Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

What can I say? Makes Ben Hur look like an epic.


There's something fantastic about Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It has scenes that are parochial and very English (the references to the class system: 'I'm being repressed!'), absurd (the killer rabbit, Lancelot 'storming' a wedding and killing assorted guests, the glorious Black Knight), silly (the taunting French castle guard, the Knights who say 'Nii!'), but it creates such an air of filthy peasant reality, every historical film ever made since has to take care not to invoke its memory (Peter Jackson says in the Lord of the Rings commentary he was extremely careful never to have scenes of peasants standing around, to avoid invoking this movie). Some fail (see the early scenes of 'Excalibur' for examples). And it transcends its Englishness, its absurdities and its cheapness (why no horses? The budget didn't allow for them, but did that stop the boys? Did it hell.), to become something great, not only a good comedy, but something that is very, very, very rewatchable (there's no obvious jokes, just quotable silliness and absurd situations). It also retains a zingy freshness (like all truly great comedies).


An in spite of all this, I am aware some people can watch this, not laugh once and find it boring and ridiculous, and get confused because the same actors keep appearing as different characters, and I sort of understand. Some things, some people just don't get.

Easily in the top 20 comedies ever made, and probably in the top 10.

I enjoyed watching it again for the umpteenth time, good choice, Lounge!

(Oh, and if ever I find a genie and get 3 wishes, I'll be wishing to be stranded in Castle Anthrax.)

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

I LOVE this movie!

There are very few movies I can say I really love but this is one of them. You are 100% correct that some people can laugh at it and others just don't get it. It is exactly that way with me and my wife. I love it and she just gets that WTF look and is bored silly.

My sister actually really likes it as well so maybe there is some weird genetic coding that is needed to get Monty Python??

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

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My sister actually really likes it as well so maybe there is some weird genetic coding that is needed to get Monty Python??

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Hmmm maybe. Have you any English ancestors?



Biggest laugh for me if the guy who goes on and on about how hard he'd worked to build a castle in a swamp, and when his son asks why he has to marry, he says 'cos we live in a bloody swamp!'. lolol.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

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My sister actually really likes it as well so maybe there is some weird genetic coding that is needed to get Monty Python??

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Hmmm maybe. Have you any English ancestors?


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LOL, No, I do not think that we have any English ancestors. I think we are supposed to be mainly German with some polish mixed in.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

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(Oh, and if ever I find a genie and get 3 wishes, I'll be wishing to be stranded in Castle Anthrax.)

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Sir Lancelot: We were in the nick of time. You were in great peril.
Sir Galahad: I don't think I was.
Sir Lancelot: Yes, you were. You were in terrible peril.
Sir Galahad: Look, let me go back in there and face the peril.
Sir Lancelot: No, it's too perilous.
Sir Galahad: Look, it's my duty as a knight to sample as much peril as I can.
Sir Lancelot: No, we've got to find the Holy Grail. Come on.
Sir Galahad: Oh, let me have just a little bit of peril?
Sir Lancelot: No. It's unhealthy.
Sir Galahad: I bet you're gay.
Sir Lancelot: Am not.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

This film occupies a side stage in the core of my being.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

It is one of those transcendent comedy pieces, in my opinion. I will think about parts of it from time to time and just start laughing, completely out of the blue.

My favorite line is probably when they are reading from the Book of Armaments, and it is said, "And the Lord did grin...", because the concept of the Lord actually grinning kills me.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

I thought it was very uneven, and I was actually disappointed the first time I saw it, though some parts had me laughing pretty hard. I pretty much never watch it now, but what makes me like it when I do is seeing all those Monty Python episodes so many times in the past(I have the full set, too). So my past laughs kind of inform my present ones. I think it helps to know the comedic genius of these guys, to get you through the flat parts or the ones that just seem to wander off. A trained Pythonite is always on the cusp of laughter and so damn happy these guys could even exist and get any product out whatever.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

I just watched Life of Brian again last night. These movies are so great.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

I was fortunate enough to see this on the big screen with a theater full of people last summer. There is something about seeing it with a large group of people who got it and loved it that made the experience of watching the movie so much better than watching it at home.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

Not from the "Holy Grail", but one of the great funny endings in a movie.......From the Life of Brian.

The crucifixion scene at the end. Just thinking about all of them whistling the refrain, puts a smile on my face.


"Always look on the Bright Side of Life"

Words and Music by Eric Idle

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.

So always look on the bright side of death
Just before you draw your terminal breath

Life's a piece of [censored]
When you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the right side of life...
(Come on guys, cheer up!)
Always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the bright side of life...
(Worse things happen at sea, you know.)
Always look on the bright side of life...
(I mean - what have you got to lose?)
(You know, you come from nothing - you're going back to nothing.
What have you lost? Nothing!)
Always look on the right side of life...

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

What a wonderful movie. I just popped in the DVD.

Ever notice in the "bring out your dead" scene,
first you hear a hear the meows, then you see the woman on the stairs swinging the cat by the tail hitting it against the wall?

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

The Castle Anthrax made my nether regions quiver with the realization I wanted to spank pretty girls.

This is easily in my top ten movies of all-time. I love the little absurdities, when Lancelot and his servant are crossing a stream and an arrow with a note attached flys into frame, striking the servant...

Servant: Message for you, Sir."

And he collapses.





Whaaaaat....is your favorite color?

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

dom and everyone else

was the fact the pretty girls are English (rather than American/whatever) important?

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

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dom and everyone else

was the fact the pretty girls are English (rather than American/whatever) important?

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oh yeah, that English lilt gets me everytime: "Punish me, punish me!"

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

I can't remember the last time I saw this, but that's because I basically memorized the movie at 12. It is simply brilliant. I'd knock it down a peg for the awful ending, but how can you possibly end a movie this great?

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

[ QUOTE ]
What a wonderful movie. I just popped in the DVD.

Ever notice in the "bring out your dead" scene,
first you hear a hear the meows, then you see the woman on the stairs swinging the cat by the tail hitting it against the wall?

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There are actually a few of these random themes in the movie, like cat torture and Arthur's confusing the numbers 3 and 5

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

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dom and everyone else

was the fact the pretty girls are English (rather than American/whatever) important?

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god yes, i love the english accent on a girl, especially if they are good looking


what is there to say about this film other then it is probably the funniest film of all time for me. They celebrate the fact that they did this film on a shoestring budget and it works. Comedy writing is hard to begin with, and doing it well is even harder, well, they did it to perfection. RIght from the begining when they have the whole european/african swallow bit you just know that this film is great. I still laugh when I think of random lines in places. I don't thonk that you can ever see this enough times honestly

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

Agree on the hotness of some English accents. Not all, though. Some are really odd or just not so great.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

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Agree on the hotness of some English accents. Not all, though. Some are really odd or just not so great.

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the girls in Holy Grail had hot accents. The girls in any Mike Leigh film do not.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

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Not all, though. Some are really odd or just not so great.

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definetly. I went on a few dates a few years back with a girl that had lived in birmingham, and well, yea, I just wanted to shove a sock in her mouth so I wouldn't have to listen to her voice

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

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a girl that had lived in birmingham

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People in other parts of England can't understand people from Birmingham.
Ozzy is from Birmingham.

But normal female British accents, oh yeah, very hot.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

<u>This</u> is a funny movie. I laughed from the 'Swedish' subtitled credits right through till the end. And when I say end, I mean after the music and blackness have both stopped and the realization hits me that it's over and that they actually chose to end it like that (or maybe they finally did run out of money).

The total absurdity of Python is magic.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

The "Help help, I'm being repressed" scene is easily in my top five scenes in a comedy. I remember watching this when I was 14 or so. I had never heard of the movie before in my life, and it was on PBS. You can only imagine what watching it totally cold was like.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

My favorite, from Life of Brian:

Crucifixion?

Ah, no. Freedom.

What?

Eh, freedom for me. They said I hadn't done anything, so I could go free and live on an island somewhere.

Oh. Oh, well, that's jolly good. Well, off you go, then.

Naa, I'm only pulling your leg. It's crucifixion, really.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

Classic.

But, does the ending make sense in any way?

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

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Classic.

But, does the ending make sense in any way?

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Yes. The police were investigating who was responsible for the killing of the old historian. In the end they rounded up the whole crew and shut down the filming. It was a sad day in the history of Britain in that King Arthur was arrested for complicity.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

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Classic.

But, does the ending make sense in any way?

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Yes. The police were investigating who was responsible for the killing of the old historian. In the end they rounded up the whole crew and shut down the filming. It was a sad day in the history of Britain in that King Arthur was arrested for complicity.

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So did the film take place in modern times and the Arthur group just thought they were King Arthur and Knights?

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

um... you want me to explain Monty Python? It was a series of skits based on a common theme committed to film in a nudge nudge wink wink sort of fashion whereby the audience is part of the joke. There were severe budget restraints that precluded the use of actual horses in the horse scenes, it was made clear that Camelot was not an actual castle and evidentally the film ran out when the money ran out. There was enough left for the sound track to go on for another minute or so but then there wasn't even enough money to even say 'The End' so I'll say it for them. The End.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

I had never heard they had budget problems, I just figured the horses part was a joke, as was the Camelot part.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

I let my 11 year-old son watch this tonight, though I insisted on skipping the castle Anthrax bit. Too much to explain to him in that little scene.

He laughed his head off. Loved it. Though I still got one awkward question: 'Dad, what does it mean to have your "nostrils raped"?'

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

Definitely the most quotable comedy I know of.

The scene where the nights cross the bridge and have to answer the three questions truthfully is comedic genius.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

"I break wind in your general direction"

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

Look, strange women lying on their backs in ponds handing out swords ... that's no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

I think this is quite possibly the funniest line from any movie, ever.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

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Look, strange women lying on their backs in ponds handing out swords ... that's no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.


I think this is quite possibly the funniest line from any movie, ever.

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I'm Brian and so is my wife.

Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Monthly Movie Marathon
 

[ QUOTE ]
Look, strange women lying on their backs in ponds handing out swords ... that's no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

I think this is quite possibly the funniest line from any movie, ever.

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You can't expect to wield SUPREME executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you! If I went 'round, saying I was emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

-McGee