Hey folks welcome back to the week.
So this week I was thinking of humor, pretensous behavior and clever
writing so of course I immediately thought of Terry Gilliam (And
Now for Something Completely Different, Monty Python's Flying Circus,
Jabberwocky, Life of Brian, Time Bandits, The Meaning of Life,
Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and 12 Monkeys),
writer/director/animator/actor/Monty Python alumni. Between the
hiatus between the 3rd and 4th season of Monty
Python's Flying Circus, the Pythons decide to poke fun at the
Arthurian legends of Camelot. This is Monty Python and the Holy
Grail.
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| Second unit loathes them all. You can just tell. |
Before we get into this, yes I love
this flick. It was a staple of junior and senior high and yes, my
friends and I all quoted from it on a regular basis much to my
parents' substantial patience. Where else are you going to see the
foley ( ADR and sound effect) effect being used as
horses cantering on the ground by Gilliam as Patsy clunking a couple
coconut halves? The place. England. The year. 932 A.D. King Arthur
(Graham Chapman of At Last the 1948 Show, The Magic Christian,
Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Odd Job, Life of Brian, Monty
Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, The Meaning of Life, Yellowbeard,
Still Crazy Like a Fox and Stage Fright) and Patsy attempt to
recruit men that will take up arms to defend of Britain. After
being mocked profusely of his lack of knowledge based in coconuts and
swallows, Arthur moves on to find able bodied men for his quest to
Camelot. Encountering an awesome swordmaster simply known as the
Black Knight does not bear fruit to the likes Arthur would
appreciate. For one, the Black Knight is a complete loony.
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| Gods, I just sneezed! |
Making
their way to a village under going a witch trial they meet with Sir
Bedevere, Arthur and Patsy find the first knight to join them. With
a bit of fast forward others join in their mission to defend the
realm...only to find tis a silly place. Sir Lancelot the Brave (John
Cleese of Life of Brian, Fawlty Towers, Monty
Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, The Meaning of Life, A Fish Called
Wanda, Erik the Viking, Fierce Creatures, The World Is Not Enough,
Mini Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Trolls)
Sir Gallhad the Pure (Michael Palin of Twice a
Fortnight, Broaden Your Mind, Complete and Utter History of Britain,
Monty Python's Flying Circus, Jabberwocky, Time Bandits, The
Missionary, Brazil, A Fish Called Wanda, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, The
Meaning of Life, The Wipers Times and Clangers)
and Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot (Eric Idle of
Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Odd Job, Life
of Brian, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, The Meaning of
Life, Yellowbeard, The Transformers: The Movie, The Adventures of
Baron Munchausen, Nearly Departed, Discworld, Discworld II: Mortality
Bytes!, Hercules, Suddenly Susan and Ella Enchanted)
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| So were we clear whether or not coconuts could migrate? |
What a better time that be greeted by
God voiced by Graham Chapman charging the Knights of the Round Table
with acquiring the Holy Grail at the request of God. So of course
you best hop to it. I mean, I for one would not relish the idea of
being turned into a pillar of salt. With barriers such as snooty
French soldiers, a three-headed giant and the Dreaded Knights who say
Ni, our heroes know that this very well could be the story of the
ages.
Will our brave knights find their way??
Can the Grail be all its cracked up to be?? Are the Psalms really
that depressing??
The brilliance of having equally screwy
for your cast means you can use them as you have in the troupe for
the show so they are basically performing skits throughout the film.
The wisdom to drag poor Connie Booth (Dickens
of London, Fawlty Towers, Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Story of Ruth,
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Every Breath You Take, The Return of
Sherlock Holmes, Floodtide, The Tomorrow People, Faith and The
Bucccaneers) and
Carol Cleveland (Now
Look Here, Old Dracula, Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Brute, Life
of Brian, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, The Meaning of
Life, Too Much Too Young and The Search for Simon) brings in additional love from the Python fans.
With a budget of $400,000 The Holy
Grail racked in more than $5 million in 1975, as far as I know has
been on of the most sought after rentals since it was on Betamax, VHS
and Laserdisc. The comedy is mostly in the background. Peasants
flogging cats against poles, monks thumping their own foreheads with
wooden idols, farmers collecting dirt as if it was something rare,
there is a scarce level of intelligence just creating this absurd
world and no one batting an eye on that sure oddity?
Michael Palin played the most
characters tallying to twelve different roles.
Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Film is Michael Palin's son William as a
wee baby. Fans of Monty Python include in our ranks are the bands
Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Genesis. They also ponied up some
production funds for the Pythons as well.
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| Careful. That vixen probably has a comfy chair. |
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