Runtime: 87 minutes
Directed by: Gerald Thomas
Starring: The typical Carry On crew
From: The Rank Organisation
The name was only partially why this was viewed last night. Truth be told, recently I gained another follower (even I don’t believe there’s now 2,700 on Letterboxd!) and this gentleman has reviewed various Carry On films as of late. As I’ve viewed almost half of that franchise and for the sake of this gent, I selected something that was on YouTube. Yeah, I chose one that has a snicker-worthy title. To elaborate: I gather that many in the UK still know the name Dick Turpin, but for everyone else… he was a highwayman (a robber who steals from travelers) who became a mythical anti-hero decades and even centuries after his death.
Of course, the series based a movie rather loosely on Turpin so they would be able to call Sid James as the titular character BIG DICK on several occasions. The story is that Big Dick leads a trio of bandits and the Bow Street Runners-an actual law enforcement group, even though they were based in London and the movie is set in a small village-are looking to stop them. The masked marauders have a secret identity: Turpin is a priest & the other two are his underlings! Many laughs were had as Kenneth Williams is constantly duped by the antiheroes. Unlike “a series of sketches loosely tied together” that was this series at times, it was an actual plot with setpieces.
There is even bawdier humor than usual for this silly film which involves cross-dressing, puns, crass jokes and important characters named JOCK STRAPP and ROGER DALEY who meet up at the OLD COCK INN. There is in fact no shortage of humor revolving around tallywackers, including Turpin allegedly having a birthmark on his. Either what I’ve said will be appealing to you or you’ll think it is too juvenile. For franchise fans, this was the last film of writer Talbot Rothwell along with James, Hattie Jacques and Barbara Windsor—all storied veterans of these films.
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