Percy’s Progress (1974, Leigh Lawson, Elke Sommer, Denholm Elliott, Vincent Price, Judy Geeson, Harry H Corbett, Adrienne Posta, Julie Ege, Barry Humphries) – Classic Movie Review 9,331

In the same director Ralph Thomas’s trashy 1974 UK sex comedy sequel film, Percy’s Progress, the hero is in luck when all men go impotent (a strange chemical is on the loose) except him – because he has got a transplanted penis.

Leigh Lawson is transplanted as the original Hywel Bennett character Percy Edward Anthony, and he seems even more uncomfortable with the sleazy work than Bennett was in Percy.

A talented cast, including Elke Sommer and Denholm Elliott from the original, plus sadly Vincent Price (as Stavos Mammonian), are wasted.

Percy’s Progress runs 101 minutes but the US version as It’s Not the Size that Counts runs 90 minutes and features additional footage shot by the American distributor, with a penis transplant opening sequence and a scene in which a dwarf (played by Luis De Jesus, star of Blood Sucking Freaks) jumps out of a woman’s bed, leaving her to say the new title.

Harry H Corbett plays the Prime Minister in a Yorkshire accent impersonation of the actual British prime minister Harold Wilson, using his famous phrase ’13 years of Tory misrule’. Barry Humphries co-stars as Dr Anderson and the Australian TV Lady. Jenny Hanley appears as Miss Teenage Lust.

Also in the cast are Judy Geeson, Adrienne Posta, Julie Ege, Milo O’Shea, George Coulouris, James Booth, Ronald Fraser, Anthony Andrews, Bernard Lee, and Madeline Smith.

The writers are Sid Colin and Ian La Frenais, using characters from the book Percy by Raymond Hitchcock.

It was shot on Cyprus and at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England.

Leigh Lawson met Hayley Mills in 1975 and they were partners till 1984, He met Twiggy in 1984 and they were married in 1988.

The cast are Leigh Lawson as Percy Edward Anthony, Elke Sommer as Clarissa, Denholm Elliott as Sir Emmanuel Whitbread, Judy Geeson as Dr Fairweather, Harry H. Corbett as Prime Minister, Vincent Price as Stavos Mammonian, Adrienne Posta as PC 217 (Iris), Julie Ege as Miss Hanson, Barry Humphries as Dr Anderson/ Australian TV Lady, James Booth as Jeffcot, Milo O’Shea as Dr. Klein, Ronald Fraser as Bleeker, Anthony Andrews as Catchpole, Bernard Lee as Barraclough, Madeline Smith as Miss UK, Judy Matheson as Maria, Alan Lake as Derry Hogan, George Coulouris as Professor Godowski, Jenny Hanley as Miss Teenage Lust, Carol Hawkins as Maggie, T P McKenna as News Editor, Anthony Sharp as Judge, Alan Tilvern as General Dodds, Minah Bird as Miss America, and Luis De Jesus as the Dwarf (US additional footage).

Barry Humphries (17 February 1934 – 22 April 2023).

The deliriously funny Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist Barry Humphries (17 February 1934 – 22 April 2023) made quite a few films but is of course best known for writing and playing his stage and TV characters Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson.

From the late 1960s Humphries appeared in numerous films, including Bedazzled (1967),  The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972), Percy’s Progress (1974), The Great Macarthy (1975), Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974), Side by Side (1975), The Getting of Wisdom (1977). Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Shock Treatment.

Humphries also appeared in Dr Fischer of Geneva (1985), Howling III (1987),  Selling Hitler (1991), Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills (1995), Immortal Beloved (1994),  The Leading Man (1996), Spice World, Welcome to Woop Woop (1997), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball (1982), A Night of Comic Relief 2 (1989), Les Patterson Saves the World, Finding Nemo, and The Hobbit.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9,331

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