Monty Python and the Holy Grail
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| Monty Python and the Holy Grail | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for 2001 release |
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| Directed by | Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones |
| Produced by | Mark Forstater, Michael White |
| Written by | Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin. |
| Starring | Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin. |
| Cinematography | Terry Bedford |
| Editing by | John Hackney |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox (UK, video), Columbia Pictures (USA), EMI (UK, 1975) |
| Release date(s) | April 3, 1975 (UK) |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £229,000 |
| Preceded by | And Now For Something Completely Different |
| Followed by | Monty Python's Life of Brian |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a film released in 1975. It was written, performed, and directed by Monty Python, an English comedy group, during a gap between the third and the final series of their popular BBC television series Monty Python's Flying Circus. The group's first film, And Now For Something Completely Different, had been a compilation of sketches from the television series; in contrast, Holy Grail was composed of wholly original material. It generally spoofs the legends of King Arthur's quest to find the Holy Grail. The film was a success on its initial run and retains a large-scale cult following today. The film was the inspiration for the 2005–Present Tony Award-winning musical Spamalot written by the Python Eric Idle.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
King Arthur is recruiting his Knights of the Round Table throughout England. Frustrated by anarcho-syndicalist peasants and his battle with the Black Knight, he meets up Sir Bedevere the Wise at an alleged witch's trial. So thus, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Galahad called both the Chaste and the Pure, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot, and Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film form together the Knights of the Round Table. After a celebratory song and dance routine of "Knights of the Round Table", the knights decide Camelot is a "silly place", and are told by an animated version of God (played by a picture W. G. Grace) to find the Holy Grail. In the course of their travels, they encounter insulting Frenchmen occupying a castle. They try to gain entry by using a Trojan Rabbit, but forget to get inside it. The French immediately catapult it over the walls anyway. The knights are forced to retreat; meanwhile, a famous historian from the 1970s is killed by a knight on horseback.
Splitting up, Sir Robin encounters the prissy Three-Headed Giant, to which his minstrels sing songs of his cowardice. Galahad runs across the perils of Castle Anthrax, which turn out to be occupied by nubile females between the ages of 16 and 19½ who crave to be spanked. Sir Lancelot massacres the wedding at Swamp Castle between the Lord's effeminate son, Herbert, and Princess Lucky. Arthur and Bedevere encounter the dreaded Knights who say Ni (later known as the Knights Who Say "Ekke, Ekke, Ekke, Ekke, Ptang, Zoo Ping! [Goodem-zoo-owli-zhiv]"), and after delivering them a shrubbery, discovers their weakness of the word "it". They meet up with the other knights and get trapped over winter in an animated segment. Much to Sir Robin's relief, he and the other knights are forced to eat the minstrels.
They meet a pyromaniacal enchanter called "Tim", who takes them to a cave. They defeat the killer rabbit that guards it by throwing the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. Hearing the explosion, the 1970s police come closer. Going into the Cave of Caerbannog itself, the knights are a chased by a gigantic cartoon monster, the The Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh, and are saved when animator Terry Gilliam suffers a fatal heart attack.
They encounter the Bridge of Death, guarded by "the old man from Scene 24". Lancelot is successful in answering the question of his favourite colour, which is blue. Robin is thrown over the bridge for not knowing the capital of Assyria, and Galahad mistakenly answers his favourite colour as blue when it is yellow. Arthur tricks the old man into not knowing what type of swallow he has inquired into regarding its unladen speed velocity. On the other side, Lancelot has disappeared, arrested by the policemen, and they take a ship to the Castle Aaargh. They again encounter the taunting Frenchmen who throw a dead sheep and dung on them. The film ends abruptly when a group of police from the 1970s interrupt the climactic battle scene to arrest Bedivere and King Arthur for the murder of the "famous historian".
[edit] Production
The film was shot on location in Scotland, particularly around Doune Castle, Glen Coe, and the privately owned Castle Stalker. The Pythons decided on a joke where the characters would pretend to ride horses while their porters banged coconut shells together, an in-joke to how BBC radio shows were made at the time (indeed, a time-honoured radio sound effect dating back to the 1930s) with the added benefit of being much cheaper than hiring horses and learning to ride them. (This gag had actually been seen previously in the sole surviving episode of the 1956 program A Show Called Fred, produced by Richard Lester and starring Peter Sellers.). The chain mail armour worn by the various knights was actually silver-painted wool (with a tendency to absorb moisture in the cold and wet conditions), whilst the many castles seen throughout the film were either Doune Castle shot from different angles or cardboard models held up against the horizon. (This was referenced in Patsy's famous line, the dismissive "It's only a model" in reference to Camelot—which it was.)
As an extension of the group's penchant for bizarre title credits, the 2001 DVD release of the film commences with the British Board of Film Censors' certification for Dentist on the Job, a film "Passed as more suitable for Exhibition to Adult Audiences", followed by its grainy black and white opening titles and several minutes of the film itself (approximately 1 minute 48 seconds). During the opening scene of Dentist on the Job, the projectionist (played by Terry Jones) realises it is the wrong film and puts the correct one on. (Dentist on the Job was a 1961 comedy starring Bob Monkhouse, perhaps chosen as an epitome of the comedy to which Monty Python had once provided an alternative. Also, Dentist on the Job's alternate title is Get On With It, a phrase that appears multiple times throughout Holy Grail.) The credits for Holy Grail have mock Nordic subtitles and many gratuitous references to "møøse" and llamas. The film has no ending credits, instead cutting to a black screen and some organ music. Due to the abrupt ending of the movie, the first few seconds of the opening credits are sometimes shown again when the film is played on television.
Profits from Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side of the Moon went towards financing the movie. The band members were such fans of the show, they would halt recording sessions just to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969).[1]
[edit] Cast
- Graham Chapman, who in addition to playing King Arthur, was also the voice of God, one of the Giant's three heads and a guard of Swamp Castle with the hiccups.
- Terry Jones played Bedevere. He also played the female peasant who bothers Arthur, another of the Giant's three heads and Prince Herbert.
- John Cleese played Sir Lancelot. In addition, he played Tim the Enchanter, the Black Knight, a peasant who accuses a woman of being a witch and the insulting Frenchman.
- Eric Idle plays Sir Robin. Idle also played a collector of the dead (who clangs on a tin pan shouting "Bring out your dead!"), a peasant who accuses a woman of being a witch, a guard who needs to be spoonfed instructions at Swamp Castle, Lancelot's servant named Concorde, a shrubbery maker, and Brother Maynard (a priest who is eaten by the Black Beast of Aaaaargh).
- Michael Palin as Sir Galahad. Palin has the most roles in the film: a mud eater, Dennis the anarcho-syndicalist peasant who bothers Arthur and accuses of him of showing "the violence inherent in the system," another peasant who accuses a woman of being a witch, a head of the Giant, the Lord of Swamp Castle, the leader of the Knights who say "Ni!" and a priest who reads out the instructions of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
- Terry Gilliam plays himself as the animator who dies of a heart attack. He also played Patsy, Arthur's servant, who bangs coconuts together and calls Camelot "only a model". He also played the Green Knight who dies fighting the Black Knight, the Old Man from Scene 24 that pops up again as the Bridgekeeper, Sir Bors (who cries out during the Camelot song "I have to push the pram a lot!") and is a gorilla hand turning pages of a book during the narration.
- Carol Cleveland as Zoot, one of the maidens in the Castle Anthrax, and also as Zoot's identical twin sister, Dingo.
- Connie Booth as the woman accused of being a witch.
[edit] 2001 Re-release
On June 15, 2001, Monty Python and the Holy Grail was re-released on four North American screens. This version of the film was digitally restored and remastered with a new stereo soundtrack. In addition, it restored 24 seconds of material to the Castle Anthrax scene that was not originally in the theatrical release (although had appeared on several video and DVD editions of the film).
In its opening weekend, it grossed a strong US$45,487 ($11,372 per screen). It played in limited release until December 2003, playing at 26 screens at its widest point and eventually grossing $1,821,082 USD during its re-release run. This version of the film still plays periodically at North American rep theatres.
[edit] Soundtrack
The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the movie's official soundtrack, is less of a soundtrack and more of a comedy album in its own right, which depicts the "premiere" of the film along with several other sketches intercutting scenes from the movie.
[edit] Home video editions, locations
The first DVD was released in 1999 and boasted only a non-anamorphic print, about two pages of production notes, and trailers for other Sony Pictures releases. On October 23, 2001, the Special Edition DVD was released. It includes two commentary tracks, documentaries related to the film, the "Camelot Song" as sung by LEGO minifigures (Source), and "Subtitles For People Who Don't Like the Film", consisting of lines taken from William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2. There are also two scenes synchronised in Japanese, where the knights search for a "holy sake cup" and where the Knights Who Say Ni request a bonsai. Most of the home video adaptations feature an extra scene where several characters are telling Carol Cleveland's character Dingo to "Get on with it!". Some of them include characters not seen yet at that point in the film, such as Tim the Enchanter, The Old Man from Scene 24 and the army at the end of the film (this scene was also shown in the Comedy Central broadcasts of the film). It also features a small featurette about proper use of a coconut.
The DVD "Special Edition" includes "The Quest for the Holy Grail Locations", hosted by Michael Palin and Terry Jones, which shows places in Scotland used for the setting titled as "England 932 A.D." (as well as the two Pythons purchasing a copy of their own script as a guide). Many scenes were filmed in or around Doune Castle, "Scene 24" and the blood-thirsty rabbit's "Cave of Caerbannog" were in sight of Loch Tay, near Killin, and "The Bridge of Death" was in Glen Coe. In the closing battle scene, shots facing "Castle Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh" were filmed at Castle Stalker but the shots looking the other way towards the huge army were filmed later somewhere near Stirling once they'd managed to get enough people - one of them being author Iain Banks, then a student, as he recounts in his non-fiction work Raw Spirit. It should be noted that this DVD edition is missing the "Swedish" subtitle "Mønti Pythøn ik den Hølie Gräilen" in the film's opening title screen.
In this special edition DVD release, the opening credits of the 1961 film Dentist on the Job is seen before the voice of the projectionist (presumably that of Terry Jones) mumbles that this is wrong film. The film stops abruptly and a slide reading "One moment while the operator changes reels" is seen on screen. The projectionist can be heard scrambling to start the correct film (Dentist on the Job has an alternative title of Get On With It!).
On October 3, 2006, an "Extraordinarily Deluxe" DVD was released that includes the features of the previous "Special Edition" as well as other, new features. These include the original 4:3 aspect ratio, songs from the Spamalot (with accompanying animation), a "Holy Grail Challenge" feature, and a "Secrets of the Holy Grail" feature. The aspect ratio for the "Extraordinarily Deluxe" DVD is 1.66:1, whereas the previous Special Edition features a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Also, the "Extraordinarily Deluxe" DVD restores the "Swedish" subtitle missing from the Special Edition.
[edit] Games
In 1985, an unofficial text adventure game called The Quest for the Holy Grail appeared for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum computers, released as a budget title on cassette tape by Mastertronic. The game borrowed many concepts from the movie (the three headed knight, the white rabbit, holy hand grenade, shrubbery, etc.) while the plot of the game made no real attempt to follow the plot of the film. Reviews of the game were not kind, lambasting it for its weak humour and ease of completion.
In 1996, 7th Level released the official Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail. It used footage and imagery from the film, as well as audio clips (some new) and featured an animated version of a scene never filmed entitled "King Brian The Wild".
Minigames included variations on popular games such as Whack-A-Mole ("Spank the Virgins") and Tetris ("Bring Out Your Dead").
A collectible card game using the characters and plot of the movie was released by Kenzer & Company in 1996.
[edit] Reaction
This film is number 40 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Monty Python and the Holy Grail the 5th greatest comedy film of all time. The next Monty Python film, Monty Python's Life of Brian, was ranked #1.
[edit] Cultural references
A number of works, such as video games, novels, newspapers, and even anime pay homage to this movie, an indication of its huge following.
- For example, after beating a nerd with a stick in the controversial game Bully, he might moan "It's only a...flesh wound...". Also in the video games Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the female character Kitana transforms into a small, white killer rabbit for her animality. Another example is in the popular Playstation 2 game Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, where Ratchet talks to Tyrranoids in disguise and says, "I emit a noxious effluvium in your general direction."
- In the DVD commentary for the The Lord of the Rings films, director Peter Jackson admitted crowd scenes with rural peasants were tricky to design, as they could easily remind viewers of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Also, in The Two Towers commentary, previsualization artist Christian Rivers compares Helm's Deep to Camelot, saying, "it's only a model."
- In the "Weird Al" Yankovic song White and Nerdy from his album Straight Outta Lynwood, he says "I memorized Holy Grail really well / I can recite it right now and have you ROTFLOL."
- In the Warhammer 40,000 table-top strategy game, the Black Templars, a Space Marine chapter thematically based on medieval crusading knights, have access to the grenade of Antioch.
- In the webcomic "El Goonish Shive," Tedd places birdseed outdoors to find the squirrels have been eating it. The squirrels (with Grace translating) demand a statue. After Tedd provides it, the squirrels demand a shrubbery. Tedd says "Shrubbery?! What is this, a Monty Python sketch?" To the right of the panel, translated into English, the squirrels are saying "Ni!" with one saying "nu" and being corrected by another squirrel, a la King Arthur and Bedevere.
- The Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Day For Knight" features a reference to the witch burning scene. During a scene in which Shirley the Loon is being mistaken for a witch, a frog appears, saying, "She turned me into a prince!" At that point, the others look at the frog weirdly, and the frog says, "Well, I got better."
- An episode of Histeria! had a sketch debating the existence of King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, and Sir Galahad. At the end, the characters opt to retreat, shouting out "Run away!" like they do in the film. Also, a portion of the witch accusation scene was paraphrased in a sketch about the Salem witch trials.
- In the 1998 Computer game Fallout 2, there is a special encounter making reference to the "Bridge of Death" scene. A bridge keeper will ask player a question with three answers. Pending different answers, game may end, the bridge keeper will explode, or he may step aside and grant you passage.
- In the PC game Warcraft 3, some units as the footman and the peasant give famous quotes from the film when being clicked on repeatedly such as : "Help I'm being repressed." , "It's only a flesh wound!" , "You're the king? Well I didn't vote for you!"
- In the fourth level of the PC game Shadow Warrior, there is a secret area set behind a waterfall where a cave, a helmet reminiscent of the one worn by Bors in the movie, and a small white rabbit can be found. When the player approaches this rabbit, the player character says: "That's no ordinary rabbit!" while the rabbit's eyes turn red and begins attacking the player.
- In the MMO Guild Wars there are many references, such as skills like "It's Just A Flesh Wound", and a boss known as "The Black Beast of Argh".
- In chapter 9 of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, when Scrooge scoffs at a nearby Scotsman and calls him a peasant, the Scotsman in question turns to his companion and quotes Dennis the peasant's last dialogue line.
- In the Powerpuff Girls Episode 19, Mojo Jojo recites the following speech :"One shall be the number of Mojo Jojos in the world,and the number of Mojo Jojos in the world shall be one.Two Mojo Jojos is too many and three is right out." which is variation of the speech spoken by the cleric about the use of the grenade of Antioch.
[edit] Sequel
According to the autobiography The Pythons, Eric Idle proposed the idea of a Holy Grail sequel in 1990. According to Idle, the movie would be about an attempt to bring the knights together for one last crusade, as a sort of self-referential statement about the Python group. The team, however, did not want to do it, which made Idle realize that "[the group] would never, ever work together again."
[edit] Trivia
- The flagellant monks are chanting a phrase from the Latin Requiem mass, pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem, which in English is rendered, Holy Lord Jesus, grant unto them rest. They then hit themselves with wooden boards.
- None of the Pythons can recall why they got an actual old woman (Bee Duffell) to play the old crone when any of them could have done it just as easily. The actress is, however, complimented on the DVD commentary.
- Some of the profits from Pink Floyd Album, The Dark Side of the Moon were invested in the making of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
- Released in Germany, 13 August 1976, as "Die Ritter der Kokosnuß"[2] ("The Knights of the Coconut").
- The unit "swordman" in the PC game "Stronghold: legends" says "None shall pass!" when commanded to attack a enemy, just as the black knight (who is never defeated).
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail at the Internet Movie Database
- Estimating the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow
Graham Chapman • John Cleese • Terry Gilliam • Eric Idle • Terry Jones • Michael Palin
Carol Cleveland • Connie Booth • Neil Innes • John Young
King Arthur • Sir Lancelot • Sir Galahad • Sir Bedevere • Sir Robin • Not Dead Fred • Knights who say Ni • Tim the Enchanter • Black Knight • Rabbit of Caerbannog • Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh • Patsy • Concorde • Brother Maynard
Trojan Rabbit • Black Knight • Castle Anthrax • Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch • Spamalot • Gorge of Eternal Peril
| Films directed by Terry Gilliam |
|---|
| Monty Python and the Holy Grail • Jabberwocky • Time Bandits • The Crimson Permanent Assurance • Brazil • The Adventures of Baron Munchausen • The Fisher King • Twelve Monkeys • Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas • The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (unfinished) • The Brothers Grimm • Tideland |
