Gozo Adventures – 2008?

Here's something you can watch for free! Robin narrates a little promotional travel video for his beloved adopted country of Gozo, an island near Malta in the Mediterranean.



At first I didn't think it sounded like him, but what do you expect? His voice has deepened and matured. It has the quality of a distinguished English gentleman now. The more I listened, the more I found the familiar inflections of his old self, though! He helps paint an impressive picture of Gozo (well, the video helps too!) as a historical, adventurous but relaxing escape. Looks beautiful there, I would love to visit. We’ve long been talking about a family cruise vacation in the Mediterranean, and I saw where Disney cruises offer a shore excursion to Gozo, so who knows? Maybe we’ll make it there one day. I see myself hopping off the boat, seeing Robin lazily lying on the beach….in skimpy 1970s swim trunks of course….mmmmm…. ;) OK, not to worry, Robin, my husband and son definitely won’t be letting me out unchaperoned!

Oh! Something else Gozo/Robin related I found recently:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-1263711/Confessions-Gozo-Robin-Askwith-selling-flat-Maltas-peaceful-rural-neighbour.html?ITO=1490

Nice photo! Nice peek inside his home! His decorating style is too modern for my liking though.

Carry On Girls - 1973

Not too hard to find, I found an old VHS copy on Amazon for cheap. They also carry it on DVD for American systems for around $11. It was watchable, and gave me a few laughs. Kind of a cross between “Benny Hill” (which I loathe) and “Fawlty Towers” (which I love). Apparently there’s a whole slew of these Carry On movies in England, but thank goodness Robin is only in this one so I need not see any more.

The story is about a gloomy English seaside tourist town (which I could relate to, as I currently live in gloomy coastal Oregon) whose mayor decides to drum up business by holding a beauty contest. Needless to say, a women’s lib group organizes protests and sabotages. Lots of busty women running around in bikinis and dirty old men leering at them. (See what I mean about Benny Hill?) Robin is adorable as the photographer Larry Prodworthy who is hired to take publicity photos. He also inexplicably happens to be the son of the leader of the women’s group protesting the event. It’s not a huge role, but still gets a lot of screen time…always seems to be there flashing away with his camera. His character is pretty benign, unfortunately doesn’t get naked or have any love scenes. There is one scene where he must take photos of one of the contestants who is riding a donkey into a hotel lobby (don’t ask!) and he gets that “Oh my god, I’m in love!” look on his face when he sees her. I thought that may lead to something good between him and her later on, but nope, sorry, that bit of foreshadowing is forgotten.

Benidorm - 2009

There’s a TV series in England right now that will be soon going into its 4th season. When I heard that Robin made an appearance in season 3 I knew I had to get ahold of it. If you go to their website, they meanly do not let anyone outside of the U.K. view its clips, interviews, or anything. So, what’s an American to do? Go underground, of course. I found someone online who converts current British shows to DVRs for Americans to watch. Pretty cool. I bought the entire season 3 for $20. Even though Robin is only in episode 4, I didn’t mind watching the complete season. It wasn’t hard to get into, even if you haven’t seen the prior seasons. It’s about a group of English vacationers who for some reason travel to a Benidorm, Spain resort area every summer. It is absolutely hilarious! The characters are a scream. And oh, so horrible looking! Overweight, tackily dressed, brash personalities, makes me feel a little bit better about being an American – ha ha, those Brits aren’t as dignified as everyone thinks! They’re just as boorish on vacation to foreign lands as we are! Hmmm. Could that be the reason they don’t make it easy for us to view this show? ;)

So…Robin’s role. He plays Gary, a conman who appears at the resort and fast-talks people out of their money. And plays the role so well! He talks so quickly and convincingly you have a hard time figuring out what hit you until he’s gone. All the while still with the same mannerisms he had in his 20s, so cool to watch.

Although…I must admit, he’s looking rather weathered in this. I’m not quite sure I understand that –remember how young he looked in the “Evil Calls” interview from just 3 years ago. Did he really age that fast in such a short time? Or did the Benidorm people try to make him look older for the role? He does have a makeout scene worthy of his ‘70s self, though! In the elevator with one of the main characters who had been in cahoots with him from the start.

Fun show, and I do hope he'll be back on next season!

Evil Calls: The Raven – 2007

Wonderful, just wonderful (said sarcastically). I find that Robin is back to making horror movies in modern times and am thrilled that finally there’ll be something that’ll be easy to just rent off of Netflix, rather than hunting down and purchasing in the back alleys of the internet. Wrong. When it comes to Robin Askwith, apparently nothing is just that simple. Despite coming out 3 years ago, Netflix doesn’t carry it. Neither does Amazon. Someone online mentions you have to buy the DVD through the production company’s website, http://www.houseoffear.co.uk/films/evilcalls/index.htm So I head over, prepared to shell out some money, but am unable to find where it is I’m supposed to buy it. I email someone on the site about it, but they never get back to me. Does anyone WANT this movie to be seen?? Unfortunately, as they’ve been this wildly successful with this one, they’re doing a sequel, this year, 2010, titled “Back2Hell”. Goodness, what exactly do I need to do to SEE these things?

On a “I’ll take what I can get” note: On the website I mentioned above, there are clips from the film, which looks like it could be pretty interesting. AND! An interview with Robin! Who looks absolutely amazing for his 57 (at that point) years. Still his sparkling blond hair, charming wit and dazzling grin. Sigh.

Hopefully coming some day…an update of this “review”.

April 22, 2011 UPDATE!!! Finally saw it! See the review here!

LOOKING FOR…ITV Saturday Night Theatre “The Full Cheddar” – 1969? 1971? (Season 2, Episode 12)

Occasionally I’ll post some movie or TV show I’m having a tough time finding! From my research it seems that the “ITV Saturday Night Theater” was a kind of “movie of the week” type thing. I don’t know if these even exist anymore, or were just played once and erased? One discrepancy is that the IMBD lists this episode as broadcast in 1969, yet Robin, in his autobiography, had it scheduled in his 1971 diary: he has it down to be filmed from May 30 – June 14 of that year! Odd.

The few details IMBD lists: the plot:

“A teacher's concentration frequently wanders as he fantasizes about living a different life.”

And the character Robin plays: “Bassett”. An actor named Daniel Massey plays the teacher character of Fred Instance.

Sorry, that’s it! Can someone help me track this one down?

Hans Brinker - 1969

I guess you could call this Robin’s first real “starring” role. He landed this fresh out of high school and plays the title role. Hans Brinker is a teenaged boy in mid-1800s small town Holland whose father is a brain-damaged invalid as a result of a work accident 10 years prior. The family struggles along until hope comes in the form of a brain surgeon, whom Hans skates all the way to Amsterdam to beg to heal his father. This is a heartwarming, family-friendly musical which showcases Robin’s talent as a serious actor. His more lighthearted comedic roles are great, but I think they caused people to overlook the reality that he is a natural actor and really could have gone on to star in some more substantial leading man type roles.

Reading his autobiography is a must if you want to learn some funny and interesting “behind-the-scenes” tales from when he was making this! Especially amusing was that he and some of the other boys lied when auditioning for their roles, saying that they were advanced ice skaters, while in reality none of them knew how at all. Resulting in some quick “on the job” training in it at the last minute. I did notice that during all the fancy skating scenes, Robin is not given much screen time, even though he IS the star! Ha ha

Here Come The Double Deckers: “The Go-Karters” – 1970

You would think that this British TV series would be one of the harder appearances to find, but no! You can view this whole episode on YouTube! Amazing. And I for one am very glad to have not paid for it. It’s a really bad children’s show about a group of kids who make their clubhouse/hangout in some garage that houses a double decker London bus. The kids all have a distinct stereotyped persona: (the smart one, the fat one, the black one, the American one, the girl, the little pre-school aged one…) and you wonder how they got to be friends in the first place. They’re all a little bit annoying as well, they all overact. Loudly. This particular episode revolves around a go-kart they are making to put in a race. Not a lot of dialog, but lots of boring scenes of go-karts speeding around the track and speeding OFF the track. Just hilarious, I suppose, if you’re 5. Now for the reallllllly ridiculous part. Robin plays a “Hell’s Angel” biker guy dressed in a leather jacket who for some reason wants to compete in a children’s go-kart race and tries to sabotage the kids’ cart. Why on earth would a grown up (He’s 20 years old at this point in his life!) tough biker dude care about something like this is beyond me.

All Coppers Are… - 1971

An obscure one that isn’t readily available, but I happened to find mine on Ebay from someone who I guess takes British films and puts them onto DVD-Rs compatible with US systems. Probably not legal, but I’m glad he was able to get past Ebay’s strict guidelines about this sort of stuff -- because collectors need this kind of service!

Robin plays a small part as a young thief who gets caught by the main character, a young policeman. He appears only at the beginning and ending: thieving, being chased by the copper, getting thrown in jail…then at the end, bumping into the cop again as he rides around on his bicycle delivering newspapers. I’ve noticed that in a lot of his movies he’s either running for his life or riding a bicycle!

Not disappointed, though. It was really an enjoyable movie aside from having Robin in it. The story’s about the conservative young policeman who is married with a baby. He meets a longhaired guy about his age at a wedding reception – who is played by Nicky Henson. Nicky Henson is also an old favorite of mine from the “Elvira” movies, so I was very happy to see that he and Robin actually made a film together! Next to “Horror Hospital” my favorite Elvira movie was “Psychomania” where he plays a member of a motorcycle gang who find the way to come back from the dead after killing themselves. Apart from an episode of “Fawlty Towers” I have not seen him in anything else, so this was a nice surprise.

Getting back to the story…at the reception they also meet a young girl who Barry (Nicky) falls for but she more has eyes for the married copper, who, in a moment of weakness, winds up having a brief fling with her. When she finds out he’s married, she resorts to moving in with Barry, who is on the “other side of the law”. He’s planning to hijack a truck for some mobsters. Once he’s paid, they hope to flee London together. That is, if they’re not found out by…their old pal the copper!

Good story, good acting. Interesting glimpse of working class London and the people that populate the housing projects in an absolutely dismal looking part of the city. One protest-turned-riot scene was shocking to watch, as the small police force was sent out – with no weapons - to be a barricade against the mob of hundreds of angry young people. I guess it’s really like that over there, police officers not carrying guns, but it seemed almost like suicide to me.

Nicholas and Alexandra – 1971

Early in his career Robin played a very small part in this sweeping epic about the famous Russian ruler. He only has two appearances where he couldn’t be more different. First, he is shown with his family, dressed all in white, happily running through a field of sunflowers to meet an arriving train. Next we see him as a Russian soldier, miserable, dirty and starving, skinning and devouring a rabbit while in combat. He shoots another soldier who has come to admonish him. In his autobiography he mentions that he really was made to skin and eat a real raw rabbit! And how disturbed he was afterward that he did. After having seen that scene, I think that was horrible. It would’ve been very easy to disguise anything else as raw rabbit meat. Shows what a true actor is willing to do for his art.

U-571 – 2000

Anxious to see Robin in a more recent role, I rented this one via Netflix. I innocently popped it in the player one Saturday night to watch with my husband. “I think I saw this already,” he commented. “Why did you pick THIS?” knowing full well it is not my preferred genre of movie. “Ummmm….I dunno….” I said with an impish smile. “Oh no.” He realized all too fast. “HE isn’t in this, is he???” I looked guilty. “What role could he possibly play in here?” he demanded. “I don’t know anything about it,” I confessed. “All I know is it said he plays a ‘British Seaman’”. So we settled in to scrutinize every scene to see if we could find him. “That’s him,” Jim says knowingly at an early dinner scene. “That young soldier there. I’d know him anywhere.” I roll my eyes. “In 2000, Robin Askwith is 50 years old. That is NOT him.” “Hmmm. Maybe he aged well?” he suggested. “It’s NOT him.” I was firm about it. Try as we might, we never did find him. Oh well. Weeks later, after doing some research, I learned from someone on the web that he was in a lifeboat of guys shot by the Germans. I did vaguely remember that scene, and reported back to my husband. “Why did he even take such a small part?” he wondered. Um, yes, WHY??? Well, actually, rumor is he did have a much longer scene, but it got cut! Humphs!

All in all, not a bad movie, but if you’re just looking for Robin, no need to bother looking for him here.

Update: just before I published this review, my husband found a VHS copy of this for me at a thrift shop. I dare anyone to find a more loyal husband, willing to hunt through thrift shops to make sure his wife accumulates every last movie made by her favorite movie star. Hehe. So, I went back and found that scene and YES now that I knew it was him saw that it WAS recognizably him. The picture I’ve included here is the ONLY time you will see him, so if you’re not interested in this type of movie, just look at this picture and you can say you’ve seen it. He’s the one standing up on the left of the boat. You hear him a little longer than you see him. He’s calling out, pleading to be rescued by a German ship, but they instead shoot the whole boat. Ugh to those bad, bad, Nazis, preventing Robin from popping up again later in the film!

10/5/10 UPDATE:

This'll be my first attempt to upload a scene to YouTube and embed it here. So fans don't have to wade through this whole movie to see his very very small part. Now, if you are unable to watch this clip, it may be because they took it off for copyright reasons or whatever, not sure how much of a film people are allowed to upload there. So far, it's still up and playable. So here goes: