Benny Hill: Complete and Unadulterated: The Hill's Angels Years

The "Hill's Angels" of Benny Hill Complete and Unadulterated: The Hill's Angels Years, Set Four (1978-1981) are a cluster of fabulous babes who serve both as eye candy in comic master Benny Hill's musical sets and as a repertory company filling out his sketches. For the first time, a Hill fan can get familiar with some of the talented women who decorate Hill's show and even appreciate them for something beyond the obvious. Otherwise, Set Four carries on the tradition of Hill's naughty burlesque act. In "First Impressions," two Irish blokes--improbable guests on a television interview show--encounter a language barrier with the host due to their unique pronunciations: "My friend gave driving tests to girls, and sometimes he would feel them." "He would, uh, feel them?" "Yes, if they didn't pass, he'd feel them." In the very Red Skelton-like "Hotel Sordide" sketch, Hill plays a bellhop who inadvertently gets caught in a raucous fight between lovers, besieged by amorous attentions from comely ladies and the jealous rages of their men. Longtime fans of British TV comedy will appreciate Hill's impression of comedian Dave Allen (down to the latter's missing finger), in a good bit in which Allen can't tell a joke without offending one or another ethnic group or minority sitting in his outraged audience. Other good impersonations include Hill's take on Anthony Newley, Miriam Makeba, W.C. Fields, and, astonishingly, Bob Dylan. Finally, a real highlight of the set is "Women's Lib Television," in which a TV channel devoted to female viewers (a pretty prescient idea at the time) offers such fare as the game show "Sale of the Century." Hill plays the snarky hostess, who engages in man-bashing puns while a sexist male panelist answers contest questions with horrifying stereotypes. ("The three fastest means of communication? Telegram, telephone, and tell a woman.")