Rating: 
Summary: One of the funniest comedies ever to come out of Britain..
Review: I recently bought the gift pack, and this kind of comedy could not be made today in the US. The comedy is so direct and hard hitting, and politically incorrect, there would be an uproar if a new series tried to do what this series has done so effortlessly.The comedy itself is pure farce, with John Cleese as the rude, impulsive, cruel, manic depressive though mostly manic Basil Fawlty, with delusions of competence who gets himself into situations which get increasingly out of control, until finally he is fully exposed. My favorite episodes include The Germans,(don't mention the war) A touch of class, The anniversary, and the Wedding Party. I can still remember the ache in my side from laughing at the episode with the psychiatrist and the guest hiding a girlfriend in his room. In the video there is an interview with John Cleese before each segment explaining the origin of the series and various episodes. This is probably the best comedy to come out of Britain alongside the likes of The Fall and rise of Reginald Perrin, Father Ted, Blackadder and The New Statesman.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best BBC shows available on video or DVD
Review: You say you've never heard of Fawlty Towers? I'm not surprised. Most people recognize Monthy Python, and take quoting lines from "The Holy Grail" seriously. People generally recognize John Cleese ("Silverado", "A Fish Called Wanda", "Clockwise"), but never knew he had his own BBC series. I can remember watching this with my Dad back in the 70's. And by studying other people watching it, I've deduced the following: you either LOVE Brit humor, or you HATE it- there seems to be no in between. "Fawlty Towers" is a legend in Britcom history. Cleese plays Basil Fawlty, a man who owns and operates Fawlty Towers, a hotel. The service is bad, the food is worse, and Fawlty, although intelligent, is off-the-wall. His wife Sybil (Prunella Scales) spends most of her time smoking, painting her nails, or talking to her friend Audrey on the phone- all the while delegating task after task for Basil (pronounced like "razzle", not like the herb)to do. Polly (played by Connie Booth, Cleese's wife at the time; she was also in "Holy Grail")is the chamber maid/receptionist/waitress, etc. Basically, she handles all the tasks Basil fouls up (which is just about every episode). And then there's the bellboy/waiter Manuel...oh, and then there's Manuel! He hails from Barcelona and speaks very broken English. It's the interactions between Manuel and Basil that I find to be the funniest. For example, at a very posh dinner party (episode titled "Gourmet Night"), Basil instructs Manuel to clean a spoon. Manuel breathes on it, polishes it with a napkin, and sets it down. Basil says, "Get a CLEAN one", to which Manuel says, "It clean now!" Basil responds by sliding the spoon all over Manuel's gelled hair, runs it down his nose and smacks it on his forehead. "Is dirty now", Basil says, "Get a new one". Hilarious! If you've never experienced "Fawlty Towers" and are a fan of such Britcoms as "Absolutely Fabulous", "Vicar of Dibley", "The Young Ones", "The Goodies", "British Men Behaving Badly" or, of course, "Monthy Python", then you cannot miss this gem of a comedy.
Rating:
Summary: No faults here!
Review: This is a great series! It's too bad that it only had 12 episodes. If you love Monty Python, you will wet yourself when you see this. If you hate Monty Python......urm.....I bet you will love this! British humor at its best!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: British Comedy at its best!
Review: Fawlty Towers is and always will be my favourite television comedy series of all time. The writing is genius; John Cleese in all his gangly madness is as usual, brilliant, and the supporting characters, Polly (comic genius), Manuel ("Manuel, you're a waste of space!"), Basil's wife, the residents of the B&B, all worth their salt. There are episodes that have literally caused me to fold in half with laughter. The visiting Germans, the Health Inspector and Basil the escaped rat, the construction project, the anniversary, and the waldorf salad (a wonderful example of the British perspective of Americans)... all attaining the highest excellence in televised entertainment. I give it my highest recommendation!
Rating:
Summary: DVD ASAP
Review: An excellent show, and would love to own it on DVD!
Rating:
Summary: Basil Fawlty is my hero!
Review: I would like to publicly thank John Cleese and Connie Booth for creating the best British Comedy in the history of television (Absolutely Fabulous and Blackadder can't even touch this one - I was SO ANGRY Basil Fawlty did not make the list of TV Guide's most memorable characters). During 2 1/2 grueling years of working retail at a department store, coming home and watching John Cleese's nasty - hilarious hotel owner Basil Fawlty proved to be more therapeutic than any anger management course I could have taken (and, I might add, a heck of a lot more enjoyable!). My personal favorites - "The Germans" which has Basil has a heck of a time trying to explain fire drill procedures to his guests, and then, once they finally understand and have the drill, a REAL fire starts in the kitchen - Basil sustains a head injury and later insults some German guests (if you remember the Ministry of Silly Walks from Monty Python, this episode'll be especially funny to you); "Communications Problems", a laugh-till-you-cry episode with Basil having to contend with an impossible old woman who can't hear, but refuses to use her hearing aid for fear she'll wear out the battery (he plays a cruel joke on her that'll have you rolling); "The Builders", where Basil tries to use cheap builders instead of professionals to renovate the hotel - they end up botching the job and Sybil ends up taking matters into her own hands (does she EVER - Prunella Scales was HILARIOUS in this one); and finally, "Hotel Inspectors", the first episode, where Basil gets word of hotel critics in town and must be polite to all the guests out of fear of running into one of them (one guest in particular is so unbearably annoying you'll delight in the ending, where Basil gives him a right good send-off). All in all, the most perfect comedy series in the history of TV (WHY ONLY 12 EPISODES? ) - if you have to deal with impossible people on the job (and face it, most of us do) it's a MUST HAVE.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: It took me a long time to realize that Cleese, like any good actor, is essentially crucifying himself in front of a camera in order to achieve his role. Cleese has always been able to project his angst (see the movie Clockwise) in nothing short of a fire hose stream at his audience. But nothing, and I mean nothing, compares with his near-nervous-breakdowns in nearly every episode of Fawlty Towers. If you can watch "The Germans" episode and not go stark raving mad in your laughter during the infamous bit about "the war", then you are either American, or unintelligent, or to quote Basil Fawlty, most probably both.
Rating:
Summary: Who could resist John Cleese!
Review: Fawlty Towers has got to be the most hilarious sit-com I have ever seen. I highly recommend this to anyone with OR without a sense of humor, it's sure to make even Scrooge die laughing.
Rating:
Summary: Classic, Indeed.
Review: Had Monty Python ended and it's performers and writers faded into obscurity it still would have remained one of the greatest comic teams of all time. Luckily for us, however, the Python members went on to create additional works of comic genius, collectively and apart as individuals. The jewel of the " individual " projects is Fawlty Towers, headed by Python member John Cleese, the tall lanky Brit who gave us The Ministry Of Silly Walks. In Fawlty Towers Cleese plays Basil Fawlty, the owner of a hotel who perceives nearly every guest " checking in " as a slap in the face. Each episode creates such tension for its owner that you wonder if the hotel is in hell and Basil's punishment is to serve each guest with eternal loathing. The result for us is comic heaven. From a misplaced corpse to a wander rat, groping a guest unknowingly from another room to head injurious caused by a falling moose, Fawlty goes through it all. John Cleese once said that he and his then wife and co-writer Connie Booth ( who plays Polly Sherman, the realist waitress-do-everything ) used to laugh endlessly as they put Basil through every imaginable problem. I was 11 when I first saw this series on PBS in 1976. At the time I couldn't grasp every element of this tightly written series, but I laughed regardless, and laughed hard. These days when I watch the series for the millionth time I try to think of a half hour sitcom that might come close to mirroring the skill of writing, editing and acting in Fawlty Towers. I come up empty. It has been mentioned many times in the reviews of this board - a classic - indeed. WORD OF NOTE. John Cleese did achieve writing another comedy years later that had the same errorless writing and created another classic - the film, A Fish Called Wanda. -
Rating:
Summary: Dry, Black British humor at its best!
Review: I am British, so naturally think that fawlty tower is an absolute classic. John Cleese plays his natural self, being the poor underestimated man, while his wicked witch takes granted for all the stress he has to go through with his rude customers, his ditsy Spanish bellhope, and his know all Polly (what ever it is she does). Well all thats in Basils eyes anyway. Definatly a must for all those who appreciate dry humor!
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