Carry On Cabby (1963)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Boring

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Sid James joins the Carry On troupe in this film and in Carry On Cabby he makes a smashing debut as the workaholic owner of a taxi cab fleet. Among the other problems he has are some of the new drivers he has to train among them Carry On perennials Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey.Of course James is proud of the business he's built and he even takes a turn behind wheel himself. A lot of people would think that an accomplishment and bosses who aren't afraid to get in the mix with their employees are usually popular. But Sid is getting less and less popular on the home front.Hattie Jacques is Mrs. James and she's feeling ignored at home as James thinks of nothing but the business. In the end she organizes her own fleet of cabs with shapely young female cabbies who look like playboy bunnies without the ears. As she says they have assets to exploit their male counterparts do not.Charles Hawtrey was getting a bit risqué and flamboyant in playing a most stereotypical gay cabdriver. He comes to work in form fitting leather jacket on a motorcycle. This was probably very close to the truth in Hawtrey's life whom everyone knew and he didn't deny was gay.Funniest moments in the film is a long drawn out affair with James and Hawtrey driving expectant father Jim Dale and his very pregnant wife who keeps them out all night with a few false labors. It's about then that Jacques decides to take a stand.Sad to say I've dealt with a few cabbies in real life who might have been trained at this cab company.

Most of the usual crew including Hattie Jacques and Sidney James star in this early black and white Carry On film. Sidney runs a cab business when his wife decides to run a rival cab business ("Glam Cabs" - "I'm Free") with a fleet of bright, shiny, perky new units (the cars are new and all).Rather than waiting a few weeks for the gearboxes of the Mark I Cortinas to disintegrate, Sidney attempts to foil the opposition with a series of hopeless plans. Wisely, the producers decided to use the lovely old Model 10s for the more challenging scenes.Product placements – Firestone tyres, Ford, Daily Express and Woodbines (cigarettes).

I really liked this Carry On entry. This is considered as Hattie Jaques's personal favourite of the Carry Ons and it isn't hard to see why. She seems to be having a ball as the neglected wife of cab driver Charlie Hawkins, who is played to perfection by the one and only Sidney James. Carry On Cabby has a very irreverent screenplay, that will leave you in tears of laughter, but what made this particular Carry On stand out for me was that the plot was one of the strongest plot lines in Carry On history. As for the other performances, Jim Dale is hilarious in a small role, and Kenneth Connor is his usual charming self. Charles Hawtrey is solid in his role too. The photography was skillfully done, and the music score was great. My only complaints are its length and its rather slow beginning, other than that, pretty darn good if you ask me. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This is one of the biggest roles Hattie Jacques ever had in a Carry-on film,and she proves here how versatile an actress she was.Apart from Hattie there are only three other members of the gang,who are Sid James,Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey as Pint Pot.This is always one of the Carry-on films that you don't forget i think because its a case of Wife verses husband at his own job,and proves she can do it better,the job being running a taxi firm,his is the typical Black Cabs,hers is an all glamour girl taxi service called Glamcabs.Well as you can guess Glamcabs steals all of Sids Black Cabs business,and he is none to pleased,and all the time he doesn't know that his wife is the opposition.Its a very amusing film and doesn't have any of the usual smut which is often associated with the Carry-ons,it seems the early ones did rely on a good story.The only fault i have with this carry-on is that its a shame it was made in black and white as the all Black Cabs up against the flamboyant Glamcabs would have been so much more interesting in colour.