Starring: Bob Monkhouse, Ronnie Stevens, Kenneth Connor, Shirley Eaton, Richard Wattis, Charles Hawtrey, Arthur Mullard
Director: C.M. Pennington-Richards
Available at Amazon (Region 2 only!)
A 1961 British comedy in the vein of the Carry On films about a revolutionary type of toothpaste called Dreem, and...what? Hey, wait a second here!
I seem to be watching the wrong movie!
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 1975 Python (Monty) Pictures, released to DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
Written by and starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Also starring: Connie Booth, Carol Cleveland, Neil Innes, John Young
Directors: Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones
Available at Amazon: Special Edition DVD, or the Extraordinarily Deluxe Three-Disc Edition.
Okay...enough has been written about Holy Grail that I can probably get away with not posting a brief synopsis about the film. You probably know the story: King Arthur (Chapman) travels through England recruiting knights in his quest to find the Holy Grail. You also probably know all of the best jokes and most memorable scenes by heart now, right?
* Coconuts.
* The airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
* "Bring out your dead!"
* The Black Knight and his refusal to quit.
* The French Taunter.
* Run away! Run away!!
* A famous historian, and his death.
* Knights who say "ni!"
* Castle Anthrax.
* The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog (yes, it has an official name).
* Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Film, who is represented by a picture of William Palin, Michael's son.
* The Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh, and the animator's fatal heart attack.
This is the movie that finally broke Monty Python in America (they had a cult following after Monty Python's Flying Circus was imported to PBS in the early '70s), and it's probably the only Python project that just about everyone and their mother can quote verbatim. I also feel this is still their funniest movie.
Holy Grail was also very difficult for the Pythons to make, as they were plagued by troublesome weather, subpar hotel accomodations, their own inexperience at producing their own feature film, two directors with different artistic visions, and Graham Chapman's alcoholism, which had yet to peak, but it was during the film's production that he realized that it was becoming a serious problem. Even the normally calm and relaxed Michael Palin lost his temper at one point during production, which took his fellow Pythons by surprise (Cleese found himself applauding after Palin finally calmed down).
Highly, highly recommended. Now, get on with it!
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