Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Watched: 7th January 2016

Top 250 Position: 95 (94 when watched)
Rating 8.3/10 from 369,660 users
Correct at 19th March 2016

Who's in it:
Graham Chapman
John Cleese
Eric Idle
Terry Gilliam
Terry Jones
Michael Palin
Connie Booth
Carol Cleveland

Directed By: Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones

Year: 1975

Duration: 1hour 31 minutes

Accolades: No Oscar, Bafta or Golden Globe wins.

Plot: Loosely based around the legend of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and their quest to find the Holy Grail.


Interesting Facts About the Film:

• The famous depiction of galloping horses by using coconut shells (a traditional radio-show sound effect) came about from the purely practical reason that the production simply couldn't afford real horses.
• Michael Palin plays the most characters (12).
• Graham Chapman (as King Arthur) was the only member of the cast to wear real chain mail armor. It weighed about 25 pounds. The rest of the cast wore knitted wool, painted to look like metal.
• The Enchanter's name is Tim because John Cleese forgot the character's original name. He ad-libbed the line, "There are some who call me...Tim".
• Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Film is Michael Palin's infant son William.
• Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time" in 2006.
• Patsy only has one line in the movie: "It's only a model."
• Movie was adapted as a Broadway musical in 2006 called "Spamalot".
• Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Genesis all contributed to the film's budget.

Source IMDb.com

Review

Love them or hate them Monty Python have stood the test of time and here is a fine example of why. So it didn't win any awards, but it is within the top 100 movies, why?
We might not need to know how a sparrow can carry a coconut but I wonder how many people would be able to tell you, if you've never seen the movie you will have no idea what I'm on about.

So you might not understand all of the jokes, but does that matter?

How Monty Python was introduced to me originally was on my 21st Birthday. My dad said that Spamalot (the stage musical based on this movie) was like pantomime for adults and we should go to see it for my birthday. So we did. And I loved it. A perfect portion of silliness, and that's what the movie is too (which I had to watch soon after seeing Spamalot).

You can take many things from Monty Python and apply them to your everyday life, 'tis but a scratch', 'just a flesh wound' and 'I fart in your general direction',  being only a few of many memorable lines.

You see the same actors in multiple roles, which is slightly reminiscent of school plays. It is overacted perfectly and is definitely a spot of light relief in an otherwise drama heavy top 100. If you are expecting a serious film might I suggest you check the synopsis prior to viewing.

So admitedly it isn't heavy on special effects or other things that we expect of our 'modern' blockbusters but that isn't what is required to make this good. It is just a perfect piece of silliness. (obviouxly I'm a little but biased).

Could we possibly say that Monty Python as comic geniuses? You can make your mind up for yourself.

For more information about the film visit the imdb.com page:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071853/