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Any fans out there of those Robin Askwith films from the mid 1970s? I thought that I would mention that there is nothing quite like a British-made film from the 1970s - noistalgia at its very best. Take any Carry On film, or even any sitcom movie spin-off from around that time. As I have been an adult for nearly 28 years, I feel that I am not doing anything wrong here. The film Confessions from a Holiday Camp (not Confessions of a Holiday Camp) was no doubt a relatively low budget film to work on, and the closest one can get to Best-of-British, cheap-and-cheerful "Hollywood" stars is within a Tesco Value budget variety - we mean you, Doris Hare, Bill Maynard, John Junkin and Mike "Roland's Dad" Savage, which probably means that Nicholas Owen - not the future ITN newsreader but Nicholas Bond Owen as he was credited as Tristran in George and Mildred, must have been the secret half-brother of Roland Browning from Grange Hill, and they both wore NHS glasses as well. Ironically, Owen (or Bond Owen) wouldn't have been old enough to have seen the film that he actually appeared in at the time, and he would have probably have had to waited until around 1990 at least. I actually thought that the young actor was actually Adam Rhodes who appeared as the second "Little Arthur" in Holiday on the Buses (remember that water pistol filled with blue ink?) Many comparisons can be made. Owen was enjoying playing with sand just as most kids do, and seemed to be burying on of his adult co-stars at one point.
I have been "observing" Talking Pictures on Sky channel 328 at the latest showing of "Holiday Camp"; the satellite channels started to show the film in 1994 and Channel 5 eventually shown it on terrestrial TV in 2001. It makes the average Carry On film look like Play School - it was given an 18 in the post-1982 BBFC ratings, and yes, it does have nudity, bare bums, breasts and anything else starting with B. Cue Robin Askwith; a Jack the Lad "up to no good"; a sort of Frank Spencer type of "everything he is involved with goes wrong"; as well as being a younger version of Reg Varney with more than just a "core blimey" factor. Not to kmention future Prime Minister's Father-in-Law Anthony Booth, playing the straightman to Askwith, quite often sarcasticly grinning and showing all teeth in the process like a Cheshire cat out for revenge. Yes, his son-on-law was Tony Blair; Prime Minister by the year 2000. Askwith replaced Robin Stewart in the Bless This House film, and so when I saw the 1973 epiosde from the same series repeated in around 2006, Askwith made a guest appearance as another character, and it seemed strange when Askwith and Stewart had shared a scene together.
I am well-aware of the adult nature of these films, and so I was seeing what I expected; 1977 was still "anything goes" territory as well as "let's take the Mickey out of Mary Whitehouse" as being the shorthand. I last saw Confessions of a Window Cleaner on Paramount and it must have been over ten years ago because I was living at my previous address at the time. The premise was no doubt very similar to Holiday on the Buses which was also set in a holiday camp; the fact that Doris Hare appeared in both films is worth noting. Askwith landed in the swimming pool at least twice, fully clothed, but the scenes that we saw were not shot in the same order as he was immediately seen straight afterwards as dry as a bone, wearing the same outfit, not to mention the flared white trousers. I have always assumed that the films were aimed at Sun newspaper readers in their 20s who like "a bit of the other" after going to the pub on a Saturday night. How about those two things at the front? Inuendo, united. Even though the film was made in the second half of the 1970s, the style and feel of the production feels closer to the start of that decade rather than end of it.
So, there was nudity; nothing was blurred or pixelated, and that is how it should be; no "old dog, new tricks" concepts should be used here. I have to admit however, that if I was an actor, I wouldn't have minded Robin Askwith's role in this film as it would be like winning a social lottery; working with Gail Grainger or Valerie Leon-type actresses might have been like putting all your eggs in one basket but just think of the experience! I think that the majority of the humour however was from Booth's role as straightman; you know that he has enough of his associate clown and wants out, and more to the point, wonders why he wanted to appear in these series of films in the first place. Another one of the "girl hiding in the wardrobe" due to someone knocking on the door really felt so Reg Varney-ish. "Whoops, there goes my bra, for the 28th time!" And then towards the end, we went into sub-Tiswas custard pie territory, a la the Bless This House film as well. Askwith was still "at it" nearly a decade later, playing a milkman in the LWT sitcom Bottle Boys, probably only because Jim Davidson had to turn it down due to commitments with LWT's weekday counterpart, and around the same time, he attempted to do a Gordon Honeycombe impression and tried to read the TV-am News, leaving sans trousers.
Just like anything from that time, any freakiness in hindsight goes to the datedness of the film being made and not due to the nudity of the protagonists. It was filmed in the same year that her late HM Queen Elizabeth II reached 25 years on the throne, as well as Elvis Presley taking is swan song, but never mind any Queen or King, any throne would have been in its entirety along with the chain used to flush it with afterwards. At the end of the day, it was all good fun and quite healthy to develop humour in those parts that we don't really want to discuss in the company of others. It doesn't do any harm to show oir now and again in a post-midnight slot. Oh, and I used to think that the 1970s version of Robin Askwith looked uncannily like Shaggy from Scooby Doo - that is my own opinion anyway.
I have been "observing" Talking Pictures on Sky channel 328 at the latest showing of "Holiday Camp"; the satellite channels started to show the film in 1994 and Channel 5 eventually shown it on terrestrial TV in 2001. It makes the average Carry On film look like Play School - it was given an 18 in the post-1982 BBFC ratings, and yes, it does have nudity, bare bums, breasts and anything else starting with B. Cue Robin Askwith; a Jack the Lad "up to no good"; a sort of Frank Spencer type of "everything he is involved with goes wrong"; as well as being a younger version of Reg Varney with more than just a "core blimey" factor. Not to kmention future Prime Minister's Father-in-Law Anthony Booth, playing the straightman to Askwith, quite often sarcasticly grinning and showing all teeth in the process like a Cheshire cat out for revenge. Yes, his son-on-law was Tony Blair; Prime Minister by the year 2000. Askwith replaced Robin Stewart in the Bless This House film, and so when I saw the 1973 epiosde from the same series repeated in around 2006, Askwith made a guest appearance as another character, and it seemed strange when Askwith and Stewart had shared a scene together.
I am well-aware of the adult nature of these films, and so I was seeing what I expected; 1977 was still "anything goes" territory as well as "let's take the Mickey out of Mary Whitehouse" as being the shorthand. I last saw Confessions of a Window Cleaner on Paramount and it must have been over ten years ago because I was living at my previous address at the time. The premise was no doubt very similar to Holiday on the Buses which was also set in a holiday camp; the fact that Doris Hare appeared in both films is worth noting. Askwith landed in the swimming pool at least twice, fully clothed, but the scenes that we saw were not shot in the same order as he was immediately seen straight afterwards as dry as a bone, wearing the same outfit, not to mention the flared white trousers. I have always assumed that the films were aimed at Sun newspaper readers in their 20s who like "a bit of the other" after going to the pub on a Saturday night. How about those two things at the front? Inuendo, united. Even though the film was made in the second half of the 1970s, the style and feel of the production feels closer to the start of that decade rather than end of it.
So, there was nudity; nothing was blurred or pixelated, and that is how it should be; no "old dog, new tricks" concepts should be used here. I have to admit however, that if I was an actor, I wouldn't have minded Robin Askwith's role in this film as it would be like winning a social lottery; working with Gail Grainger or Valerie Leon-type actresses might have been like putting all your eggs in one basket but just think of the experience! I think that the majority of the humour however was from Booth's role as straightman; you know that he has enough of his associate clown and wants out, and more to the point, wonders why he wanted to appear in these series of films in the first place. Another one of the "girl hiding in the wardrobe" due to someone knocking on the door really felt so Reg Varney-ish. "Whoops, there goes my bra, for the 28th time!" And then towards the end, we went into sub-Tiswas custard pie territory, a la the Bless This House film as well. Askwith was still "at it" nearly a decade later, playing a milkman in the LWT sitcom Bottle Boys, probably only because Jim Davidson had to turn it down due to commitments with LWT's weekday counterpart, and around the same time, he attempted to do a Gordon Honeycombe impression and tried to read the TV-am News, leaving sans trousers.
Just like anything from that time, any freakiness in hindsight goes to the datedness of the film being made and not due to the nudity of the protagonists. It was filmed in the same year that her late HM Queen Elizabeth II reached 25 years on the throne, as well as Elvis Presley taking is swan song, but never mind any Queen or King, any throne would have been in its entirety along with the chain used to flush it with afterwards. At the end of the day, it was all good fun and quite healthy to develop humour in those parts that we don't really want to discuss in the company of others. It doesn't do any harm to show oir now and again in a post-midnight slot. Oh, and I used to think that the 1970s version of Robin Askwith looked uncannily like Shaggy from Scooby Doo - that is my own opinion anyway.
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