1977 British film by Stanley Long
Adventures of a Private Eye is a 1977 British sex comedy film directed by Stanley Long and starring Christopher Neil, Suzy Kendall, Harry H. Corbett and Liz Fraser.[1] It followed Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976), and was followed by Adventures of a Plumber's Mate (1977).
Critical reception
Monthly Film Bulletin said " 'I've seen all the sex films, you know', says the suburban housewife who abandons her apron for black leather and subsequently quotes titles both real and spurious – Last Tango in Paris, Deep Throat, Nuns in Rubber. Had she been watching British films, however, she would doubtless still be properly dressed, for film-makers here prefer to avoid all direct contact with explicit sex. Adventures of a Private Eye is highly symptomatic: we see nothing of the heroine's compromising photographs, though the director grants us unrevealing glimpses of the British Rail station at West Byfleet and ITV's crime hound Shaw Taylor. Instead, the audience is titillated by unimaginative lashings of 'saucy' humour, delivered by a well-tried cast. It must be said, however, that this specimen is slightly above par for the genre. Newcomer Christopher Neil is lively and natural, while the script's incoherent lurchings and botched attempts at parody at least provide a kind of entertainment."[2]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "Following on from the surprisingly profitable Adventures of a Taxi Driver, this smutty romp sticks to the same formula. Christopher Neil, in the title role, strips at regular intervals to satisfy a blackmailer's demand that he sleep with every pretty girl he meets. Comic stalwarts aside, this is really no more than soft-core pulp."[3]
