Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Directed by: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones | 91 minutes | comedy, adventure, fantasy | Actors: John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Connie Booth, Carol Cleveland, Neil Innes, Bee Duffell, John Young, Rita Davies, Avril Stewart, Sally Kinghorn, Mark Zycon

One of the best known, most quoted and most loved comedies of all time, consistently ranking high on many movie fans’ “favorite comedy” lists, that’s what ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ is known for today.

In 1969 a bunch of young English comedians, plus one native American, made their BBC television debut with their “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. With their absurdist humor, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam (the American) revolutionized (television) comedy by breaking new ground. A revolution that still leaves its mark today and has influenced generations of comedians.

‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ is the comedy group’s first “real” feature film. Although ‘And Now for Something Completely Different’ was released in 1971, it was a compilation of the best sketches from the first two (of the four) seasons of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”, which were re-recorded for this film. The cast found that result only mediocre, but with ‘Holy Grail’ the Pythons came back at their strongest.

The film is a high-quality comedy for the real connoisseur and will not be appreciated by everyone due to the extremely absurd content. This so typical and characteristic humor from the TV series is propelled to great heights in this film. This makes the film slightly less accessible than the direct successor ‘Monty Python’s Life of Brian’ (1979), which in turn was much more controversial (because of its religious connections). The story of this film is based on the British legends surrounding King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. In a merciless parody, these legends are shattered and many more existing conventions ridiculed. As always, the Pythons take on multiple roles, with Palin taking the lead by portraying no fewer than twelve characters. Of the Knights of the Round Table, the Pythons played the following are King Arthur (Chapman), Sir Lancelot (Cleese), Sir Robin (Idle), Sir Bevedere (Jones), and Sir Galahad (Palin). Gilliam has the relatively smaller role of Arthur’s servant Patsy and that of Sir Bors, but that is mainly due to the fact that he also provided the beautiful and original animations, which Monty Python is immediately recognizable by.

The film is packed with clever and inventive jokes from the animated beginning to the abrupt and unexpected ending. And who doesn’t know them, “The Knights who say ‘Ni’”, the murderous rabbit, “The Black Knight” and the great song “Knights of the Round Table”? Although these and other scenes have become legendary, it is also especially in the less quoted and memorable moments that the scenes are very well put together and the Pythons never go for the cheap laugh. It is therefore highly recommended to watch ‘Holy Grail’ several times and then there is guaranteed to be even more fun to discover and the film also arouses admiration for the comic ingenuity of the makers.

It is clear from the end result that the production of the film was far from rosy. Co-directors Jones and Gilliam clashed over their different film styles, the weather was lousy, the permission to film in Scottish castles was revoked (requiring heavy improvisation) and the limited budget made it impossible to hire horses. The ongoing visual joke that none of the knights ride a horse, but that this is simulated by their servants by slamming two halves of a coconut together (an old radio play trick) is one of the most recognizable things about the film, but originally completely was not the intention. The recordings were further complicated by Graham Chapman’s chronic alcoholism, who could barely function because of this.

Chapman would eventually die of cancer in 1989. During his funeral, Cleese provided hilarious moments by giving a very original funeral oration (watch this via the internet!), to which Idle led the audience in singing “Always look on the bright side of life”, from ‘Life of Brian’ . It was a fitting farewell for a great comedian who passed away way too soon. With Chapman, “Monty Python” was also buried for good. The former members had already gone their separate ways in 1983, but a reunion and making new material was definitely out of the question.

The remaining members all succeeded in their individual projects as well. Palin caused a furore with his travel programs; Jones as a TV host of interesting documentaries about the Romans and the Middle Ages; Cleese became a frequent guest on TV series and even starred in two ‘James Bond’ movies; Idle had a radio program, success as a (voice) actor and as a writer and producer and Gilliam became a successful, but also plagued by many setbacks, director. Their paths continued to cross after the Python era. Cleese and Idle lent their voices to characters in the ‘Shrek’ films and Cleese and Palin had beautiful roles together in the hit comedies ‘A Fish called Wanda’ and ‘Fierce Creatures’.

After all these years, the cultural influence of “Monty Python” remains strong and the legacy of their brilliant comedy “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is very much alive. A good proof of this is the musical “Spamalot”, which came out in 2005. The musical was written and produced by Eric Idle and pre-approved by the remaining living Pythons. The musical title is derived from a line from the song “Knight of the Round Table”, namely “… we eat ham, and jam and Spam a lot…”, this of course because it rhymed with Camelot. The musical was an immediate success on Broadway when it opened and, in addition to the Arthurian legend from the film, it also mocks the theater traditions.

The DVD of ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ should of course not be missing in any self-respecting film collection. There are several DVD versions out there, but in this case, the more extras, the better. How about an option to subtitle Shakespeare’s ‘Henry IV, part II’ for people who don’t like the film? Or the song “Knights of the Round Table” performed in LEGO? Thanks to its timeless and superior humor and with successful spin-offs such as ‘Spamalot’ and beautifully executed DVDs, ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ will continue to occupy a proud and deserved position as one of the best comedies of all time.