127-761: The Odd Job is a 1978 British comedy film starring Monty Python member Graham Chapman . It tells the story of a man named Arthur Harris (Chapman) who is recently abandoned by his wife. He becomes so depressed that he hires an "odd job man" to kill him. Once his wife returns, Harris finds himself unable to cancel the contract. Following Monty Python and the Holy Grail the members of Monty Python worked on separate projects. John Cleese made Fawlty Towers , Eric Idle The Rutles , Terry Jones and Michael Palin Ripping Yarns , Terry Gilliam Jabberwocky and Graham Chapman The Odd Job . The concept originated as an episode of
254-464: A liver from a living patient without anaesthetic and the morbidly obese Mr. Creosote exploding over several restaurant patrons after finally giving in to the smooth maître d' telling him to eat a mint – "It's only a wafer-thin mint..."). At the time of its release, the Pythons confessed their aim was to offend "absolutely everyone", adding "It is guaranteed to offend". The Liver Donor scene (in which
381-511: A two-man show for various reasons, including Chapman's supposedly difficult and erratic personality. Cleese had fond memories of working with Palin on How to Irritate People and invited him to join the team. With no studio available at Thames until summer 1970 for the late-night show, Palin agreed to join Cleese and Chapman, and suggested the involvement of his writing partner Jones and colleague Idle—who in turn wanted Gilliam to provide animations for
508-404: A 96% approval rating from reviews of 83 critics, with an average rating of 8.50/10. The consensus reads, "A cult classic as gut-bustingly hilarious as it is blithely ridiculous, Monty Python and the Holy Grail has lost none of its exceedingly silly charm." On Metacritic , the film has a score of 91 out of 100 based on 24 critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The film was adapted as
635-471: A British general of World War II ; requiring a "slippery-sounding" surname, they settled on "Python". On other occasions, Idle has claimed that the name "Monty" was that of a popular and rotund fellow who drank in his local pub; people would often walk in and ask the barman, "Has Monty been in yet?", forcing the name to become stuck in his mind. The name Monty Python was later described by the BBC as being "envisaged by
762-657: A demonstration at the CBC's Montreal studios. The show eventually returned, becoming a fixture on the network during the first half of the 1970s. Sketches from Monty Python's Flying Circus were introduced to American audiences in August 1972 , with the release of the Python film And Now for Something Completely Different , featuring sketches from series 1 and 2 of the television show. This 1972 release met with limited box office success. The ability to show Monty Python's Flying Circus under
889-492: A film lampooning the New Testament era in the same way Holy Grail had lampooned Arthurian legend. Despite sharing a distrust of organised religion, they agreed not to mock Jesus or his teachings directly. They also mentioned that they could not think of anything legitimate to make fun of about him. Instead, they decided to write a satire on credulity and hypocrisy among the followers of someone [Brian] who had been mistaken for
1016-421: A good concept to apply to the series: allowing sketches to blend into one another. Palin had been equally fascinated by another of Gilliam's efforts, entitled "Christmas Cards", and agreed that it represented "a way of doing things differently". Since Cleese, Chapman, and Idle were less concerned with the overall flow of the programme, Jones, Palin, and Gilliam became largely responsible for the presentation style of
1143-401: A great satire on closed minds and people who follow blindly. Then you have them splitting into factions...it is a wonderful satire on the way that Jesus's own teaching has been used to persecute others. They were satirising fundamentalism and persecution of others and at the same time saying the one person who rises above all this was Jesus". Monty Python performed four consecutive dates at
1270-402: A mixed review that "the team's visual buffooneries and verbal rigamaroles (some good, some bad, but mostly indifferent) are piled on top of each other with no attention to judicious timing or structure, and a form which began as a jaunty assault on the well-made revue sketch and an ingenious misuse of television's fragmented style of presentation, threatens to become as unyielding and unfruitful as
1397-480: A new and exciting direction." —BBC profile for Monty Python's Flying Circus . They enjoyed Cook and Moore's sketch show Not Only... But Also . One problem the Pythons perceived with these programmes was that though the body of the sketch would be strong, the writers would often struggle to then find a punchline funny enough to end on, and this would detract from the overall sketch quality. They decided that they would simply not bother to "cap" their sketches in
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#17328688018371524-643: A new stereo soundtrack was released in theatres starting 15 June 2001 in the United States. It was re-released on 14 October 2015 in the United Kingdom. It was re-released together with a special "quote-along" version in early December 2023 to celebrate its "48th-and-a-half anniversary". The film grossed $ 122,200 in its first 3 weeks in London. In its first week in New York it grossed $ 35,000. According to records of
1651-425: A paramedic appears at the door of a living man to take his liver) is a satire on bureaucracy, a common Python trope. Besides the opening credits and the fish sequence, Gilliam, by now an established live-action director, no longer wanted to produce any linking cartoons, offering instead to direct one sketch, " The Crimson Permanent Assurance ". Under his helm, though, the segment grew so ambitious and tangential that it
1778-576: A rather pompous manner, make the formal and determined announcement "And now for something completely different.", which later became the title of the first Monty Python film . The Python theme music is the Band of the Grenadier Guards ' rendition of John Philip Sousa 's " The Liberty Bell " which was first published in 1893. Under the Berne Convention 's "country of origin" concept, the composition
1905-460: A result, a meeting was initiated by Cleese between Chapman, Idle, Jones, Palin, and himself at which it was agreed to pool their writing and performing efforts and jointly seek production sponsorship. According to their official website, the group was born from a Kashmir tandoori restaurant in Hampstead on 11 May 1969, following a taping of Do Not Adjust Your Set which Cleese and Chapman attended. It
2032-478: A second-screen experience that can be downloaded as an app on an iOS device and played with the Blu-ray to enhance its viewing, lost animation sequences with a new intro from animator Terry Gilliam, outtakes and extended scenes with Python member and the movie's co-director Terry Jones. On the special edition DVD, the studio logos, opening credits and a brief portion of the opening scene of 1961 British Film Dentist on
2159-518: A separate individual, Brian Cohen, born at the same time, and in a neighbouring stable. When Jesus appears in the film (first, as a baby in the stable, and then later on the Mount , speaking the Beatitudes ), he is played straight (by actor Kenneth Colley ) and portrayed with respect. The comedy begins when members of the crowd mishear his statements of peace, love, and tolerance ("I think he said, 'Blessed are
2286-519: A sequence in which the knights, to gain access to an enemy castle, come up with the idea of building a Trojan rabbit." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times was also positive, writing that the film, "like Mad comics, is not certain to please every taste. But its youthful exuberance and its rousing zaniness are hard not to like. As a matter of fact, the sense of fun is dangerously contagious." Penelope Gilliatt of The New Yorker called
2413-426: A slow pan across countryside and impressive music was Mike and Terry's, and anything that got utterly involved with words and disappeared up any personal orifice was Eric's". Gilliam's animations ranged from the whimsical to the savage (the cartoon format allowing him to create some astonishingly violent scenes without fear of censorship). Several names for the show were considered before Monty Python's Flying Circus
2540-592: A total of 24 minutes from each, in part to make time for commercials, and in part to avoid upsetting their audience. As the judge observed in Gilliam v. American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. , where Monty Python sued for damages caused by broadcast of the mutilated version, "According to the network, appellants should have anticipated that most of the excised material contained scatological references inappropriate for American television and that these scenes would be replaced with commercials, which presumably are more palatable to
2667-541: A trait shared by both Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein . I guess I prefer Monty Python in chunks, in its original, television revue format." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called the film "a fitfully amusing spoof of the Arthurian legends" but "rather poky" in tempo, citing the running gag of Swedish subtitles in the opening credits as an example of how the Pythons "don't know when to let go of any shtik ". Geoff Brown of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote in
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#17328688018372794-406: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons ) were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman , John Cleese , Terry Gilliam , Eric Idle , Terry Jones , and Michael Palin . The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus , which aired on
2921-452: Is like a stale Whitehall farce brought to the screen by Pearl and Dean; I've seen funnier advertisements for Indian restaurants." The film failed to find distribution in the US because distributors thought it was "too English". This prompted Medak to relocate to the US. Chapman and MacKenna later collaborated again on Yellowbeard . This article related to a British comedy film of the 1970s
3048-544: Is occupied exclusively by young women, who wish to be punished for misleading him, but is "rescued" against his will by Lancelot. Lancelot receives an arrow-shot note from Swamp Castle. Believing the note is from a lady being forced to marry against her will, he storms the castle and slaughters several members of the wedding party, only to discover the note is from an effeminate prince. Arthur and his knights regroup and are joined by Brother Maynard, his monk brethren, and three new knights: Bors , Gawain and Ector . They meet Tim
3175-561: The ABC special Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time . and viewers in a Channel 4 poll placed it sixth. Following the success of Holy Grail , reporters asked for the title of the next Python film, though the team had not even begun to consider a third one. Eventually, Idle flippantly replied "Jesus Christ – Lust for Glory", which became the group's stock answer to such questions. However, they soon began to seriously consider
3302-583: The BBC from 1969 to 1974. Their work then developed into a larger collection that included live shows, films, albums, books, and musicals; their influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles ' influence on music. Their sketch show has been called "an important moment in the evolution of television comedy". Monty Python's Flying Circus was loosely structured as a sketch show, but its innovative stream-of-consciousness approach and Gilliam's animation skills pushed
3429-527: The Charisma Records label, for which the Pythons recorded their comedy albums). The backers of the film wanted to cut the famous Black Knight scene (a Sam Peckinpah send-up in which the Black Knight loses his limbs in a duel), but it was eventually kept in the film. "Tis but a scratch" and "It's just a flesh wound…" are often quoted. Holy Grail was selected as the second-best comedy of all time in
3556-599: The Flying Circus series, in which disparate sketches are linked to give each episode the appearance of a single stream-of-consciousness (often using a Gilliam animation to move from the closing image of one sketch to the opening scene of another). The BBC states, "Gilliam's unique animation style became crucial, segueing seamlessly between any two completely unrelated ideas and making the stream-of-consciousness work." Writing started at 9:00AM and finished at 5:00PM. Typically, Cleese and Chapman worked as one pair isolated from
3683-759: The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in September 1980 during preparations for Meaning of Life . The performances were filmed and released in the concert film, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (directed by Terry Hughes ), with the Pythons performing sketches from the television series in front of an audience. The released film also incorporated footage from the German television specials (the inclusion of which gives Ian MacNaughton his first on-screen credit for Python since
3810-810: The Knights of the Round Table . Along the way, Arthur debates whether swallows could carry coconuts , passes through a town infected with the plague, recounts receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake to two anarcho-syndicalist peasants, defeats the Black Knight , and observes an impromptu witch trial . He recruits Sir Bedevere the Wise , Sir Lancelot the Brave , Sir Galahad the Pure , Sir Robin
3937-603: The Lego Group and Python Pictures. The project was conceived by the original film's respective producer and co-director, John Goldstone and Terry Gilliam. Disc two also includes two scenes from the film's Japanese dub, literally translated back into English through subtitles. "The Quest for the Holy Grail Locations", hosted by Palin and Jones, shows places in Scotland used for the setting titled as "England 932 A.D." (as well as
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4064-521: The London Weekend Television / ITV series Six Dates With Barker in 1971, written by Bernard McKenna, with Ronnie Barker as Arthur Harris and David Jason as the Odd Job Man (who plays the same role in the feature film). Chapman admired the play and commissioned McKenna to turn it into a feature film script. Chapman raised the budget, which he said was half a million pounds. The role of
4191-570: The Spanish Inquisition in a suburban front room), while the Cambridge graduates' sketches tended to be more verbal and more aggressive (for example, Cleese and Chapman's many "confrontation" sketches, where one character intimidates or hurls abuse, or Idle's characters with bizarre verbal quirks, such as "The Man Who Speaks In Anagrams "). Cleese confirmed that "most of the sketches with heavy abuse were Graham's and mine, anything that started with
4318-460: The St. James Theatre , with an official opening night of November 16, 2023. In 2013, the Pythons lost a legal case to Mark Forstater , the film's producer, owing a combined £800,000 in legal fees and back royalties to Forstater for the derivative work of Spamalot . To help cover the cost of these royalties and fees, the group arranged and performed in a stage show, Monty Python Live (Mostly) , held at
4445-442: The acquisition of 20th Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company . The project announced a move to Paramount Pictures on January 6, 2020, with Idle and Nicholaw still attached as writer and director, and Dan Jinks joining as a producer. However, in 2021, Idle confirmed on his Twitter account that the film would not be made because two of his former colleagues opposed it. A Broadway revival began previews on October 31, 2023 at
4572-420: The title sequence and theme music. On several occasions, the cold open lasted until mid-show, after which the regular opening titles ran. Occasionally, the Pythons tricked viewers by rolling the closing credits halfway through the show, usually continuing the joke by fading to the familiar globe logo used for BBC continuity, over which Cleese would parody the clipped tones of a BBC announcer. On one occasion,
4699-509: The "Legendary Black Beast", a cave monster whose location of origin is obscured by a screaming sound. In an animated sequence, the Black Beast devours Brother Maynard, but Arthur and the knights escape after the animator unexpectedly suffers a fatal heart attack. The knights approach the Bridge of Death, where the bridge-keeper demands they answer three questions in order to pass or else be cast into
4826-422: The "Messiah", but who had no desire to be followed as such. Terry Jones adds it was a satire on those who for the next 2,000 years "couldn't agree on what Jesus was saying about peace and love". "We are three wise men." "Well, what are you doing creeping around a cow shed at two o'clock in the morning? That doesn't sound very wise to me." —Early scene from Life of Brian . The focus therefore shifted to
4953-409: The 2005 Tony Award -winning Broadway musical Spamalot . Written primarily by Idle, the stage show offers a revised plot, while retaining many jokes from the film. In May 2018, 20th Century Fox green-lit a film adaptation of the musical. Idle would write the screenplay and stage director Casey Nicholaw would direct. Slated to begin filming in early 2019, production was delayed as a result of
5080-587: The American NTSC standard had been made possible by the commercial actions of American television producer Greg Garrison . Garrison produced the NBC series The Dean Martin Comedy World , which ran during the summer of 1974. The concept was to show clips from comedy shows produced in other countries, including tape of the Python sketches "Bicycle Repairman" and "The Dull Life of a Stockbroker". "When [Monty Python] hit
5207-467: The American public." Monty Python won the case. With the popularity of Python throughout the rest of the 1970s and through most of the 1980s, PBS stations looked at other British comedies, leading to UK shows such as Are You Being Served? gaining a US audience, and leading, over time, to many PBS stations having a "British Comedy Night" which airs many popular UK comedies. In 1976, Monty Python became
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5334-426: The Arthurian legends is killed by an unknown knight on horseback, triggering a police investigation. Arthur and Bedevere are given directions by an old man and attempt to satisfy the strange requests of the dreaded Knights Who Say "Ni!" Sir Robin avoids a fight with a Three-Headed Knight by running away while the heads are arguing amongst themselves. Sir Galahad is led by a grail-shaped beacon to Castle Anthrax, which
5461-641: The BBC Television Centre. The Pythons had a definite idea about what they wanted to do with the series. They were admirers of the work of Peter Cook , Alan Bennett , Jonathan Miller , and Dudley Moore on Beyond the Fringe —seminal to the British " satire boom "—and had worked on Frost , which was similar in style. "The 1960s satire boom opened up the way for a fresh, inventive generation of young comedy writer-performers to flourish on TV and to take comedy in
5588-618: The British Library in 2017, do document at least one alternative ending that the troupe considered: "a battle between the knights of Camelot, the French, and the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog". Due to the film's small production budget, that idea for a "much pricier option" was discarded by the Pythons in favour of the ending with "King Arthur getting arrested", which Palin deemed "cheaper" and "funnier". Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes offers
5715-678: The Enchanter, who directs them to a cave where the location of the Grail is said to be written. The entrance to the cave is guarded by the Rabbit of Caerbannog . Underestimating it, the knights attack, but the Rabbit easily kills Bors, Gawain and Ector. Arthur uses the "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch ", provided by Brother Maynard, to destroy the creature. Inside the cave, they find an inscription from Joseph of Arimathea , directing them to Castle Aarrgh and warning them of
5842-561: The Footlights, which at that time also included the future Goodies ( Tim Brooke-Taylor , Bill Oddie , and Graeme Garden ), and Jonathan Lynn (co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister ). During Idle's presidency of the club, feminist writer Germaine Greer and broadcaster Clive James were members. Recordings of Footlights' revues (called "Smokers") at Pembroke College include sketches and performances by Cleese and Idle, which, along with tapes of Idle's performances in some of
5969-451: The Gorge of Eternal Peril. Lancelot easily answers simple questions and crosses. An overly cocky Robin is defeated by an unexpectedly difficult question, and an indecisive Galahad fails an easy one; both are magically flung into the gorge. When Arthur asks for clarification on a question regarding the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, the bridge-keeper cannot answer and is himself thrown into
6096-501: The Grail and taunt the Britons, driving them back with a barrage of barnyard animals. Bedevere concocts a plan to sneak in using a Trojan Rabbit , but forgets to tell the others to hide inside it; the Knights are forced to flee when it is flung back at them. Arthur decides the knights should go their separate ways to search for the Grail. Meanwhile, a modern-day historian filming a documentary on
6223-663: The Holy Grail Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 British comedy film based on the Arthurian legend , written and performed by the Monty Python comedy group ( Graham Chapman , John Cleese , Terry Gilliam , Eric Idle , Terry Jones , and Michael Palin ) and directed by Gilliam and Jones in their feature directorial debuts. It was conceived during the hiatus between the third and fourth series of their BBC Television series Monty Python's Flying Circus . While
6350-588: The Job is added to the start of the film. The clip ends with a spluttering, unseen "projectionist" realising he has played the wrong film. A "slide" then appears urging the audience to wait one moment please while the operator changes reels. Contemporary reviews were mixed. Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote in a favourable review that the film had "some low spots," but had gags which were "nonstop, occasionally inspired and should not be divulged, though it's not giving away too much to say that I particularly liked
6477-603: The Jones and Gilliam commentary, a second commentary with Idle, Palin and Cleese, the film's screenplay on a subtitle track and "Subtitles for People Who Don't Like the Film"–consisting of lines taken from William Shakespeare 's Henry IV, Part 2 . Disc two includes Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Lego , a " brickfilm " version of the "Camelot Song" as sung by Lego minifigures . It was created by Spite Your Face Productions on commission from
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#17328688018376604-608: The King, it's good enough for you." In a 2017 interview at Indiana University in Bloomington, John Cleese expressed disappointment with the film's conclusion. "'The ending annoys me the most'", he said after a screening of the film on the Indiana campus, adding that "'It ends the way it does because we couldn't think of any other way'". However, scripts for the film and notebooks that are among Michael Palin's private archive, which he donated to
6731-451: The NFFC, as of 31 December 1978 the distributor earned receipts of £2,358,229 in the United Kingdom. It earned rentals in the US and Canada of $ 5.17 million. In Region 1 , The Criterion Collection released a LaserDisc version of the film featuring audio commentary from directors Jones and Gilliam. In 2001, Columbia Tristar published a two-disc, special-edition DVD . Disc one includes
6858-550: The Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot, and the aptly named Sir Not-Appearing-in-this-Film, along with their squires and Robin's minstrels. Arthur leads the knights to Camelot , but, after a musical number, changes his mind, deeming it "a silly place". As they turn away, God appears and orders Arthur to find the Holy Grail . Arthur and his knights arrive at a castle occupied by French soldiers, who claim to have
6985-416: The Pythons regard as their biggest influence, which also featured Peter Sellers , whom Cleese called "the greatest voice man of all time") recording his groundbreaking BBC series Q... (1969). Not only was Q... more irreverent and anarchic than any previous television comedy , but Milligan also would often "give up" on sketches halfway through and wander off set (often muttering "Did I write this?"). It
7112-478: The Pythons were displeased to discover a number of edits were done by the network to reduce use of profanity and the showing of blood. The troupe pulled back the rights and thereafter had it broadcast in the United States only on PBS and later other channels such as Comedy Central and IFC , where it runs uncut. The film has been periodically re-released. A "21st anniversary edition" was released on video in 1995 with 24 seconds of extra footage. This version with
7239-402: The Pythons' satirical view of television of the 1970s which condescendingly encouraged more involvement from the "man on the street". The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) added Monty Python's Flying Circus to its national September 1970 fall line-up. They aired the 13 episodes of series 1, which had first run on the BBC the previous autumn ( October 1969 to January 1970 ), as well as
7366-570: The US in 1975, and has since been considered one of the greatest comedy films of all time . In the US, it was selected in 2011 as the second-best comedy of all time in the ABC special Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time behind Airplane! . In the UK, readers of Total Film magazine in 2000 ranked it the fifth-greatest comedy film of all time; a similar poll of Channel 4 viewers in 2006 placed it sixth. In AD 932 , King Arthur and his squire, Patsy, travel Britain searching for men to join
7493-891: The US, whose airing of tracks from the Python LPs had already introduced American audiences to this bizarre brand of comedy. The popularity on PBS resulted in the 1974 re-release of the 1972 ...Completely Different film, with much greater box office success. The success of the show was captured by a March 1975 article headline in The New York Times , "Monty Python's Flying Circus Is Barnstorming Here". Asked what challenges were left, now that they had made TV shows, films, written books, and produced records, Chapman responded, "Well, actually world supremacy would be very nice", before Idle cautioned, "Yes, but that sort of thing has got to be done properly". In 1975 ABC broadcast two 90-minute Monty Python specials, each with three shows, but cut out
7620-569: The World " (a sketch referenced in Google Translate ), and " Four Yorkshiremen sketch " are just a few examples. Most of the show's sketches satirise areas of public life, such as: Dead Parrot (poor customer service), Silly Walks (bureaucratic inefficiency), Spam (ubiquity of Spam post World War II), and Four Yorkshiremen (nostalgic conversations). Featuring regularly in skits, Gumbys (characters of limited intelligence and vocabulary) were part of
7747-479: The ages of man from birth to death. Directed again by Jones solo, The Meaning of Life is embellished with some of the group's most bizarre and disturbing moments, as well as various elaborate musical numbers, which include " Galaxy Song " (performed by Idle) and " Every Sperm Is Sacred " (performed by Palin and Jones). The film is by far their darkest work, containing a great deal of black humour , garnished by some spectacular violence (including an operation to remove
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#17328688018377874-533: The airwaves, it really was quite shocking but it was shocking in a good way. It set you up right and opened up a whole new form of comedy. 'Pythonesque ." — Ron Devillier, PBS programming director. Through the efforts of Python's American manager Nancy Lewis, during the summer of 1974, Ron Devillier, the programming director for nonprofit PBS television station KERA in Dallas , Texas, started airing episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus . Ratings shot through
8001-413: The best films chosen by fans based on results of a poll conducted by ABC and People . Holy Grail was selected as the second best comedy after Airplane! In 2016, Empire magazine ranked Holy Grail 18th in their list of the 100 best British films ( Life of Brian was ranked 2nd), their entry stating, " Elvis ordered a print of this comedy classic and watched it five times. If it's good enough for
8128-467: The boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy unit, the Pythons had creative control that allowed them to experiment with form and content, discarding rules of television comedy. They followed their television work by making the films Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979), and The Meaning of Life (1983). Their influence on British comedy has been apparent for years, while it has coloured
8255-411: The cheesemakers ' "). Directing duties were handled solely by Jones, having amicably agreed with Gilliam that Jones' approach to film-making was better suited for Python's general performing style. Holy Grail's production had often been stilted by their differences behind the camera. Gilliam again contributed two animated sequences (one being the opening credits) and took charge of set design. The film
8382-505: The conventions it originally attacked." The film's reputation grew over time. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Holy Grail the fifth-greatest comedy film of all time. The next Python film, Life of Brian , was ranked first. A 2006 poll of Channel 4 viewers on the 50 Greatest Comedy Films saw Holy Grail placed in sixth place (with Life of Brian again topping the list). In 2011, an ABC prime-time special, Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time , counted down
8509-457: The country's moose . The subtitles are soon stopped and claim that the people responsible have been sacked , but moose references continue throughout the actual credits. The subtitles were written by Michael Palin as a way to "entertain the 'captive' audience" at the beginning of the film. In addition to several songs written by Python regular Neil Innes , several pieces of music were licensed from De Wolfe Music Library. These include: Innes
8636-541: The credits ran directly after the opening titles. On the subversive nature of the show (and their subsequent films), Cleese states "anti-authoritarianism was deeply ingrained in Python". "Our first rule was: no punchlines. [Some sketches] start brilliant, great acting, really funny sketch, but the punchline is just not as good as the rest of the sketch, so it kills the entire thing. That's why we eliminated them." —Terry Gilliam in 2007. Because of their dislike of finishing with punchlines, they experimented with ending
8763-542: The drama society's theatrical productions, are kept in the archives of the Pembroke Players . The six Python members appeared in or wrote these shows before Flying Circus : The BBC's satirical television show The Frost Report , broadcast from March 1966 to December 1967, is credited as first uniting the British Pythons and providing an environment in which they could develop their particular styles. Following
8890-504: The end of Flying Circus ) and live performances of several songs from the troupe's then-current Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album . Monty Python's four-night stint as headliners at the Hollywood Bowl set a record for a comedy act at the venue; it has since been equalled by Dave Chappelle in May 2022. The Pythons' final film returned to something structurally closer to the style of Flying Circus . A series of sketches loosely follows
9017-418: The fact that the Grail was never retrieved would be "a big let-down ... a great anti-climax". Graham Chapman said a challenge was incorporating scenes that did not fit the Holy Grail motif. Neither Terry Gilliam nor Terry Jones had directed a film before, and described it as a learning experience in which they would learn to make a film by making an entire full-length film. The cast humorously described
9144-488: The film "often recklessly funny and sometimes a matter of comic genius." Other reviews were less enthusiastic. Variety wrote that the storyline was "basically an excuse for set pieces, some amusing, others overdone." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two-and-a-half stars, writing that he felt "it contained about 10 very funny moments and 70 minutes of silence. Too many jokes took too long to set up,
9271-684: The film were mainly either Doune Castle shot from different angles or hanging miniatures . There are several exceptions to this: the first exterior shot of a castle at the beginning of the film is Kidwelly Castle in South Wales, and the single exterior shot of the Swamp Castle during "Tale of Sir Lancelot" is Bodiam Castle in East Sussex; all subsequent shots of the exterior and interior of those scenes were filmed at Doune Castle. Production designer Julian Doyle recounted that his crew constructed walls in
9398-464: The film, but Chapman took the lead as King Arthur. Cleese returned to the group for the film, feeling that they were once again breaking new ground. Holy Grail was filmed on location, in picturesque rural areas of Scotland, with a budget of only £229,000; the money was raised in part with investments from rock groups such as Pink Floyd , Jethro Tull , and Led Zeppelin , as well as UK music industry entrepreneur Tony Stratton Smith (founder and owner of
9525-456: The financing of the film. The investors contributed the entire original budget of £175,350 (about $ 410,000 in 1974) and also received a percentage of the proceeds from the 2005 musical Spamalot . Monty Python and the Holy Grail was mostly shot on location in Scotland , particularly around Doune Castle , Glen Coe , and the privately owned Castle Stalker . The many castles seen throughout
9652-533: The first six episodes of series 2 only a few weeks after they first appeared on the BBC ( September to November 1970 ). The CBC dropped the show when it returned to regular programming after the Christmas 1970 break, choosing to not place the remaining seven episodes of series 2 on the January 1971 CBC schedule. Within a week, the CBC received hundreds of calls complaining of the cancellation, and more than 100 people staged
9779-419: The first three seasons contained 13 episodes each, the fourth ended after just six. The name Monty Python's Flying Circus appears in the opening animation for season four, but in the end credits, the show is listed as simply Monty Python . Although Cleese left the show, he was credited as a writer for three of the six episodes, largely concentrated in the "Michael Ellis" episode, which had begun life as one of
9906-519: The forest near Doune. Terry Jones later recalled the crew had selected more castles around Scotland for locations, but during the two weeks prior to principal photography , the Scottish Department of the Environment declined permission for use of the castles in its jurisdiction, for fear of damage. At the start of "The Tale of Sir Robin", there is a slow camera zoom in on rocky scenery (that in
10033-567: The form of Baron Manfred von Richthofen 's Flying Circus of WWI fame, and the new group was forming in a time when the Royal Guardsmen 's 1966 song " Snoopy vs. the Red Baron " had peaked. The term 'flying circus' was also another name for the popular entertainment of the 1920s known as barnstorming , where multiple performers collaborated with their stunts to perform a combined set of acts. Differing, somewhat confusing accounts are given of
10160-427: The gorge. Arthur and Bedevere cannot find Lancelot, unaware that he has been arrested by police investigating the historian's death. The pair reach Castle Aarrgh, but find it occupied by the French soldiers from earlier in the film. After being repelled by showers of manure, they summon an army of knights and prepare to assault the castle. As the army charges, the police arrive, arrest Arthur and Bedevere on suspicion of
10287-706: The greatest comedians of all time, and half of Monty Python's members made the top 50. Jones and Palin met at Oxford University , where they performed together with the Oxford Revue . Chapman and Cleese met at Cambridge University . Idle was also at Cambridge, but started a year after Chapman and Cleese. Cleese met Gilliam in New York City while on tour with the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus (originally entitled A Clump of Plinths ). Chapman, Cleese, and Idle were members of
10414-414: The greatest comedy films. In 2006, it was ranked first on a Channel 4 list of the 50 Greatest Comedy Films . Empire magazine called it "an unrivalled satire on religion". In 2013, Richard Burridge , a theologian decorated by Pope Francis, called Life of Brian an "extraordinary tribute to the life and work and teaching of Jesus—that they couldn't actually blaspheme or make a joke out of it. They did
10541-444: The group's first film, And Now for Something Completely Different , was a compilation of sketches from the first two television series, Holy Grail is an original story that parodies the legend of King Arthur 's quest for the Holy Grail . Thirty years later, Idle used the film as the basis for the 2005 Tony Award -winning musical Spamalot . Monty Python and the Holy Grail grossed more than any other British film screened in
10668-454: The images Gilliam used were lifted from famous works of art, and from Victorian illustrations and engravings . The giant foot which crushes the show's title at the end of the opening credits is in fact the foot of Cupid , cut from a reproduction of the Renaissance masterpiece Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time by Bronzino . This foot, and Gilliam's style in general, are visual trademarks of
10795-402: The many drafts of the "Holy Grail" motion picture. When a new direction for "Grail" was decided upon, the subplot of Arthur and his knights wandering around a strange department store in modern times was lifted out and recycled as the aforementioned TV episode. Songwriter Neil Innes contributed to some sketches, including "Appeal on Behalf of Very Rich People". The Pythons' first feature film
10922-584: The medieval world they were trying to depict". Monty Python and the Holy Grail had its theatrical debut in London on 3 April 1975, followed by a screening on 27 April 1975 at the Century Plaza Cinemas in Los Angeles. It opened to the public in the United States at Cinema II in New York City on 28 April. The film had its television premiere 25 February 1977 on the CBS Late Movie . Reportedly,
11049-524: The most comedic take being unused because an anachronistic coat was visible in it. Castle Anthrax was also shot in one part of Doune, where costume designer Hazel Pethig advised against nudity , dressing the girls in shifts . The scene in which the knights fight the Rabbit of Caerbannog was filmed at Tomnadashan mine . A real white rabbit was used, switched with puppets for its killings. The bite effects were done with special puppetry by both Gilliam and SFX technician John Horton. According to Gilliam,
11176-580: The murder of the historian, and break the camera, abruptly ending the film. In January 1973, the Monty Python troupe wrote the first draft of the screenplay. Half of the material was set in the Middle Ages and half was set in the present day. The group decided to focus on the Middle Ages, focusing on the legend of the Holy Grail . By the fourth or fifth draft, the story was complete, and the cast joked that
11303-417: The novice directing style as employing the level of mutual disrespect always found in Monty Python's work. A 2021 tweet by Eric Idle revealed that the film was financed by eight investors: Led Zeppelin , Pink Floyd , Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson , Holy Grail' s co-producer Michael White , Heartaches (a cricket team founded by lyricist Tim Rice ), and three record companies, including Charisma Records ,
11430-405: The odd job man was originally intended for Chapman's friend, Keith Moon . Finance came in part from members of the rock groups Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Steve O'Rourke , Pink Floyd's manager, was an execuive producer; so too was band manager Tony Stratton Smith . The original director was meant to be Cliff Owen but he broke his thigh and had to be replaced. Peter Medak was selected; it
11557-605: The origins of the Python name, although the members agree that its only "significance" was that they thought it sounded funny. In the 1998 documentary Live at Aspen during the US Comedy Arts Festival , where the troupe was awarded the AFI Star Award by the American Film Institute , the group implied that "Monty" was selected (Eric Idle's idea) as a gently mocking tribute to Field Marshal Lord Montgomery ,
11684-442: The others, as did Jones and Palin, while Idle wrote alone. After a few days, they would join with Gilliam, critique their scripts, and exchange ideas. Their approach to writing was democratic. If the majority found an idea humorous, it was included in the show. The casting of roles for the sketches was a similarly unselfish process, since each member viewed himself primarily as a "writer", rather than an actor eager for screen time. When
11811-536: The production continued in order to remain "on an even keel". Nearly three years later, in December 1977, Chapman achieved sobriety . Originally the knight characters were going to ride real horses, but after it became clear that the film's small budget precluded real horses (except for a lone horse appearing in a couple of scenes), the Pythons decided their characters would mime horse-riding while their porters trotted behind them banging coconut shells together. The joke
11938-430: The programme. The Pythons used the British tradition of cross-dressing comedy by donning frocks and makeup and playing female roles themselves while speaking in falsetto . Jones specialised in playing the working-class housewife, or "ratbag old women" as termed by the BBC. Palin and Idle generally played the role more posh, with Idle playing more feminine women. Cleese played female roles more sparsely, while Chapman
12065-438: The projected series. Much has been made of the fact that the Monty Python troupe is the result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold. By contrast, according to John Cleese's autobiography, the origins of Monty Python lay in the admiration that writing partners Cleese and Chapman had for the new type of comedy being done on Do Not Adjust Your Set ; as
12192-653: The rabbit was covered with red liquid to simulate blood, though its owner did not want the animal dirty and was kept unaware. The liquid was difficult to remove from the fur. Gilliam also stated that he thought, in hindsight, the crew could have just purchased their own rabbit instead. Regardless, the rabbit itself was unharmed. As chronicled in The Life of Python , The First 20 Years of Monty Python , and The Pythons' Autobiography , Chapman suffered from acrophobia , trembling and bouts of forgetfulness during filming due to his alcoholism , prompting him to refrain from drinking while
12319-399: The record label that had released Python's early comedy albums. According to Gilliam, the Pythons turned to rock stars like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin because no studio would fund the film and the rock stars saw it as "a good tax write-off" because the top rate of UK income tax was "as high as 90%" at the time. Idle and Gilliam had previously mentioned that Elton John also contributed to
12446-528: The roof, prompting other PBS affiliates to pick up the show. Devillier states, "We got the Nielsens in and started looking at the Saturday ratings. The first night, it was a 6 rating. We couldn't believe it. We didn't know what a 6 looked like. The next week, it was a 7 and it may have taken a month but it stayed there and we started getting 8s, 9s and 10s." There was also cross-promotion from FM radio stations across
12573-411: The show, and claimed that only two Cleese- and Chapman-penned sketches in the third series ("Dennis Moore" and the "Cheese Shop") were truly original, and that the others were bits and pieces from previous work cobbled together in slightly different contexts. He was also finding Chapman, who was at that point in the full throes of alcoholism, difficult to work with. According to an interview with Idle, "It
12700-499: The sketches by cutting abruptly to another scene or animation, walking offstage, addressing the camera (breaking the fourth wall ), or introducing a totally unrelated event or character. A classic example of this approach was the use of Chapman's "anti-silliness" character of " the Colonel ", who walked into several sketches and ordered them to be stopped because things were becoming "far too silly". Another favourite way of ending sketches
12827-566: The stoning scene in Monty Python's Life of Brian , they took the idea one step further by playing women who impersonated men. Many sketches are well-known and widely quoted. " Dead Parrot sketch ", " The Lumberjack Song ", " Spam " (which led to the coining of the term email spam ), " Nudge Nudge ", " The Spanish Inquisition ", " Upper Class Twit of the Year ", " Cheese Shop ", " The Ministry of Silly Walks ", " Argument Clinic ", " The Funniest Joke in
12954-399: The success of Do Not Adjust Your Set (which broadcast on ITV from December 1967 to May 1969), Thames Television offered Gilliam, Idle, Jones, and Palin their own late-night adult comedy series together. At the same time, Chapman and Cleese were offered a show by the BBC , which had been impressed by their work on The Frost Report and At Last the 1948 Show . Cleese was reluctant to do
13081-514: The team as the perfect name for a sleazy entertainment agent". Flying Circus popularised innovative formal techniques, such as the cold open , in which an episode began without the traditional opening titles or announcements. An example of this is the "It's" man: Palin, outfitted in Robinson Crusoe garb, making a tortuous journey across various terrains, before finally approaching the camera to state, "It's ...", to be then interrupted by
13208-464: The themes for sketches were chosen, Gilliam had a free hand in bridging them with animations, using a camera, scissors, and airbrush. While the show was a collaborative process, different factions within Python were responsible for elements of the team's humour. In general, the work of the Oxford-educated members (Jones and Palin) was more visual, and more fanciful conceptually (e.g., the arrival of
13335-410: The third and fourth series, the group decided to embark on their first "proper" feature film, containing entirely new material. Monty Python and the Holy Grail was based on Arthurian legend and was directed by Jones and Gilliam. Again, the latter also contributed linking animations (and put together the opening credits). Along with the rest of the Pythons, Jones and Gilliam performed several roles in
13462-569: The top rated show in Japan. The popularity of the show in the Netherlands saw the town of Spijkenisse near Rotterdam open a 'silly walks' road crossing in 2018. Believed to be a world first, the official sign asks pedestrians to cross the road in a comical manner. Having considered the possibility at the end of the second series, Cleese left the Flying Circus at the end of the third. He later explained that he felt he no longer had anything fresh to offer
13589-502: The traditional manner, and early episodes of the Flying Circus series make great play of this abandonment of the punchline (one scene has Cleese turn to Idle, as the sketch descends into chaos, and remark that "This is the silliest sketch I've ever been in"—they all resolve not to carry on and simply walk off the set). However, as they began assembling material for the show, the Pythons watched one of their collective heroes, Spike Milligan , whom they had admired on The Goon Show (a show
13716-428: The two Pythons purchasing a copy of their own script as a guide). Also included is a who's who page, advertising galleries and sing-alongs. A "Collector's Edition" DVD release additionally included a book of the screenplay, a limited-edition film cell/senitype, and limited-edition art cards. A 35th-anniversary edition on Blu-ray was released in the US on 6 March 2012. Special features include "The Holy Book of Days,"
13843-632: The voice-over is described as "the dark forest of Ewing"). This is actually a still photograph of the gorge at Mount Buffalo National Park in Victoria, Australia. Doyle stated in 2000 during an interview with Hotdog magazine that it was a still image filmed with candles underneath the frame (to give a heat haze). This was a low-cost method of achieving a convincing location effect. On the DVD audio commentary, Cleese described challenges shooting and editing Castle Anthrax in "The Tale of Sir Galahad", with what he felt
13970-569: The work of the early editions of Saturday Night Live through to absurdist trends in television comedy. At the 41st British Academy Film Awards in 1988, Monty Python received the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema . In 1998, they were awarded the AFI Star Award by the American Film Institute . Holy Grail and Life of Brian are frequently ranked on lists of the greatest comedy films. A 2005 poll asked more than 300 comedians, comedy writers, producers, and directors to name
14097-404: The £50,000 I had already spent or make the film and take a chance on it making money? I chose the latter and still wish I hadn't." (Moon died on 7 September 1978). The film was shot in early 1978 at Shepperton Studios with location shooting around London. The Daily Mirror called it a "plodding farce". The Sunday Telegraph described it as "no good". The Observer wrote "this unhappy film
14224-493: Was Medak's first feature since Ghost in the Noonday Sun . Two weeks before filming, Medak went to visit Keith Moon in hospital "drying out" so he would be ready for the film. Medak became convinced that Moon would not be able to finish the movie and pressed for him to be replaced. He wrote, "I knew how much Keith was looking forward to the part in the film: I knew that I was right and they were wrong but should I just wave goodbye to
14351-550: Was clear that their new series would now seem less original, and Jones in particular became determined the Pythons should innovate. Michael Palin recalls "Terry Jones and I adored the Q... shows...[Milligan] was the first writer to play with the conventions of television." After much debate, Jones remembered an animation Gilliam had created for Do Not Adjust Your Set called "Beware of the Elephants", which had intrigued him with its stream-of-consciousness style. Jones felt it would be
14478-410: Was cut from the movie and used as a supporting feature in its own right. (Television screenings also use it as a prologue.) This was the last project on which all six Pythons collaborated, except for the 1989 compilation Parrot Sketch Not Included , where they are all seen sitting in a closet for four seconds. This was the last time Chapman appeared on screen with the Pythons. Monty Python and
14605-572: Was derived from the old-fashioned sound effect used by radio shows to convey the sound of hooves clattering. This was later referred to in the German release of the film, which translated the title as Die Ritter der Kokosnuß ( The Knights of the Coconut ). Similarly, the Hungarian title Gyalog galopp translates to "Galloping on Foot". The opening credits of the film feature pseudo- Swedish subtitles, which soon turn into an appeal to visit Sweden and see
14732-489: Was directed by Ian MacNaughton , reprising his role from the television series. It consisted of sketches from the first two seasons of the Flying Circus , reshot on a low budget (and often slightly edited) for cinema release. Material selected for the film includes: "Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "Upper Class Twit of the Year", "Hell's Grannies", "Self-Defence Class", " How Not to Be Seen ", and "Nudge Nudge". Financed by Playboy ' s UK executive Victor Lownes , it
14859-471: Was frequently paired with Jones as a ratbag woman or with Idle portraying middle-class women commenting upon TV. Generally speaking, female roles were played by women only when the scene specifically required that the character be sexually attractive (although sometimes they used Idle for this). The troupe later turned to Carol Cleveland —often described as the unofficial seventh member—who co-starred in numerous episodes after 1970. In some episodes, and later in
14986-458: Was good at it, when he did it he was professional, but he'd rather not have done it. The others all loved it, but he got more and more pissed off about having to come out and do filming, and the one that really swung it, in my view, was when we had to do the day on the Newhaven lifeboat." The rest of the group carried on for one more "half" season before calling a halt to the programme in 1974. While
15113-435: Was intended as a way of breaking Monty Python into America, and although it was ultimately unsuccessful in this, the film did good business in the UK, and later in the US on the " Midnight movie " circuit after their breakthrough television and film success, this being in the era before home video would make the original material much more accessible. The group did not consider the film a success. In 1974, between production on
15240-443: Was not prepared to amend it. Gwen Dibley's Flying Circus was named after a woman Palin had read about in the newspaper, thinking it would be amusing if she were to discover she had her own TV show. Baron Von Took's Flying Circus was considered as an affectionate tribute to Barry Took, the man who had brought them together. Arthur Megapode's Flying Circus was suggested, then discarded. The name Baron Von Took's Flying Circus had
15367-431: Was on an Air Canada flight on the way to Toronto , when John (Cleese) turned to all of us and said 'I want out.' Why? I don't know. He gets bored more easily than the rest of us. He's a difficult man, not easy to be friendly with. He's so funny because he never wanted to be liked. That gives him a certain fascinating, arrogant freedom." In 2012, Jones spoke on Cleese's work in the third series and subsequent departure, "He
15494-446: Was settled upon. Some were Owl Stretching Time , The Toad Elevating Moment , A Horse, a Spoon and a Basin , Vaseline Review , and Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot . Reportedly, these names were considered for the show because the group members found it funny that the show name would have nothing to do with the actual content of the series. Flying Circus stuck when the BBC explained it had printed that name in its schedules and
15621-461: Was shot on location in Tunisia , the finances being provided this time by The Beatles ' George Harrison , who together with Denis O'Brien formed the production company Hand-Made Films for the movie. Harrison had a cameo role as the "owner of the Mount". Despite its subject matter attracting controversy, particularly upon its initial release, it has (together with its predecessor) been ranked among
15748-408: Was subject to United States copyright law which states that any work first published prior to 1924 was in the public domain , owing to copyright expiration. This enabled Gilliam to co-opt the march for the series without having to make any royalty payments . The use of Gilliam's surreal , collage stop motion animations was another innovative intertextual element of the Python style. Many of
15875-406: Was supposed to write the film's soundtrack in its entirety, but after the team watched the movie with Innes's soundtrack, they decided to go instead with "canned" music, music borrowed from existing stock recordings. One problem with Innes's music, apparently, was that they considered it too appropriate, so that, according to Python scholar Darl Larsen, it "undercut the Pythons' attempt at undercutting
16002-471: Was the first time all six got together, reportedly going back to Cleese's apartment on nearby Basil Street afterwards to continue discussions. According to show director Ian MacNaughton , the first discussion over the idea for the show, Monty Python's Flying Circus , was a result of BBC's comedy advisor, Barry Took , bringing the Pythons along with John Howard Davies (director of the first four episodes) and MacNaughton together into one conference room at
16129-418: Was to drop a cartoonish "16-ton weight" prop on one of the characters when the sketch seemed to be losing momentum, or a knight in full armour (played by Terry Gilliam) would wander on-set and hit characters over the head with a rubber chicken, before cutting to the next scene. Yet another way of changing scenes was when John Cleese, usually outfitted in a dinner suit, would come in as a radio commentator and, in
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