"Fawlty Towers" Gourmet Night (1975)

User Rating:

9.0/10   

Director:

John Howard Davies

Writers:

John Cleese (written by) and
Connie Booth (written by)

TV Series:

"Fawlty Towers" (1975)

Original Air Date:

17 October 1975 (Season 1, Episode 5)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

The cream of Torquay society turns out for a special gourmet night at Fawlty Towers. Expectations are high but so...

Plot Keywords:

Gourmet Night | Reference To Henry Kissinger | Beating Car With Branch | Hotel | English

Cast

John Cleese	...	Basil Fawlty
Prunella Scales	...	Sybil Fawlty
Connie Booth	...	Polly Sherman
Andrew Sachs	...	Manuel
André Maranne	...	André
Steve Plytas	...	Kurt
Allan Cuthbertson	...	Colonel Hall
Ann Way	...	Mrs. Hall
Richard Caldicot	...	Mr. Twitchen
Betty Huntley-Wright	...	Mrs. Twitchen
Ballard Berkeley	...	Major Gowen
Gilly Flower	...	Miss Tibbs
Renee Roberts	...	Miss Gatsby
Jeffrey Segal	...	Mr. Heath
Elizabeth Benson	...	Mrs. Heath

Certification:

Australia:PG

Trivia:

Anagram: WA RTY TOWELS (missing F but space between A and R in WARTY)

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: After Basil gets the duck from Andre, he tells Manuel to get the trolley. Basil then walks into the door, and the duck goes flying. You can see the arm of the crewmember holding the door closed. When Manuel comes through the door and stands on the duck, and you can see the crewmember's face.

Quotes:

Basil Fawlty: [Frantically typing at a typewriter] He's out! He's flat out! So André's, uh...
Sybil Fawlty: Who is?
Basil Fawlty: What!
Sybil Fawlty: Who ls out?
Basil Fawlty: Kurt! Who do you think, Henry Kissinger?
Sybil Fawlty: What do you mean 'Out'?
Basil Fawlty: He's *Drunk*!
Sybil Fawlty: Drunk?
Basil Fawlty: Drunk! Soused! Potted! Inebriated! Got it?
Sybil Fawlty: I don't believe it.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The John Cleese Interview (1998) (V)

rating the episodes from 1-12, this one ranks number 7!

This episode is very well put-together, not to mention very funny. Basil, as he does in many of the episodes, tries to raise the stature of Fawlty Towers by staging a gourmet evening and turning away any so-called "riff-raff." So the big night arrives and Kurt, the chef, has decided to get very drunk. In a memorable sequence, Polly tries to tell Basil without saying the word "drunk." The fate of the evening now rests with Basil delivering the gourmet meal promised to the guests. He calls Andre, the owner of a restaurant in town, and asks for his help. But the only suitable dish he can offer is duck. When informed of the change in the menu, one of the guests asks "what do you do if you don't like duck?" Basil replies "well, if you don't like duck, you're rather stuck." The rest of the episode consists of the staff trying to make the evening go as smoothly as possible without letting on about the chaos in the kitchen. One of the best scenes in the whole series is when Basil beats his car with a tree branch after it stalls when he is on the way back to the hotel with the duck from Andre's.