User reviews

CARRY ON DICK is one of the last in the long-running series and indeed the last proper CARRY ON film to feature the likes of Sid James, Barbara Windsor, and many others of the core team. It's also a last gasp for their historical romps (the previous of which was CARRY ON HENRY), and it's as low brow and crude as the title would suggest.

It's a shame to see that the scripts by this stage had become so puerile because the cast were clearly still game for a laugh and you get a feeling of wasted talent. James is as irresistible as ever, playing a DOCTOR SYN-style figure masquerading as a clergyman by day and acting the highwayman by night, and there are fairly substantial roles for Bernard Bresslaw and an on-form Barbara Windsor. Sad then that about halfway through you realise the script is a complete rip-off of the earlier CARRY ON DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD, only inferior in every respect.

It's been said that writer Talbot Rothwell had a breakdown while authoring the script for CARRY ON DICK, which would understandably be his last film for the franchise, and his paucity of imagination is more than evident. There are tired phallic jokes galore, along with one raunchy scene following another. Only a few moments offer genuine laughs, but it's nevertheless a treat to see the pros going through the old routines one last time.

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 This franchise is reaching it's end now, the originality and playful humour of those made ten years ago has been replaced by an almost bawdy form of in-your-face comedy that really isn't anyone's finest work.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

The Carry Ons had been getting progressively ruder as the years passed, but this line of dialogue from Carry On Dick, the last film to feature the 'classic' cast, still had me doing a double take. I couldn't remember it being quite so near the knuckle. But as undeniably coarse and unsophisticated as much of the humour is, and despite an over-reliance on Sid James trademark guffaws and saucy giggles from Babs Windsor, the gang's version of the story of Dick Turpin still succeeds in being a lot of delightfully un-PC fun.

If the idea of an ageing Sid James as dashing highwayman 'Big Dick' isn't silly enough for you, he's assisted by Peter Butterworth and Barbara Windsor, neither of whom would strike much terror into the the heart of even the most fearful of travellers. Tasked with catching the lovable masked rogues are Captain Desmond Fancey (Kenneth Williams) and Sergeant Jock Strapp, who have gained vital information about their quarry that might help them: Turpin has a distinguishing birthmark on his "insert suggestive sound effect here"...

Broad comedy, characters with daft names, innuendo, Barbara Windsor's top flying open, Joan Sims doing her French accent—it's all there, making this Historical romp predictable fare but entertaining nonetheless.

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.

Notorious highwayman Dick Turpin disguises himself as the Reverend Flasher to avoid detection and terrorises the countryside with his gang

Sid James plays Dick Turpin in his last Carry on, and he's surrounded by the usual team members, with the exception of Charles Hawtrey. It's got some good one liners and funny scenes, though some of jokes can be repetitive, and it lacks the sharpness and energy of the peak years. Still it's fun. With such a legendary cast and great direction, it would be hard to get a limp Carry on entry.

Notorious highwayman Dick Turpin also known as "Big Dick" is terrorising the residents of Upper Dencher. Captain Fancey and Segreant Strapp are tasked with bringing the infamous and feared highwayman in. They turn to the reverend Flasher for help completely unaware of who he is and what he gets up to away from the church...

Carry On Dick begins well with a series of clips showing copycat crimes from Turpin contemporaries then an amusing opening scene featuring Dick, his gang, Fancey, Strapp and Madame Desiree and "her birds." Sadly, for me, this film didn't manage to keep up the momentum that it was initially building up...

I personally thought that there was not enough of Dick Turpin and his crews escapades and too much time was spent on the clueless Fancey and Strapp trying to work out his identity; whilst this is necessary to the plot I would have liked to see more of Turpin terrorising the town as this would have undoubtedly made the film funnier and definitely would have made it more involving. A good chunk of the screen time revolves around Strapp trying to identify Turpin by the birth mark on his 'diddler' - a weak joke that was overused and stretched way too thin. Joan Sims has been great in other Carry on films, but her character was not all that funny and I didn't understand the act involving her and "oiseaux des paradis." (apologies if I've spelt that wrong). The joke involving Sir Roger Daley and his missus having their clothes stolen was funny the first time, but is repeated several times over with different people (Talbot Rothwell is usually reliable when it comes to a good screenplay so I'm surprised by his lack of imagination with this film).

It's not all bad though most of the cast are on good form; thought Bernard Bresslaw was terrific and Williams and James were both good, but this is comfortable territory for them at this stage in the franchise. I thought everyone else did fine work though I didn't feel that Jack Douglas added much to the film truth be told.

There are some laughs to be had here, but to be perfectly honest this is the first Carry on film that I've seen thus far where I found myself checking the time now and again, and it has to be said the 90 minutes here felt longer than it did in other more enjoyable films that the franchise has had to offer.

Not terrible by any means, but disappointing when compared to many of its predecessors.

HONOURABLE MENTION: Margaret Nolan's cleavage.

This film appears to be heavily influenced by Carry on Don't Lose Your Head, as it is similar in a number of aspects but with slight tweaks. To me, at least, it appears that Sid James was beginning to lose his touch here. He died two years later, this was his final role in the Carry Ons and he isn't as convincing here as he usually was in previous instalments. Kenneth Williams is fine but is given barely anything to do. Joan Sims is good in her role though. Bernard Bresslaw also gives a solid performance though he's underused. The script is pretty weak and there's a surprisingly high amount of jokes about, well, the title gives you a clue. There's some good individual gags here and there but it's mostly rather unfunny with weak dialogue. I think it could have been better than what it was but it's watchable at least.

Borrowing more from the classic George Arliss film Doctor Syn than from the legendary British outlaw Dick Turpin, Carry On Dick has Sid James as Turpin who disguises his himself as the outwardly pious, but randy parson in the English countryside. His exploits in his trade and conquests of womanhood have made him a legend and the government of George III was to put a stop to him.

So who else would you send than Kenneth Williams together with his trusty aide Jack Douglas out to catch him. But James is a wily old fox of an outlaw and who could conceive of the local man of God being the head of outlaws. Naturally Williams looks for local allies and who better than the local parson James to help in his quest for the notorious outlaw.

As we well know the 16th and 17th centuries in Great Britain were one bawdy age the Carry On troupe is certainly bawdy enough to match it. Joan Sims is a riot as the head of a group of struggling French actresses stranded in that part of the world. Great Britain and France were not getting along particularly well at the time, but Sims and her girls speak a universal language to those who listen.

This was Sid James's farewell big screen appearance, the cap of a grand career that started in British music hall. The Carry On films tried to Carry On after he died, but it was definitely no go, they certainly didn't Carry on.

James is the center of this film as well it should be.

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.

Mining the bawdy historical atmosphere and its titular namesake for all its worth, Carry On Dick has a sheen of poignancy around it, despite a relatively slow start, the film quickly throws in some choice innuendo plundering its title for all its worth, to the point where you think they couldn't make another dick joke even with a gun to the head. Being the last film of the series that Talbot Rothwell script, The Less is More maxim has well and truly been thrown from the carriage with only coarse vulgarity to replace it; yet, it shows that even in an attempt to move with the times, the series could still provide a laugh even when its trademarks have started to look worn and dated with its wealth of delicious innuendos that enabled the writer to bid farewell to the series in a perfect Carry On-esque fashion. The production values are exceptional and the performances from the team are, as ever, beyond any form of criticism, with the film giving everyone a chance to shine no matter how minor their roles may be. The actors give their best and that's all we can ever ask of them. Carry On Dick feels like a swansong and, sadly, was just that for Sid James who has lots of opportunities to give off his trademark throaty cackle and whose warmth really is the best thing here, a star till the end, it may have been his last bow but he leaves us hungry for more and proves beyond any doubt that he was the Laurence Olivier of bawdy comedy.

Fun Carry On with a good story and most of the team represented, and the last one that actually feels like a real Carry On.

Recent addition Jack Douglas, now upgraded to a main role, is great fun. His scenes with Kenneth Williams hilarious.

Some of the characters and situations are repeats from earlier films, but it is still entertaining.

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

The last of the historical Carry on films and one of the funniest and silliest. You can practically here the crew giggle every time someone mentions Big Dick, Kenneth Williams saying it is childish but hilarious. Apart from Carry on Behind this is the last good one in the series.

6/10: Stars a lot of the regulars and has tastefully crude jokes

Filled to the brim with uninspired sexual innuendos and lame jokes, "Carry on Dick" is a far cry from two years prior "Carry on Abroad" which also had it's share of problems, but still managed to be hilarious because of some genius performances. Kenneth Williams and Jack Douglas are awful, uninspired and over the top in a wrong way and are really bad main characters, while almost every appearance of Sid James is unfunny and focused on sexual jokes. Kenneth Connor is present in the movie but is criminally underused. All in all, "Carry on Dick" is a bad comedy movie with very little funny moments in it and you will feel glad once it ends. 5/10! I don't really recommend it to anyone other than to the fans of the series.

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.

I love the Carry On movies, and while I as I've said I do agree this is not one of their best, it is the last entertaining Carry On film. The story is thin and there are a lot of innuendos and some of them are very smutty. But with the costumes and sets and such as good as they are, the film looks really good, and the music is quirky and energetic. The script is funny and well delivered on the whole, while the film is well paced. Carry on Dick is probably chiefly memorable for being Sidney James's last Carry On. He is very good as Turpin/Reverend Flasher, if occasionally overdoing it with his trademark laugh. He is well supported by Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jaques, but Barbara Windsor gives one of her best performances and even Jack Douglas is good. In conclusion, entertaining I think, and on a side note it wasn't the same when Talbot Rothwell left and James died, the writing became crass and most of the entries then were woeful I felt. 7/10 for Carry on Dick. Bethany Cox

I re-watched Carry On Dick on DVD today. I usually agree that this film is a bit of a hit and miss, but i think now that is it very good, up there with Carry On Henry for historicals, not Cleo though.

Sid James is looking older, but he can still pull it off. Critics may say that James was too old to be lusting after someone of Barbara Windsor's age, but the situation the characters are put in, (two highway man/women), you can believe this girl would have a relationship with the elder man because of the work they do together. So i think they work well together in this film.

This is the only film i can think of in the series that starts of pretty dull then gets funnier towards the middle and end. Very good ending with Hattie Jacques on the organ, pumping for all she's worth.

Kenneth Williams and Jack Douglas have good chemistry, but it's really just the same characters Williams and Peter Butterworth played in Don't Lose Your Head. The premise of the film is very similar!

As for the rest of the cast, Peter Butterworth shines in the drag sequence as he ogles over Joan Sims' bosoms. Ms Sims doesn't get much to do, but she's always funny and my favourite of the team. Kenneth Connor is excellent as the ageing Constable, such a great character actor. And Hattie Jacques excells as Miss Hoggett, the nosey housekeeper. Very good in the sequence where she is listening at the door.

The Carry Ons never felt the same after Talbot Rothwell left. There was something no quite right about Behind, England, Emmannuelle or Columbus. I don't think anyone could recapture his style, he was born to write Carry On humour.

The team was also breaking up at this point. Obviously the style was getting tired, and in reality, Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas should have called it a day after this one. The one's that followed were good in places, but never hit the mark.