From the episode "The Germans" - Basil and the Major reminisce about their experiences with the fairer sex. If you have any favourite clips from the show, let us know and we'll upload them! All copyrights belong to the BBC.
The Major's comic timing and delivery is so flawless and superb. He doesn't even have to say something funny, he just is inherently funny. That's a timeless performance right there
That’s the biggest crime of them all. Riots and now censorship of a sitcom. It’s comedy ffs! Don’t take it seriously. I have friends of a different skin colour and they take the piss out of themselves by calling themselves things stereotypically associated with their skin colour
Major was paying customer and he never complained about service or food even though he knew that Fawlty Towers was second worst hotel in Western Europe after that place in Eastbourne. He even ate omelet Basil teared apart on other customer plate and gave it to him. He had couple of important things in his life : newspaper, cricket and his daily drinks in bar. He was satisfied customer and of course Basil liked him.
As one of the mentioned Indians, this is a bloody hilarious episode and ought to have never been removed. Utter disgrace to deprive us of comedy on account of the sensibilities of a minority of a minority.
Major is not PC but he is a very accurate representation of a war hero from his era. Although never stated he is suffering from dementia and PTSD which is why he talks as he does. If you notice major is a very kind and loyal. He is never coming from a place of hate. He is very much of his time. Sometimes old people say things which make you want to crawl in a hole from embarrassment and they will do it in public.
I remember an old neighbour 20 years ago. He would be about 80 who had a disabled son. He said his wife liked to volunteer some of her time looking after, "Spastics and Mongols". No hate meant it was archaic language even then, probably 30 years out of date But go back 40 to 50 years, to the time of Fawlty Towers, and that's how folk described the disabled, including calling folk cripples. Hell, early Family Guy was aired 23 years ago, and the disabled guy Joe calls himself handicapped. Now, that's now considered an offensive word. Language changes. Eskimo is now Inuet, and Lapp is now Sammi.
@@stephenroney2366handicap is not offensive? Had no idea. I must have subconsciously stopped using the word, but not I am hearing outcries of the word disabled being offensive. I am disabled, and I don't get offended calling myself that😂
@srldwg Neither do I. As I said, changing words, changing times. My heckles did go up once, when I was called a cripple. But it was by an old guy, and no offence was given or taken.
@@SiddharthaOmkara-bm5lp clearly you have not spent time with people with PTSD and or dementia. Most definitely you have not met anyone from the war era either. The world isn't always pc and it's ok to find that funny. Alot of the humour around major is based on him saying something that was ok to say in his youth and is inappropriate for the time when the show came out. What is pc is always changing we see this in the dynamic between Basil and major. Recently the terms " person of colour" has appeared I was taught the word coloured was extremely offensive when I was little. "Queer" has become popularised after it being a slur while I was growing up. I don't use these words because I grew up with the connotations around them being negitive words.
@@srldwg Any word used to refer to a disability (even the word disability) because what people doesn't understand is not that the word is undesirable. It's the situation. so any word used to refeer to the situation will inherit said undesirability.
I watched this episode at school when I was 13. I had a couple of West Indian lads in my class who didn’t find this offensive at all. They were laughing their heads off at this scene.
Although, what else could they do? If they had complained about it, they probably would have got beaten up, or had p*ss taken out of them even more. People of other ethnicities quickly learned to try and "blend in" and not cause any problems for themselves by complaining about stuff.
@@ashleyp.4932 you are the reason why the world is completely fkd at the moment. It's called comedy. Having the piss taken out of you or someone else should be embraced. But shunned.
The Major is my favourite character; apparently his character was going to have a higher profile but a lot of his lines got written out, which is a real shame. BB was in films from the 1930s, often as a police inspector.
This is one of my favourite segments because the major has a significant role here. I wish there was more of him on the show - at least we got this large part here.
Watching FT again and again from a media perspective the acting is brilliant beyond belief. It can't compare to the mass produced sitcom stodge of today
@@Joe-xb2ow I can. I was there when he was born and was his babysitter and bodyguard for life. He never did such a thing. Now, go put a goddamn shirt on, Staypuft.
Only barely literate minorities don't understand that such racism exists today. Educated Indians don't tolerate this rubbish, unless they are right wing.
@@andrewsmyth6237 There's a gap. People born between 1980 and 2000 will be offended by this entire scene. People older than that, and younger than that will simply laugh at the millennials.
@@monkeyballz168 How one can be offended by the best of the British comedy? Learn the history and don’t watch modern rubbish and you can laugh at that onez
That's the best line of the scene! Random, hilarious observation and the major doesn't miss a beat. You almost wonder if it was improvised (but I'm pretty sure it wasn't).
@@roshan17t The character of the Major is lampooning an ignorant old man, it's satire. When you listen to a Dr Dre album, does every N word stab you in the heart? Or Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction? I assume not, because of the CONTEXT its in. Or would you like the N word removed from every dictionary, song, book and film because someone will take offense regardless of the context? Context is everything. Satire, pisstaking and dangerous humour is built into the British psyche.
@@roshan17t I understand that. The difference is in this scene is that it's not used in malice or hatred, he's using stupid nasty words from a forgotten time and that's made very obvious here. We don't take the Major seriously. The whole point of the character is to be a point of fun making because he's an old fashioned dinosaur.
We laugh at the stupidity, we don't remove words. At the end of the day they're just words. It's the context you apply to that word. I am sorry you've encountered horrible people. but censoring things like this is not answer
Cracking. I've been married to an Indian lady for 30 years and while she doesn't quite get the humour of FT in the way I do, she's not in the least offended.
Its always interested me to see people who have an understandable criticism of this scene. Because I've always interpreted as nobody is racist here, just typical British miscommunication humor. Listening to the words and reactions of each character (specifically the major) I find that Basil is shocked and confused when the Major uses his "names" for the cricketers and the Major seems shocked when he thinks Basil has insulted them intellectually. The Major being from the Imperial era has a great respect for both cricket teams Indians/West Indies and seems momentarily affronted by Basils' intelligence insult. And thinks they're a "Hard" people, like some cheeses' Basil being from the Post-Empire age seems shocked but the Majors apparent racism despite not actually using the words in the derogatory. They are for better or worse "worse" just the words he uses as times have changed. The only actual insult said is against women and is immensely sarcastic in the British style... his wife (who he hates) and Polly (who he kind of respects). Remember Basil is also meant to be a horrible person... not racist just a massive jerk who hates people... all people. But hey 2020 the year nuance died...
Perspective really. Accusing the Germans to their faces of invading Poland was vastly more offensive than this. Reduced the lady to tears (might not have been much acting involved either - the war wasn't that long ago then). Tragi-comic is the word isn't it?
Because in the minds of the woke-ists, having a darker coloured skin makes you into a victim while being white makes you automatically into an oppressor. No room for context, or nuance, or even dialogue between fellow humans of different colours. When European colonialists, the nazis and the Confederate southerners were pigeonholeing people according to skin colour or other ethnic signifiers, they were being dreadful racists as we all know- but I wonder what the woke-ists are.
He was brilliant in this and played the part to perfection throughout the series, the depth of talent in FT was unreal.. This and Mrs Richards were masterclasses in acting.
Yes, and I'm surprised by the historical accuracy. British India did play the county clubs in the 20s, led by the 'father of Indian cricket' Ranjit Singh, who later represented England as well. All 5 tests were drawn
Let's be clear: the Major was clearly a stereotype to be laughed at, not with. He's senile, totally outdated in his outlook, yet amiable, harmless and eager to please. Ballard Berkeley's portrayal of him is so perfect that he creates one of the truly great comedy characters of all time. His birth name was Blascheck, which may be Czech or Polish, so perhaps he could have had a real reason not to be fond of Germans.
It's actually frightening how little people understand satire now, and how it has to be broken down into explainations like yours to make it a BIT more consumable for them. You did a great job, but you shouldn't have to!
Yeah, cross the board cutting parts is bit like book burning. There is unpleasant use of words from fools and then there is unpleasant use of words with a purpose in comedy.
It's quite unbelievable how this scene is now bleeped out and the episode itself is now classified MA simply because this exchange. There is no condoning or support of racism in this conversation. We are laughing at the Major's ignorance and stupidity - just look at how he bumbles from sentence to sentence. Basil himself is even slightly uncomfortable in this conversation.
@@peacfulearth Absolutely. We all love the Major - there's not a trace of malice in the character. In this scene he's simply speaking from his own worldview.
Yes but people today don’t understand the context of the times the major grew up in. When he was a kid it was “ennie minne mine moe catch a nigger by the toe,” a popular shoe polish was “nigger brown” and a dessert might be “niggers toes” or “niggers in the snow,” and when trying to solve a problem someone might say “we’ve got to find the nigger in the woodpile.” The use of such language is just jarring and offensive as most have no living memory of people who grew up in such a time. The further away we move from this history the more this history will offend people because it is offensive and it was racist. It was a racist society and even though most people were still good people they had attitudes about race that are just harmful by todays understanding. This was funny when it was aired because most viewers knew and understood the context, but that context has been lost to time and the humor is lost on the younger viewers.
one of the funniest scenes in, not just fawlty towers but any sitcom. the major was from the old raj days and the descriptions were never meant as an insult just descriptive and purely innocent, that is why it is so funny, he doesn't see any offence in it. i'm so glad this scene hasn't been deleted. i have the whole series anyway so i'm safe from the PC wankers
@@mlvpc There is no God, George. Not in the Judeo-Christian way. The One True God is a Lady named Death. And she is waiting for all of us. So in the meantime, "Always look on the bright, side of Life..."
This was back when sitcoms were innocent. The trick to watching clips like this now is remembering that it is not meant to be taken seriously. It's all just for laughs. If you understand that there's no issues with it.
Again, it would be understandable considering that this was Torquay in the 1970s. I'm sure that 'people of colour', as I am forced to call them, were very much in the minority there, of there were any there at all.
I’m a part of the generation that gets offended by everything but because my parents watched this stuff when I was younger I also saw it and I think it’s fucking hilarious.
So in the space of 3 minutes we have the following offended 1. People with Dementia 2. Women 3. Indians 4. West Indians 5. Cricketers 6. Germans And yet the episode is pulled because of the use of racist words! Basil, bless him. So close to forgiving the Germans yet so far...
Interesting that all the focus is on the offense to Indians and blacks but very little on the offense to Germans. Shows how ridiculous all this cancel culture is.
Apart from all the comments on here, rightly stating that it should never have been banned etc, there is another side to the argument which is the usual one of double standards. This was in the mid-70s and is poking fun at the Major's views. But we never hear anyone criticising Quentin Tarantino for his - to my mind - far more offensive use of the N word in films like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction (I gave up on him after those two films, so can't comment on later work) in the 90s. In Pulp Fiction he even chooses to put the words into the mouth of his own character. Don't hear any ranting and raving about that though from the usual suspects - wonder why?
Think it was Criticized , but why stress over a word anyway ? If you stop using a word due to social pressure the word you use for that thing it's self becomes the insult . Think ''special; needs '' instead of retarded or indeed coloured instead of the word you object to - both playground insults now
I watched this growing up in the mid 2000s and I don't remember this scene at all! It was certainly cut, and no way will it be on the Netflix version. I hope someone is preserving the old movies and shows as they actually were. Editing them and presenting them changed is almost equivalent to book burning.
Got them all on DVD. This scene was in the paper today because the BBC have put it back on their streaming service, no doubt it will be taken down as soon as the snowflakes get wind of it. If you want a comedy that will never see the light of day again due to being so un-PC you should look up Love Thy Neighbour.
@but ton History shouldn't be rewritten nor should anybody try to. Love Thy Neighbour isn't the funniest show but it would definitely have people crying these days. The good thing with the show is that they both insulted each other, gave as good as they got, and then ended up in the pub together later on.
I believe Allo Allo was popular all over Europe. Surely an Indian could see the comedy here. We are laughing at Major not with Major. His opinions are outdated at the time of filming and this was filmed in the 70’s I guess.
It used to make me laugh the way Basil used to refer to the Major as "stupid old sod" - that is one of my favourite expressions and I use it often (and not just behind people's backs either)
I always found it funny as a kid growing up (30 now) it’s always the goose stepping episode they used as an example of offensive content. Fuck me was I surprised at this scene.
The current generation can never create humour like that. It's too busy trying to not offend every atom in Creation. Except for the atoms of the opposite political spectrum, of course.
