Carry On Dick (1974)

I wouldn't fancy a poke with that.

The 26th film of the series, Carry on Dick marked the end of an era for a number of reasons. It would be the last appearance of Sid James, Hattie Jaques and Barbara Windsor, and the last to be scripted by Talbot Rothwell. As the title suggests, by this time the series had gone fully into innuendo mode, here they take the Dick Turpin legend and cloak it with sexual nudge nudges and wink winks. Character names are a riot, Reverend Flasher - Big Dick - Desmond Fancey (AKA: Dandy Desmond), Jock Strapp and Constable (ooh-err, it's all about the pronunciation - the rascals), thus it's all very low-brow for sure.

It's great to have Sid James in a period set dual role again (as in Don't Lose Your Head), he's nicely restrained as Reverend Flasher and on the other side he's all throaty laughs and cheek as the randy dandy highwayman, Big Dick! Playing the usual sexy foil to James is Windsor in one of her more meaty roles in the series, though Peter Butterworth and Kenneth Connor are not given nearly enough material to make a telling mark. Great to see Kenny Williams given some pompous caricature to get his teeth into, even if - unlike James' characters, this double act with Jack Douglas does feel like a lazy retread from Carry on Don't Lose Your Head.

Carry On Behind would follow this one, a decent enough film that with hindsight should have been the closure for the series. Carry on Dick tried to keep the rompy end up (ooh-err) for the series, a last hurrah grasping onto the historical/period pictures that proved so popular in the previous decade. It's not a fitting farewell for some major players, but some great gags and spirited performances ensure it doesn't disgrace itself in the eyes of the fans who liked a bit of sauce with their "Carry On" sandwich. 7/10

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.