Adventures of a Taxi Driver * (1976, Barry Evans, Judy Geeson, Adrienne Posta, Robert Lindsay, Liz Fraser, Diana Dors) – Classic Movie Review 10,407

‘The Laugh-O-Meter Is On!’ ‘He gets more than his fare share!’

Director Stanley A Long’s 1976 British sex comedy Adventures of a Taxi Driver is the first of three fairly dismal and turgid Seventies Brit comedies, in the Confessions of… style, with likeable Barry Evans starring as London cabbie Joe North, who carries on with his customers.

It also stars Judy Geeson as Nikki, Adrienne Posta as Carol, Diana Dors as Mrs North, Liz Fraser as Maisie, Ian Lavender as Ronald and Robert Lindsay as Tom.

The very appealing Seventies cast helps a bit to put you in a good mood, but the script is plain poor. Despite the respectable actors, male full frontal nudity is on show.

Poignantly, Evans ended up as a Leicestershire taxi driver. He died aged 53 in his bungalow in Melton Mowbray on February 9, 1997, tragically a victim of suspected murder. His acting career ended after the third of his three hit TV series, Mind Your Language (1977-1986), though he made one final film, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1993).

Also in the cast are Jane Hayden as Linda, Stephen Lewis as Doorman, Henry McGee as Inspector Rogers, Angela Scoular as Marion, Brian Wilde as Harold, Anna Bergman as Helga, Prudence Drage as Mrs De Vere Barker, Stephen Riddle as Bunny McQueen, David Auker, Marc Harrison, Graham Ashley, Charles Pemberton, Lee Crawford, Andrew Secombe, Beatrice Shaw, Jack Haig and Pete Walker.

Anna Bergman went on to be a regular in Barry Evans’s long-running TV show Mind Your Language.

Diana Dors made a speciality of such British sex comedies in the Seventies.

It has a UK 18 certificate thanks to several topless scenes and male genitalia on show, though it is harmless as Seventies saucy cinema.

Adventures of a Taxi Driver is directed by Stanley A Long, runs 89 minutes, is made by Salon Productions, is released by Alpha Films (1976) (UK), is written by Stanley A Long (idea) and Suzanne Mercer (screenplay), is shot by Peter Sinclair, is produced by Stanley A Long and Peter Long, is scored by De Woolf and is designed by Carlotta Barrow.

It is followed by Adventures of a Private Eye (1977) and Adventures of a Plumber’s Mate (1978), both starring Irish pop singer Christopher Neil.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,407

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