Dandy Dick: Will Hay and a Horse Named Trouble

If you're the kind of person who needs a high-octane plot to stay awake, Dandy Dick is going to be a rough go. It’s a very specific kind of old British comedy—the kind where everyone talks in a slightly posh, flustered panic and the stakes are both incredibly low and treated like the end of the world.

Will Hay is the whole show here, really. Watching him try to maintain his dignity while spiraling into a gambling addiction is just delightful. He plays the vicar with that signature look of someone who is one minor inconvenience away from a total nervous breakdown. ⛪️

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, it depends. If you like classic British slapstick, it's a solid afternoon watch. If you hate movies where the resolution hinges on a horse race that you can see coming from the opening credits, maybe skip it.

The pacing is a bit like a Sunday stroll that occasionally turns into a frantic run to catch the bus. There’s a scene near the middle where the vicar is trying to hide his betting habits from the town gossips, and it goes on just a little too long. It’s almost painful, but then he pulls a face and you forgive the clunky editing.

There is this one moment with the racecourse extras that feels so weirdly disjointed. It's like they all forgot they were in a movie for a second and just started chatting about their lunch. It’s not great, but it’s strangely charming in its sloppiness.

It’s not as sharp as some of the other stuff from that era. Compared to the grittier vibe you might find in something like I Was a Spy, this is essentially a bedtime story. But sometimes you just want to see a vicar in a tizzy.

• Will Hay is basically a master of the "distressed bird" look.
• The steeple plot is just an excuse for chaos, and we all know it.
• The horse racing scenes are clearly filmed with a budget of about three pounds and a dream.

I don't know, maybe I'm just soft for this stuff. It doesn't try to be profound, and thank goodness for that. It’s just a man, a church, and a horse. 🐎

Also, Prince Monolulu showing up? Did not expect that. That caught me completely off guard. It's a tiny detail that makes the whole thing feel more like a time capsule than a structured film.