Rent Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Graham Chapman & John Cleese & Eric Idle & Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones & Michael Palin, Thomas Malory (writer, uncredited)
Directed by: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer
Plot
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.
Verdict
It's an absolute classic comedy. The jokes start during the opening credits and never relent. This is a movie you could watch multiple times and catch something new. While it has highs and lows, the best parts more than make up for that. It constantly defies expectations right up until the end. Your first watch may be disorienting, mine was, but each additional watch only makes this better.
Watch It.
Review
I understand the affinity for this film. It's one of those that gets better with each watch as you begin to anticipate favorite scenes. On my first watch years ago, it seemed like a movie that needed a fair amount of nostalgia. It's more that this movie frequently defies expectation as you wonder what will happen next. Once you know, you have time to enjoy the scenes. With each additional viewing I like this more. It's almost as much fun to quote it as it is to watch.
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| Graham Chapman, Terry Jones play King Arthur, Sir Bedevere |
The gags start before we even get out of the opening credits. Next King Arthur (Graham Chapman) travels the land recruiting knights. Arthur argues with a guard about coconuts and swallows. Could a swallow grasp a coconut? How does the weight factor? Each scene is its own skit, and each is quite funny. Holding this together is Arthur's quest to recruit knights. He encounters several trials along the way such as the Black Knight who refuses to concede the fight, claiming his various injuries are only "flesh wounds."
Arthur finds his knights before God gives him a quest to find the Holy Grail. That is the impetus for more encounters such as the Knights Who Say "Ni!" that require shrubbery. The knights split up to maximize the number of their adventures.
It's a budget film, and it's not afraid to show it with several animated sequences such as the Black Beast. The movie is always silly, always quotable, and it never fails to entertain. Even the way this ends upends what you might expect. It connects with a sub-plot about a modern day historian exploring the tales of King Arthur.
To recount my favorite sequences would spoil some of the best gags and only echo what so many others proclaim. Then again, at this point it's only a small subset that haven't seen this movie. Setting this in the past helps make it timeless. It doesn't look dated as it's so far removed from contemporary times.
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