Not even bad in a good way

Masterful Movie

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

OF ALL OF the Britich comedy shows that permeated American Television in the 1970's, all seemed to gravitate toward the Public Broadcastin System's stations. All, that is except for BENNY HILL. Perhaps low brow Mr. Hill was not up to the sanctimonious standards of PBS; which always has liked to portray itself as being a cut above "commercuial television.IN ONE SENSE, perhaps they were right; inasmuch as the energetic Benny did use a lot of double entende in his material. Perhaps being introduced to Burlesque early in his life influenced him in that area.ANOTHER POINT THAT we should make, as observed by my brother, Bob, is that when they say THE BENNY HILL Show, it truly is just that. Hardly a frame of film or an instant of videotape is exposed without his being there. Be it at the center of a sketch, singing a song or just mugging for the cameras, Mr. Hill is always out there.PERHAPS WE SHOULD reserve any of our criticisms until we get their verdict that was silently pronounced by a great comedian. So it was that Benny Hill, himself, found out that the now eighty-plus Charles Spencer Chaplin had personally videotaped and saved Benny Hill's TV Comedies; in order to view them over again.WELL, IF IT'S good enough for "the Little Tramp", who are we to disagree?

lightning in a jar...what the producers had.....a great show,funny entertaining...all you could ask for...after reading the trivia...one can only wonder what they were thinking when canceling this show....risqué at that time but noting like now....the English version of Red Skelton slapstick with adult themes...I still love watching these shows when I get a chance...hope this won't spoil it for you In Summary The TV shows of England were often a little more than was allowed here in the United States...censorship was tighter here than in England. Around the same time as Benny Hill was taking off overseas,here in America Laugh-in was getting started....This show also was deemed a little to risqué but nowhere near Benny hill. I would give this show 4 out of 5 stars

Benny Hill was fair game for people who wanted to take the moral high ground. These people brought the trumped up charge of being degrading to women against him but there were very few complaints about him being degrading to short bald-headed elderly men. British clean-up TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse was always going on at him and I once heard his best-known critic after Mary Whitehouse, Ben Elton, practically accuse him of inciting violence against women. The truth is, Benny only wanted to make people laugh and brighten their lives up and I think he was definitely hurt by the criticism. As I said, you could say he was degrading to short bald headed elderly men like in a very funny sketch where he and the entire cast of his show were performing a musical number. Jackie Wright and Bob Todd are sitting together singing and Benny goes over with two xylophone sticks and plays a wooden xylophone tune on top of their heads! Benny had a knack for making the obvious funny, like in a short sketch where he's looking after his neighbour's cat and his neighbour tells him "don't put yourself out" or when he plays a man going out the door with a four foot high package and his wife tells him "don't forget to post it". He had tremendous international appeal and many celebrities in the states including Burt Reynolds and Walter Cronkite and Greta Garbo was rumoured to be a fan. When Benny took ill and was in hospital Michael Jackson visited him (wonder if Wacko Jacko promised him a trip to Disneyland). One thing Benny did on his show was parodies of TV commercials. He did a parody of the Sunlight Washing Up liquid commercial where he was dressed up as the woman in the commercial and says in response to the rather obvious questions from the voice-over "of course it gets my dishes clean, are you damn stupid or something?". I can remember wishing that the woman in the real commercial would say that. In the early 1970s there was a commercial for Fry's Chocolate Cream which showed a girl reclining on a couch enjoying a bar of the chocolate. Her cat walks along the shelf next to her and knocks a porcelain figurine off the shelf and she catches it. Benny parodied this commercial. He was dressed up as the girl and when the cat knocked the figurine off the shelf he failed to catch it and the figurine shattered on the floor. A guy ran on to the set and shouted "clumsy fool" at Benny. It was predictable but still very funny. One thing his critics chose to overlook was that he nearly always played the character who came off worst in his sketches. The crux of his humour was that he played a lecherous man chasing after young girls who got his come-uppance. He was a guy very good at taking a joke on himself but definitely stung by critics.

Benny Hill was an amazing man. He could write some of the greatest comedy in the history of the English language. His work included wit, satire, low brow, and any other kind of humor that comes to mind. I remember watching this show on American TV in NJ, and it was a HUGE hit. I recall that a local Philadelphia station put this show on opposite the 11:00 pm local news, and for a few years it was the highest rated show in its time slot. Amazing. Along with Benny I'd like to point out the great work of Jackie Wright and Henry McGee. My grandfather had been briefly stationed in England during WW II, and he had seen Jackie Wright perform in London. He said that Jackie was the funniest man he had ever seen on a stage. My grandfather loved the episode when Jackie went on a cheap (and dangerous) vacation. Benny generally used Jackie in many ways, but usually as a PROP! Benny would smack Jackie's bald head over and over again. Henry McGee, on the other hand, was a brilliant straight man to Benny's funny side, and McGee excelled whenever he would interview Benny as "Fred Scuttle." This was brilliant humor and Benny deserves to be ranked with Chaplin, Keaton, Bob Hope, and Woody Allen as the 20th century's greatest funny men.