Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection
by John Cleese (Scriptwriter), Douglas Argent, Connie Booth (Scriptwriter), John Howard Davies (Director Series 1.), Bob Spiers (Director Series 2.)
Fawlty Towers (Collections and Selections — series 1 and 2)
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Description
Basil Fawlty is an inept and manic English hotel owner and manager who isn't cut out for his job. He's intolerant, rude and paranoid. Chaos frequently breaks loose as Basil tries to run the hotel. He is constantly under verbal (and sometime physical) attack from his unhelpful wife Sybil, and hindered by the incompetent, but easy target, Manuel, the Spanish waiter. Fortunately he has an intelligent and attractive maid to help him out of the various situations he gets into.Tags
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Member Reviews
Wonderful stuff, if you don't mind sexism, nationalism, and general poking fun at both hotel owners and guests. Fawlty Towers is John Cleese at his best, and was made in the 1970s when political correctness was unheard of.
We've seen this before, and enjoyed it all over again seeing around one episode per week over several months. Maybe you have to be British and over 40 to appreciate it... but, seen as a classic of the era, it's hard to beat.
We've seen this before, and enjoyed it all over again seeing around one episode per week over several months. Maybe you have to be British and over 40 to appreciate it... but, seen as a classic of the era, it's hard to beat.
The Builders, The Hotel Inspectors, Gourmet Night
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Author Information
John Cleese, October 27, 1939 - John Cleese was born on October 27, 1939 in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England to Reginald Cleese, and insurance salesman, and Muriel Cross. He attended Cambridge University beginning in 1960 and joined the Footlights Club in his second term. In 1963, a Footlights production called "A Clump of Plinths" became so show more popular that the production spawned Cambridge Circus and ran in London's West End. He eventually earned his law degree from Cambridge. In 1964, the show traveled first to New Zealand and then to America for 24 performances on Broadway. By the late 60's, Cleese was established as an actor and a writer. In 1969, the BBC, looking for a new show to fill an empty time slot, coupled Cleese and pal Graham Chapman with three graduates from Oxford, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, as well as Terry Gilliam to create Monty Python's Flying Circus. The BBC produced 45 episodes which have been run and rerun over 30 years. Flying Circus became a cult classic and spawned yet another television show, "Fawlty Towers" as well as books and feature films such as "Monty Python's Life of Brian" and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Cleese then came down with a debilitating flu-like illness which his doctor suggested might be psychosomatic. After working with a therapist, Cleese returned with no signs of the illness and even joined the doctor in writing two books, "Families and How to Survive Them" and "Life and How to Survive It." He went on to create training films for corporations through his company called Video Arts. These videos enabled training to be fun as well as informative. Through all of this, Cleese has demonstrated his ability to perform in all walks of life and has made a name for himself doing what he loves best. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
1 Work 311 Members
Series
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection
- People/Characters
- Basil Fawlty; Sybil Fawlty; Polly; Manuel; The Major
- Important places
- Torquay, Devon, England, UK
- Related movies
- Fawlty Towers (1975 | IMDb)
- Quotations
- Basil: If you're not over here in twenty minutes with my door I shall come over there and insert a large garden gnome in you. Good day.
Elder Herr: Will you stop talking about the war?
Basil: Me? You started it!
Elder Herr: We did not start it!
Basil: Yes you did, you invaded Poland!
Mrs. Richards: When I pay for a view, I expect something more interesting than that.
Basil: That is Torquay, madam.
Mrs. Richards: Well it's not good enough.
Basil: Well, may I ask what you were expecting to see out ... (show all)of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically -?
Mrs. Richards: Don't be silly. I expect to be able to see the sea.
Basil: You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky.
Manuel: I know nothing.
Basil: You'll have to forgive him. He's from Barcelona.
Polly: Don't panic!
Basil: What else is there to do?
Basil: Coming my little piranha fish.
Basil: Do you remember when we were first *manacled* together? We used to laugh quite a lot.
Sybil: Yes, but not at the same time, Basil.
Basil: Did you ever see that film, How To Murder Your Wife?
Major Gowen: "How To Murder Your Wife"?
Basil: Yes, awfully good. I saw it six times. - Disambiguation notice
- This is the complete video collection of the series Fawlty Towers. Please do not combine with the book The Complete Fawlty Towers.
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Statistics
- Members
- 311
- Popularity
- 102,664
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.63)
- Languages
- Catalan, Dutch, English
- ISBNs
- 13
- UPCs
- 8
- ASINs
- 17
