The episode with the famous 'Basil gives the car a "damn good thrashing" with a tree branch' scene, "Gourmet Night" offers some spectacular comedy. This is another of the Fawlty's efforts to raise the hotel's status and level of clientèle. Their idea is to have 'gourmet nights' where the chef will serve haute cuisine to a group of VIPs in the Torquay area. On the debut evening, they find out that Curt the chef, is gay and has been rejected by Manuel, then he gets plastered and can't cook the meal. The hotel staff is left to fend for themselves, with their usual 'cover-up' routines that backfire badly (check out the dining room scene where Manuel, Polly, and Sybil try to distract the guests with their own entertainment!)
This episode was one in particular that had perfect casting of the guest stars - Allan Cuthbertson as the brash Colonel Hall, who suffers from a constantly-twitching neck muscle, with Ann Way as his diminutive wife. Also great are Steve Plytas as the drunken chef Curt, and the very French Andre Maranne as the local restaurant owner and consultant to the Fawlty Towers kitchens.
"Gourmet Night" is probably the best for Cleese's physical comedy. The scene in the kitchen where he derisively hurls the duck at Curt is side-splittingly hilarious. But who can forget the scene with Basil attacking the car with the tree branch, and the sight of him running up the driveway carrying the evening's meal... Who's for trifle?!
This episode was one in particular that had perfect casting of the guest stars - Allan Cuthbertson as the brash Colonel Hall, who suffers from a constantly-twitching neck muscle, with Ann Way as his diminutive wife. Also great are Steve Plytas as the drunken chef Curt, and the very French Andre Maranne as the local restaurant owner and consultant to the Fawlty Towers kitchens.
"Gourmet Night" is probably the best for Cleese's physical comedy. The scene in the kitchen where he derisively hurls the duck at Curt is side-splittingly hilarious. But who can forget the scene with Basil attacking the car with the tree branch, and the sight of him running up the driveway carrying the evening's meal... Who's for trifle?!
