Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Watch: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Unrated

6/15/20011h 31m

Theatrical (limited) Release (US)

~ And now! At Last! Another film completely different from some of the other films which aren't quite the same as this one is. ~

Overview:

King Arthur, accompanied by his squire, recruits his Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot and Sir Galahad the Pure. On the way, Arthur battles the Black Knight who, despite having had all his limbs chopped off, insists he can still fight. They reach Camelot, but Arthur decides not to enter, as "it is a silly place".

Director:

Terry Gilliam

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$400,000.00

Revenue:

$5,763,644.00

Key words:

holy grail
swordplay
england
monk
wedding reception
scotland yard
midnight movie
animal attack
camelot
round table
chapter
satire
parody
breaking the fourth wall
knight
king arthur
knights of the round table
candid
10th century
anarchic comedy
mischievous
playful
hilarious
joyful

Cast

Graham Chapman

~ as ~

King Arthur / Voice of God / Middle Head / Hiccoughing Guard

John Cleese

~ as ~

Second Swallow-Savvy Guard / The Black Knight / Peasant 3 / Sir Launcelot the Brave / Taunting French Guard / Tim the Enchanter

Eric Idle

~ as ~

Dead Collector / Peasant 1 / Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Launcelot / First Swamp Castle Guard / Concorde / Roger the Shrubber / Brother Maynard

Terry Gilliam

~ as ~

Patsy / Green Knight / Old Man from Scene 24 (Bridgekeeper) / Sir Bors / Animator / Gorilla Hand

Terry Jones

~ as ~

Dennis's Mother / Sir Bedevere / Left Head / Prince Herbert / Voice of Cartoon Scribe

Michael Palin

~ as ~

First Swallow-Savvy Guard / Dennis / Peasant 2 / Right Head / Sir Galahad the Pure / Narrator / King of Swamp Castle / Brother Maynard's Brother / Leader of The Knights Who Say NI!

Connie Booth

~ as ~

The Witch

Carol Cleveland

~ as ~

Zoot / Dingo

Neil Innes

~ as ~

First Monk / Singing Minstrel / Page Crushed by the Rabbit / Peasant #4

Bee Duffell

~ as ~

Old Crone

View full cast & crew

Reviews (3)

Filipe Manuel Neto
Written 2 year(s) ago
10
One of the pinnacles of British humor.

This was my first contact with Monty Python, which I already knew famously, and I loved the movie. It is quite simply one of the high points of British humor. The film is easy enough to understand, parodying the Arthurian legends surrounding the quest for the Grail, but the story is just a pretext for successive jokes, each one better than the last.

I don't know the group of comedians very well, but I do know a number of great British comedy actors here, starting with John Clease, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Eric Idle. They are very good individually, but priceless together.

The film has several moments worth mentioning, starting perhaps with the witch trial, and then moving on to the fight with the black knight or the knights who say Ni. It's not a very long film, but it's really worth seeing every comic situation. The dialogues are full of hilarious moments. The ending, however, is a little less strong than expected, which does not take away from the film any of its merit.

Technically, it's not a remarkable film. There is no concern here with historical accuracy or rigorous recreation of the Middle Ages, nor does the film ask for it. We have stage costumes and props, obviously fake but functional, and interesting sets, in castles and in some reasonably well chosen places. There are some special effects and visuals, but they aren't notable. Be that as it may, it's a comedy that remains fresh despite the decades that have passed since its debut.
drystyx
Written 2 year(s) ago
10
Seriously, you could die laughing from this film. I remember the first time I watched this film, back in antenna days on the educational UHF station that was all fuzz, and even then I thought I would die laughing. The story of King Arthur always did beg for such a satire. The bits are almost all memorable. I durst not mention even one, because I would be tempted to mention a hundred more scenes and a thousand more lines. This is very slapstick. I never thought I would laugh at cruelty, but when it is obviously so overdone that it can't be taken seriously, like a man having his arms and legs cut off and still thinking he's invincible, especially when the delivery is so perfect, I can't stop laughing. There are some people who don't like this film, but those people are wipers of other people's bottoms.
CinemaSerf
Written 1 year(s) ago
6
Fortunately for me this was a rather short visit to the surreal land of Monty Python, and though it does have it's moments, I was really quite unimpressed by their Arthurian antics. We start with Graham Chapman's King Arthur gadding about England tying to recruit some suitably worthy individuals to sit at his round table. Task complete, he gets a sign from God that they must undertake the most holy of quests - and find the Cup of Christ. It now falls to the other three - Cleese, Idle and Gilliam - to dress up in suits of armour and seek the grail amongst the innuendo-ridden kingdom. Along the way they encounter the Black Knight, a castle full of sex-starved maidens, some monks - indeed just about everyone you might expect from mediaeval society before a really annoying denouement with the "Knights of Ni" - all they want is a little garden, or two... All but fifty years on, it's probably not really fair to look at this with 2024 eyes, but this was my first time of seeing it and I was really left thinking - why didn't the police get involved earlier? It's not that the jokes don't work, well not all of them, anyway - it's that they so labour the punchline. It's as if someone took a thirty minute sketch show and decided to pad it out for an extra hour. Less could certainly have been more. There are a few fun cameos - Carol Cleveland's "Zoot" and Connie Booth's witch stand out, but otherwise I felt a bit like I was the victim of some very dated hype. I didn't hate it, but really - what was all the fuss about?