Roy Clarke's Last Of The Summer Wine – Vintage 1997 (BBC DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: D Extras: D Episodes: C+
Compo,
Foggy and Clegg are back for another season of laughs and troubles in the
never-ending series ironically entitled Last
Of The Summer Wine. When a movie
company comes into town, everyone wants to be an extra in the movie.... now the
director has a circus. A dating service
comes and Smiler is turned into a new man as Foggy tries to teach him on how to
be macho man. A man writing a guidebook
for town only ends up getting more lost with the trio trying to 'aid' him. And as usual Compo is trying to woo Nora Betty...on
a motorcycle with a kiss.
Set in a
small village in the British country side (now in 1997, but no one seems to die
as in MidSomer Murders) lives a town
full of eccentric old men and women. The
men's various outing and ideas most often get them into trouble, the womenfolk
try to keep the men on leases at home and away from mischief. Foggy is a war veteran who often recounts his
army days, Compo is the unkempt lazy (often the unspoken leader of the trio),
and Clegg is more often the timid, but has the most voice of reason among the
three. As the men go for their daily
walks together, the woman get together to talk and complain on how unreliable
the men are. Most of the time they are
just trying to get a little excitement out of life, while they may be old, but
they still have some life in them left.
One of
BBC longest running sitcoms, filled with light hearted comedy of elderly
characters. It is sort of like a British
3 Stooges, but with many other side
characters and minor side stories. Most
of them with same character themes or subplot, the nagging wife, cheating
husband, annoying shopkeepers, etc... If you like witty British comedy and
laughter as medicine for geriatrics, certainly all these elderly characters have
life to spare. The picture is
dated-looking, the sound weak and there are no extras.
- Ricky Chiang
