
A documentary looking at the life of Benny Hill and with the use of an audience reaction test finding out if he is still funny to contemporary audiences.
2006-12-28
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The Lad Himself - Benny Hill!
8.0In this one-off half-hour silent film, Benny stars as the title character, a "born loser" who is unlucky in everything - especially love. He fancies a pretty nurse who walks by the park, but ends up with a plainer girl.
One-off special Benny taped in 1990, with outdoor scenes made in New York. Highlights of this part include Hill playing Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Roseanne Barr and an audience member in a parody of "Ask Dr. Ruth," Chow Mein showing up for an audition, and Benny getting into a tangle with gangsters.
5.5Ben is a young editor for a famous german music magazine in the mid 90's. His life is falling apart after his girlfriend breaks up with him. From now on he decides to go solo...
6.8In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley announces an air race and offers £10,000 to the first person who can fly across the English Channel. But one of the participants, Percy, plots to sabotage his competitor's planes. Will Percy triumph?
7.1Andrew returns to his hometown for the funeral of his mother, a journey that reconnects him with past friends. The trip coincides with his decision to stop taking his powerful antidepressants. A chance meeting with Sam - a girl also suffering from various maladies - opens up the possibility of rekindling emotional attachments, confronting his psychologist father, and perhaps beginning a new life.
6.2Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble, a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive".
7.3Capturing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in their electrifying element, 'A Hard Day's Night' is a wildly irreverent journey through this pastiche of a day in the life of The Beatles during 1964. The band have to use all their guile and wit to avoid the pursuing fans and press to reach their scheduled television performance, in spite of Paul's troublemaking grandfather and Ringo's arrest.
7.3A young Jewish American man endeavors—with the help of eccentric, distant relatives—to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II—in a Ukrainian village which was ultimately razed by the Nazis.
6.8A hapless inventor finally finds success with a flying car, which a dictator from a foreign government sets out to take for himself.
4.0A one-off special starring Benny Hill, filmed entirely in Australia. Includes a sketch about "Benny Kelly," son of infamous Australian outlaw Ned Kelly; "Hold Back the Wind" (a Tennessee Williams parody); "Archie's Angels" (a spoof of Charlie's Angels); and "Lady Godiva." Also: a vagabond dreams of moving up to the high life; an interview with Chow Mein; a dance routine set to the themes from The Avengers, M*A*S*H and Hawaii Five-O; and closing hijinks around the beach.
4.9World famous pop group the Spice Girls zip around London in their luxurious double decker tour bus having various adventures and performing for their fans.
6.4Denise Crosby takes another look at the huge fans of "Star Trek" and how the series from around the world has affected and shaped their lives.
0.0Amanda's stoner slumber party is put to a halt when one of her guests is nowhere to be found.
7.6A discussion between John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones about their film The Meaning of Life
5.1This movie debut for saucy British TV comic Benny Hill has Benny leaving his job as a sweeper after winning some money. He becomes a private detective and investigates a plot to assassinate British scientists.
8.0Mr. Hill's last TV work, taped and aired before his death, with outdoor scenes taped in New York City. Highlights of this show include "A Streetcar Named Desirée" (a Tennessee Williams takeoff) and a spoof of "Ask Dr. Ruth" (where he impersonated Dr. Ruth Westheimer and Roseanne).
4.0Loved by millions across the World, Benny Hill was an instantly recognisable character. His unique brand of humour ensured that he would forever be remembered as The World's Favourite Clown. Yet whilst everybody loved Benny Hill, very few really knew the man behind the mask. In this remarkable programme Benny, for the first time on-screen, speaks in-depth about himself, his career and the art of comedy. Going right back to his childhood and early days in the theatre, it's a remarkable insight into the legend that was Benny Hill. Packed with many of his most famous sketches, the programme is illuminated from start to finish by Benny's infectious sense of humour. It's a testimony to his universal appeal that the programme includes revealing interviews from such famous fans as Michael Caine, Mickey Rooney and Burt Reynolds.
0.0Another regular evening at Mike's house turns into a comic nightmare. Finding himself a stranger in his own apartment, a "world totally fashioned from the effluvia of TV and pop music," Mike is plagued by a mysterious drop ceiling, his dry cleaning, and a host of ghostly visitors. This postmodern comedy of the banal is told as a suspense drama, in which an unseen "we" whispers imperatives to the hapless Mike, whose life becomes a TV game show in a place "somewhere between initiation and renovation." References to such pop trivia as the Partridge Family and the Kingston Trio suggest a collective cultural unconscious of trashy sitcoms, pop songs and brand names. Smith concludes with the outrageous but oddly affecting spectacle of Mike eating Bridge Mix and dancing to Neil Diamond's Forever in Blue Jeans.
7.0Compilation from the quiz show Never Mind the Buzzcocks