| Confessions of a Pop Performer | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Norman Cohen |
| Written by | Christopher Wood |
| Produced by | Greg Smith Michael Klinger (executive producer) |
| Starring | Robin Askwith Antony Booth |
| Cinematography | Alan Hume |
| Edited by | Geoffrey Foot |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Columbia-Warner Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Confessions of a Pop Performer (also known asTimothy Lea'sConfessions of a Pop Performer) is a 1975 Britishsex-farce film directed byNorman Cohen and starringRobin Askwith andAnthony Booth.[1] It was written byChristopher Wood based on his novelConfessions from the Pop Scene.[1] It is the second instalment in theConfessions series of films and continues the erotic adventures of Timothy Lea.
Sidney overhears a band in his local pub and aspires to be their manager, not so ably assisted by his brother-in-law, Timmy, both still window cleaning for a living. They rename the band Kipper and after a misfortune, Timmy joins the line-up and many sexual encounters follow as a result. Unfortunately, Timmy's natural talent is more mayhem than rock star and disaster ensues of mostly the semi-clothed kind.
Confessions of a Pop Performer was the only film in the series to spawn a soundtrack album (Polydor 2383350[2]), with musical numbers produced byEd Welch, and credited to the film's fictional groups Kipper and The Climax Sisters, the latter played by Diane Langton and Linda Regan in the film, although Sue Martine provides Regan's singing voice. All lead vocals for Kipper were sung by Maynard Williams. The album also includes music fromConfessions of a Window Cleaner (1974) and in-character ‘Timmy Chat’ from Robin Askwith
Side 1
Side 2
TheMonthly Film Bulletin said "Creaky gags, overly familiar slapstick routines, sniggering innuendo, grimly leaden mugging and a nervously regular injection of titillating sequences on the lines of the average German sex comedy: the follow-up to the huge box-office success ofConfessions of a Window Cleaner is everything one has come to dread in British comedy. With hindsight, there seems to be a certain inevitability about this crossing of theCarry On series (now well into middle age) with the ethos of the working class anti-heroes that emerged in the early Sixties: Sidney James has found his younger alter ego in the charmless Robin Askwith, a kind of callowreductio ad absurdum of the earlyAlbert Finney/Tom Courtenay characters. In this light, the trundling out of the gorilla suit fromMorgan seems to be a particularly cynical nail driven into the coffin."[3]
Variety wrote: "It's simple-minded stuff. Most of the jokes are laid on with a trowel, though some sight gags devised by Cohen and scripter Christopher Wood ... work well enough. The sex is invariably frenzied and ultimately monotonous. The ironic and unexpected are notably absent in all the nonsense. Askwith is reasonably appealing as the callow sex object, though it's hard to fathom his unerring magnetism for the femmes, even in this fantasy context. Booth is okay as the scheming brother-in-law, and both Doris Hare and Bill Maynard have winning moments as young Lea's parents. Sheila White is good as his sister. Technical credits are all proficient, and the film is well-paced for the market it figures to reach."[4]
TheRadio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "Robin Askwith abandons his window-cleaning round to help organise a tour for a band of no-hopers and finds himself knee-deep in groupies (the finale at the Palladium has to be seen to be believed). Askwith struggles with a dismal script and comes off much better thanTony Blair's father-in-law, Anthony Booth."[5]