Monty Python &

The Holy Grail

Monty Python And The Holy Grail movie review

Monty Python And The Holy Grail

I remember making the 50 mile train trip from my hometown of Wollongong to Sydney, sometime in 1975, just to see the new Monty Python movie, Monty Python & The Holy Grail. It was was being shown in only one cinema, at Double Bay, one of the more exclusive parts of the city. I guess that tells you something about me, Australia in the mid 70's...and the Monty Python audience of the time, in that The Holy Grail, as I expected, had a pretty short run. In fact, it was really only a few years later that it made its phenomenal impact, when the renting of videos had become commonplace.

Of course, when I saw The Holy Grail, in an almost empty theatre (something of a recurring situation for me with movies that I like), I was laughing out loud by the end of the very first shots! We hear the sound of cantering clippity-clops and Arthur gradually rides into shot on horseback. No, he's not on horseback! He's actually er... cantering on foot, holding imaginary reins as if on horseback and the clippity-clops are being made by his off-sider, Patsy, who's hitting two halves of a coconut together to sound like horses' hooves!

Holy Grail trailer

Arthur is on a quest but first he must kill The Black Knight...

The Black Knight

...and only then can he gather his trusted Knights:

Sir Bedevere (the master of modern thinking) who stops a bloodthirsty mob from lynching a so-called witch by using logical deduction to somehow prove that a witch, any witch, should weigh as much as a duck...

Sir Bedevere's Tunic

When his obviously faulty scales prove this to be the case, even the very fake witch agrees that she can't beat Science.

Sir Galahad (the pure) who almost succumbs to a castle-ful of horny, beautiful virgins begging to be spanked until (damn!) he's rescued by...

Sir Lancelot (the brave), who also single-handedly kills perhaps 50 soldiers and knights to rescue a damsel in distress (Terry Jones in drag) and then realises he's made a mistake...&

Sir Robin (the chickenhearted) who seems to soil his armour whenever there's danger and runs away rather a lot

Along the way the Knights:

discuss Arthur's accession to the throne with an anarcho-syndicalist,an aggressive 70's extreme left-winger
consider visiting Camelot and then decide not to, deeming it "...A silly place..."
design a giant wooden rabbit for a Trojan-style attack
placate the three-headed knights who say "...Ni..."
attack a Killer Rabbit...

The Killer Rabbit

...with everything connected together by Terry Gilliam's marvellous cartoons, including when God talks to Arthur.

O.K., The Holy Grail is dated, it's got a pathetic ending but there are so many genuine moments of comic invention from the team, all on the top of their game that you must see The Holy Grail if you haven't. For my generation, it's still so influential that there are still numerous lines that will slip into one's conversation more than thirty years later.

The Holy Grail DVD

"...Well, this is a DAMN GOOD comedy! Almost ever scene is comic gold:

The Black Knight
She's a Witch!"
French Taunting
Killer Rabbit
Anarcho Syndicalism
The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch
Castle Anthrax

Well, I won't go into details, but if you haven't seen this movie, then you don't know what you're missing. So watch it!..." Amazon reviewer Eric S. Kim

"...This revolutionary band of British humorists takes wackiness to a new level. If you ask anyone who has seen this movie "Was it good?" they'll probably just say "Ni!". No matter how many times you watch it, the movie is still side-splitting hilarious..." Amazon reviewer scooBdew4u

Monty Python werren't just a comedy team, they were an attitude. When my very modern kids saw the movie, they grasped the humor easily and loved it.

Monty Python's Cow Catapult toy

What hampered their enjoyment was, in comparison to today's movie, The Holy Grail's almost painful lack of shots to give it pace.

Most decent modern television dramas are shot for many times The Holy Grail's budget (even when time-adjusted), so, if you can, watch, forgive and laugh at this superb, timeless English humor, you must catch the Holy Grail or I shall be forced to say "Ni!"

Knights of Ni plush hat

...and then twice as terribly, "Ni!, Ni!"

The Holy Grail screenplay