Carry On Camping


Carry On Camping is a 1969 British comedy film, the 17th release in the series of 31 Carry On films. It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Terry Scott, Hattie Jacques, Barbara Windsor, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butterworth.

Plot

Sid Boggle and his friend Bernie Lugg are partners in a plumbing business. They take their girlfriends, prudish Joan Fussey and meek Anthea Meeks, to the cinema to see a film about a nudist camp called Paradise. Sid has the idea of the group holidaying there, reasoning that in that environment their heretofore chaste girlfriends will relax their strict moral standards. Sid easily gains Bernie's co-operation in the scheme, which they attempt to keep secret from the girls.
They travel to the campsite named Paradise. After paying the membership fees to the owner, money-grabbing farmer Josh Fiddler, Sid realises it is not the camp seen in the film, but merely a standard family campsite. To add to their disappointment, it is no paradise but instead, a damp field; the only facilities being a very basic toilet and a washing block. They reluctantly agree to stay there after Fiddler refuses a refund and the girls approve of the place. There is further disappointment when the girls will not share a tent with the boys.
Sid and Bernie soon set their sights on a bunch of young ladies on holiday from the Chayste Place finishing school. The ringleader of the girls is blonde and bouncy Babs. In charge of the girls is Dr. Soaper, who is fervently pursued by his lovelorn colleague, the school's matron, Miss Haggard. The girls soon leave for Ballsworth Youth Hostel, where Babs and her friend Fanny change the room numbers on Dr. Soaper's and Miss Haggard's doors and convince Dr. Soaper that the female washroom, where Miss Haggard is, is the male washroom. Dr Soaper leads an outdoor aerobics session, during which Babs' bikini top flies off; he catches it.
Other campers are Peter Potter, who loathes camping but must endure his jolly yet domineering wife Harriet, with her irritating laugh, and naive first-time camper Charlie Muggins.
Chaos ensues when a group of hippies arrive in the next field for a noisy all-night rave led by band The Flowerbuds. The campers club together and successfully drive the ravers away, but all the girls leave with them. However, there is a happy ending for Bernie and Sid when their girlfriends finally agree to move into their tent. Their joy is short-lived when Joan's mother turns up, but Anthea lets loose a goat that chases Mrs Fussey away.

Cast

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Exteriors:
The film was the most popular movie at the UK box office in 1969. It was voted the nation's favourite Carry On film in a survey conducted by the Daily Mirror in 2008. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 40% based on 5 reviews.