sid James walks up the stairs, Kenneth Williams is by himself, Jack Douglas cannot be seen.

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Quotes

["Big" Dick is points his pistol at Madame Desiree]
Madame Desiree: That doesn't scare me. I've seen bigger ones in my time.
Dick Turpin: That doesn't surprise me.

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Connections

Edited into Carry on Laughing: Episode #1.3 (1981)

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Soundtracks

Oh God, Our Help In Ages Past
(uncredited)
Words by Isaac Watts and music by William Croft
Sung in the church

User Reviews

Lacks the material and is pretty disappointing as a result

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.