"Call me a cab!"
Peg: I haven't had a chance to talk to him since last Wednesday - and then it was only with his legs!
Ted: His legs?
Peg: Yes, sticking out from under a cab. It's not fair, 'e knows I can't get under one.
— Peg Hawkins complaining about her husband Charlie to Ted Watson.
Carry On Cabby is a 1963 black and white film and the seventh in the Carry On... Series. It starred Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Esma Cannon, and Liz Fraser. It was also the first Carry On to feature a script by Talbot Rothwell (the writer of the first six films, Norman Hudis, having been offered a job in Hollywood after the surprise American success of Carry On Nurse); he would write the scripts for twenty Carry On films to come, ending with Carry On Dick in 1974.
Cabby tells the story of Charlie Hawkins (James), a Workaholic who is always in constant trouble with his wife Peg (Jacques) because he is never home when she is awake or around. He is in charge of taxi company Speedee Taxis and works alongside Ted Watson (Connor) - who's having the same relationship problems with his girlfriend Sally (Fraser) - and clumsy newcomer Terry "Pintpot" Tankard (Hawtrey). Charlie's long hours at work make most of his conversations be on the topic of cabbing, even with his annoyed wife.
Upon forgetting their wedding anniversary and arriving hours late for their anniversary date night, Peg hopes to avenge him the harshest way she can think of - by attacking his taxi business. She does this by setting up her own, Glamcabs, with the help of Flo Sims (Cannon), who wasn't allowed to work for Speedee Taxis on account of her being a woman. All of Glamcabs' drivers are young attractive women as the drivers such as busty Anthea (Amanda Barrie) and the dim Gloria (Carole Shelley), and they use their attractive bodies to gain customers by showing off their breasts and legs, which endangers Charlie's business and convinces him to try and bite back twice as big as Hilarity Ensues.
Tropes Included:
- Affectionate Nickname: Sally is often called "Sal", mostly by her boyfriend Ted.
- Alliterative Name:
- Terry Tankard.
- Smiley Sims.
- All There in the Script: Several names aren't given in the film:
- The man who holds up Peg and Sally with a gun is called "Dancy".
- Two of Speedee Taxis' new recruits are called "Tubby" and "Geoff".
- Apron Matron: Peg is a large, formidable woman who has no time for her husband Charlie's nonsense.
- Battle of the Sexes: Peg only starts Glamcabs to hurt Charlie in the same way that she has been, but it eventually turns into this when the men of Speedee Taxis become very defensive and think that their manhood is being threatened.
- Career Versus Man: Charlie is absolutely disgusted that Peg considers getting a job.
- Cloudcuckoolander: As with all of Charles Hawtrey's characters, Pintpot is a silly (if not well-intentioned) man with his head permanently in the clouds.
- Comically Missing the Point: As Charlie and Pintpot help some newlyweds into the cab, the groom asks where his bag is. Pintpot, as unaware as he is with anything, happily tells him the bride is already in the car.
- Cool Old Lady: Flo Sims. She has no problem with driving a cab after her husband Smiley is unable to and works with Peg to help turn Glamcabs into the highly profitable business it ends up becoming.
- Disguised in Drag: Ted attempts to infiltrate Glamcabs by dragging up in a stolen uniform. Peg, Sally, and Flo see through it immediately and cook up their own plan to humiliate him.
- Door Dumb: When trying to exit the canteen, Pintpot rips the door handle off because he thinks it's a pull door. An unamused Charlie pushes it open with a single finger and Pintpot sheepishly leaves.
- Dramatic Irony: Charlie constantly moans and tells Peg his methods on how to sabotage Glamcabs not knowing that she is actually Mrs. Glam, giving her enough time to find a way to stop them.
- Driver of a Black Cab: The Speedee Taxi drivers are all mostly either Workaholics like Charlie and Ted, or miserable like Smiley and Allbright.
- Drives Like Crazy: Pintpot, whether he is in a cab or a scooter, is prone to speeding and swerving down the road:Ted: [to Charlie, who's in the passenger seat during Terry's trial] You had an accident?Charlie: [glumly, while staring at Terry] No thanks. We've just had some.
- Exiled to the Couch: Peg goes to bed drunk after waiting all night for Charlie to come home, locking the bedroom door, meaning Charlie has no choice but to sleep on the sofa. Considering the circumstances, if she was sober, he'd probably be sent there anyway.
- Faint in Shock:
- Jeremy faints when he sees his taxi fare after Charlie left it running for the entire time it took his son to be born.
- Peg faints after Dancy and Punchy are arrested, but Sally assures Charlie that it's normal for a woman in her condition... which causes Charlie to faint now that he knows that Peg's pregnant.
- Fanservice: The film presents the argument that in a free market, no amount of quality can compete with blatant fanservice, as Glamcabs arrives out of nowhere providing only drivers with low-cut tops, large breasts, and long legs. One sequence features a succession of customers happily fixing their own cabs as the drivers lean against them idly.
- Fanservice with a Smile:
- Sally, who works in the Speedee Taxis canteen and is dating Ted.
- Averted by Molly, the old and constantly smoking woman who works in the cab drivers' café.
- Forgotten Anniversary: Charlie goes out cabbing on his anniversary, which upsets Peg. He gets her a fur coat as a present afterward, but their relationship only gets more strained by Charlie's Workaholic tendencies as the film carries on.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: While many of the Glamcabs driver's names aren't revealed, some can be spotted on their name badges - the dumb driver who asks Flo what to do if a man passenger tries to start something is "Gloria" and the driver who steals away a bespectacled businessman from a Speedee Taxi is "Mitzi".
- Greaser Delinquents: Dancy and Punchy, the two men that kidnap Peg and Sally, fit this look to a tee with their hair and clothing.
- Honour Before Reason: Allbright is Flo taking over her unwell husband Smiley's taxi shifts despite the fact that the two of them needed the money and Charlie was willing to let her do so all because it went against the union rules. If Allbright didn't follow this policy, Flo wouldn't have joined forces with Peg, and Glamcabs would've been harder to set up.
- I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: The reason why Glamcabs are getting so many male customers. Some of the Glamcabs girls take it a step further and use their charms to get their passengers to change tires and do other bits of car repair for them.
- Incredibly Conspicuous Drag: Ted drags up when trying to infiltrate Glamcabs and is caught out almost instantly.
- Ironic Name: Smiley Sims is a rather morose man.
- The Klutz: Pintpot seems to be a walking disaster area. He can't finish (let alone start) one of Sally's cups of tea without spilling it on himself or someone else and to top it off, manages to rip off the door handle to the Speedee Taxis canteen when he didn't know it was a push door.
- Male Gaze: Glamcabs gets all their customers through their lovely drivers showing off their legs and busts.
- Market-Based Title: The film was known as Carry On Taxi in America.
- Ms. Fanservice: All of the Glamcabs drivers, but especially the seductive Anthea, who as she puts it has been picking up gentlemen since she was seventeen.
- Only Known by Their Nickname:
- Charlie's first name is "Charles", something that only comes up when planning a new family business.
- Peg's first name is "Peggy", which Charlie only calls her at serious moments.
- Tankard is called "Pintpot", on account of his surname.
- Speedee Taxis' radio operator is called "Sarge". As many of Charlie's employees are ex-army, it is likely that he was a Sergeant before working for him.
- Flo's husband is called "Smiley", poking fun at his dour exterior.
- One of the carjackers is only known as "Punchy", a clear alias to avoid his real name being exposed.
- Panicky Expectant Father: Jeremy (Jim Dale), who Charlie and Pintpot pick up on the way back from the airport, makes them drive to the hospital and then apologizes saying that it was a false alarm and that they can drop the couple off back at their home. You think that's bad? It happens four times.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Ted is made to dress up as a woman to spy on Glamcabs, but Peg and Flo aren't fooled and purposely stick him in the changing rooms to embarrass him.
- Plot Hole:
- The damage done to the main gates by Smiley and Pintpot disappears the same day it is caused.
- Many of the GlamCabs only have two doors, which would make them unsuitable for use as taxis.
- Charlie is drunk before the hold-up, yet magically sobers up with no explanation once he tries to intercept the robbers.
- The police somehow know who the robbers are and who the cabbies are without being told.
- Pretty in Mink: Charlie gets Peg a fur coat as an anniversary gift:Peggy Hawkins: Oh, Charlie! Oh, it's lovely!Charlie Hawkins: I'll say it is. Genuine mammoth, that is.Peggy Hawkins: Oh, don't be silly, Charlie.Charlie Hawkins: Straight up, it said so on the shop window: "Mammoth fur sale."
- Serious Business: Charlie never had a sexist mindset like Allbright and most of the men that worked for him, but once Glamcabs started becoming popular and ruining Speedee Taxis...
- Smug Snake: Allbright always wants to follow the rules of the union and loves finding people breaking them. When Flo offers to drive for the company while Smiley is indisposed, he immediately starts making up excuses against her and trying to convince everyone to agree with him.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: As Sarge tries to give orders to the Speedee Taxis drivers to help rescue Peg and Sally from Dancy and Punchy:Allbright: All right, but I don't know what the union's gonna say about all this!
Sarge: [microphone feedback] the union!note
Allbright: Well, really!... - Stay in the Kitchen: Charlie doesn't want Peg to get a job and believes her role is to stay in the home.
- Tagline: "It's what's up front that counts!!".
- That Came Out Wrong: After Jeremy's newborn causes Charlie to get delayed on his way back to Peg for hours, Charlie tries to tell her what happened to hold him up. He tells her that he and Pintpot (who was in the cab with them) had a baby and is promptly cut off by her throwing a bottle at him.
- This Means War!: Charlie declares war with Glamcabs after a phone call with Mrs. Glam, which unbeknownst to him is Peg.Peggy: My husband just declared war on me.
- Vehicular Sabotage: Charlie and the Speedee Taxi cabbies damage the Glamcabs' wheels and engines in an attempt to hurt their business, but the smitten male passengers willingly fix the cabs free of charge.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out if Smiley recovered from his time in the hospital or what he thought of his wife Flo trying to drive his cab for him.
- Workaholic: Charlie and Ted will always put their work as cabbies ahead of spending time with Peg and Sally. When they have to blow off an important night out, it is the final straw that leads Peg to start Glamcabs and get back at Charlie.
