Monty Python and the Holy Grail
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Template:Infobox Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a comedy film from 1975. It was written, performed, and directed by Monty Python, an English comedy group, during a gap between the third and the final series of their popular BBC television series Monty Python's Flying Circus. The group's first film, And Now For Something Completely Different, had been a compilation of sketches from the television series; in contrast, Holy Grail was composed of wholly original material. Based loosely on the legend of King Arthur's quest to find the Holy Grail, the film was a success on its initial run and retains a large-scale cult following today.
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Overview
Monty Python was famous for parodying the conventions of television and motion picture formats, often including fake continuity announcements or using the opening and closing credits as part of the humour. As a continuation of this, the opening credits of Holy Red Llamas, 142 Mexican Whooping Llamas, 14 North Chilean Guanacos (closely related to the llama), Reg Llama of Brixton, and 76000 Battery Llamas from 'Llama Fresh Farms Ltd' near Paraguay". According to the group's DVD commentary track, they were included in part to save on the film's budget.
In reality, the film was directed by series regular Terry Jones and the group's American animator, Terry Gilliam, who also drew the film's linking animations and opening credits. Along with their co-stars, Jones and Gilliam performed several roles in the film. There were prominent speaking parts for songwriter Neil Innes, John Cleese's then-wife Connie Booth, and Carol Cleveland, who had appeared several times in the group's television series. The experiment with co-direction on Holy Grail proved to be a one-off, as it led to creative friction, but both Jones and Gilliam went on to have successful careers as directors. Gilliam, in particular, found that his training as an animator did not lend itself to directing human beings, although his sense of the graphic – which would come to prominence with later films such as Time Bandits and Brazil - has ensured that Holy Grail remains visually impressive, despite a budget of about £150,000 ($260,000) (Source: DVD Commentary). This money was raised in part with donations from rock groups such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.
The film was shot on location in Scotland, particularly around Doune Castle, Glen Coe, and the privately-owned Castle Stalker. As a consequence of the low budget, the film had to make-do without horses. Instead, the actors banged together coconut shells to imitate the sound of horses' hooves, actually shown explicitly on screen for comical effect. The chain mail armour worn by the various knights was actually silver-painted wool, whilst the many castles seen throughout the film were either Doune Castle shot from different angles, or cardboard models held up against the horizon.
As an extension of the group's penchant for bizarre title credits, the 2001 DVD release of the film commences with the British Board of Film Censors' certification for Dentist on the Job, a film "Passed as more suitable for Exhibition to Adult Audiences", followed by its grainy black and white opening titles and several minutes of the film itself. During the opening scene of Dentist on the Job the projectionist (Played by Terry Jones) realises it is the wrong film and puts the correct one on. (Dentist on the Job was a 1961 comedy starring Bob Monkhouse, perhaps chosen as an epitome of the comedy to which Monty Python had once provided an alternative. Also, Dentist on the Job's alternate title is Get On With It, a phrase that appears multiple times throughout Holy Grail.) The credits for Holy Grail have mock Swedish subtitles and many gratuitous references to "møøse", and then the llamas mentioned above. The film has no ending credits, instead cutting to a black screen and some organ music.
The main theme of this movie, an all-out parody of the medieval beliefs and chilvary code could be found in the Italian movie L'Armata Brancaleone (1966). Sir Lancelot assault to the Swamp Castle resembles a lot Brancaleone's attack on the monastery in which a former love interest of his became a nun.
In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Monty Python and the Holy Grail the 5th greatest comedy film of all time.
Image:MontyPythonHolyGrailCastShot.jpg
Plot
The Holy Grail has an episodic plot line, with a style based on the sketch comedy of Monty Python's television show. Most of the story is told in isolated sections, linked only by the ongoing theme of the quest for the Holy Grail and Terry Gilliam's animations.
The story begins with King Arthur (Graham Chapman) recruiting Knights of the Round Table throughout England. He is initially frustrated at his recruiting attempts several times (e.g., the battle with the Black Knight); eventually, he is joined by Sir Bedevere the Wise (Terry Jones), Sir Lancelot the Brave (John Cleese), Sir Galahad called both the Chaste and the Pure (Michael Palin), Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot (Eric Idle), and the aptly named "Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film" (the infant William Palin, son of Michael Palin). Once assembled, the knights receive a quest from an animated version of God to find the Holy Grail. In their search, they encounter the perils of Castle Anthrax (Doune Castle), the Knights who say Ni (later known as the Knights Who Say "Ecky-ecky-ecky-f'tang-zoop-boing! Goodem-zoo-owli-zhiv"), a killer rabbit (which they defeat by means of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch), and a gigantic cartoon monster, The Legendary Black Beast of Aaaargh. (They are saved when the animator (Terry Gilliam) suffers a fatal heart attack.) There are other misadventures involving anarcho-syndicalist peasants, Latin-chanting monks, an alleged witch (Connie Booth), the King of Swamp Castle (Doune Castle again) and his effeminate musical son, Herbert, a pyromaniacal enchanter called "Tim", the Bridge of Death (guarded by "the old man from Scene 24"), and Frenchmen (led by John Cleese) who revel in taunting the travellers.
At a number of key places in the film the question is raised, What is the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? It is introduced in the opening scenes of the film, and remains an open question right up to the end. The only clear response is given by King Arthur, requesting clarification: "What do you mean, an African or European swallow?" References to swallows are ubiquitous in the film, and in one scene Sir Bedivere is seen holding a dove in one hand and a coconut in the other, tied together in an attempt to prove that swallows can carry coconuts.
Sir Robin's minstrels (their leader played by Neil Innes) sing of how brave he would hypothetically be in the face of horrific and graphically-described tortures, and then sing about how bravely he flees at the first sign of danger. Much to Sir Robin's relief, he and the other knights are later forced to eat the minstrels ("And there was much rejoicing").
The film ends abruptly when a group of police from the 1970s interrupt the climactic battle scene to arrest Sir Lancelot for the murder of a "famous historian" (who looked very much like A. J. P. Taylor) earlier in the film. The Grail presumably is left in the hands of the Frenchmen in Castle Aaaargh (Castle Stalker).
Movie Soundtrack
The movie's official soundtrack (of the trailer of the movie) contained many comedic bits from the film, but lacked the movie's main hero theme. Since then, many mock versions of the theme have popped up all over the internet (including many midi versions).
Home video editions, locations
Among the many home-video releases of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the DVD "Special Edition" is most recommended for its exhaustive list of special features, including two commentary tracks, documentaries related to the film, the "Camelot Song" as sung by LEGO men (Source), and "Subtitles For People Who Don't Like the Film", consisting of lines taken from William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part V, specially selected to match the film's dialogue. There are also two scenes synchronised in Japanese, where the knights search for a "holy sake cup". Most of the home video adaptations feature an extra scene where several characters are telling Carol Cleveland's character, Zoot, to "Get on with it!". Some of them include characters not seen yet in the film, such as Tim the Enchanter, The Old Man from Scene 24 and the army at the end of the film.
The DVD "Special Edition" includes "The Quest for the Holy Grail Locations" which shows places in Scotland used for the setting titled as "England 934 A.D.". Many scenes were filmed in or around Doune Castle, "Scene 23" and the blood-thirsty rabbit's "Cave of Caerbannog" were in sight of Loch Tay, near Killin, and "The Bridge of Death" was in Glen Coe. In the closing battle scene, shots facing "Castle Aaaargh" were filmed at Castle Stalker but the shots looking the other way towards the huge army were filmed later somewhere near Stirling once they'd managed to get enough people.
Dedications
In the DVD commentary for the Lord of the Rings films, director Peter Jackson admitted crowd scenes with rural peasants were tricky to design, as they could easily remind viewers of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Also, in The Two Towers commentary, previsualization artist Christian Rivers makes a clever comment comparing Helm's Deep to Camelot, saying, "it's only a model." A scene in The Fellowship of the Ring, where an opponent is neutralized by cutting off one limb at a time, is probably a reference to the fight between King Arthur and the Black Knight.
A number of video games pay homage to this movie, an indication of its huge following.
- Conquests of Camelot: Typing "Ask about ham and jam and spam a lot" in the treasury will cause three knights to appear on the screen dancing the "Spamalot" theme. Then a text window appears mentioning that this Easter egg is dedicated to the memory of Chapman.
- Quest for Glory: In the first game, a gargoyle will ask the user questions that are inspired from the Bridge of Death scene. The fourth features killer rabbits as a monster type. In Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire, when visiting the wizard Erasmus, you must bypass a cloud guardian which almost exactly parodies the scene from the movie.
- Asheron's Call: In this MMORPG, the White Rabbit is a fearsome beast that drops the Orb of the Bunny Booty. Its level is 666.
- Heroes of Might and Magic III: The game has a number of cheat codes, all of which are references to this movie. All coded are preceded with "NWC", developer New World Computing's initials, followed by the reference. For example, typing in nwcshrubbery (A reference to Arthur's encounter with the Knights who say "Ni") rewards the player with 100,000 gold and 100 of every resource. The code nwcalreadygotone rewards the player with a full Grail map, nwcsirrobin forfeits the game and nwccoconuts gives unlimited movement.
- Warcraft III: Many "annoyed messages" (which are spoken by the units when clicked several times on them) from the Human race are Monty Python references. For example, peasants sometimes utter "We found a witch, may we burn her?", "You're the king? Well, I didn't vote for you!" or "Help, help, I'm being repressed!" Knights sometimes say "I am a knight, and I never say Ni!" and "My favourite colour is blue... no, yellow!". Footmen are also found to utter "It's just a flesh wound!".
- Escape from Monkey Island: The line "Your mother was a hamster!" is used in a friendly bout of insult swordfighting. The comeback is "Your father smelled of elderberries."
- Final Fantasy IX, When Steiner is beaten near the start, he falls to his knee and mutters 'It is only a flesh wound'. It is not known if this is a deliberate reference to the Black Knight though considering that Steiner is very arrogant to begin with.
- Wizardry series: One of the early games has a monster called a "Vorpal Bunny". Vorpal means it can decapitate its opponent.
- Fallout 2: A Bridge of Death parody functions as closely to the original scene as the game engine allows (the player is damaged thousands of points of damage instead of flung into a pit). While the player can play the role 'straight' and simply walk past, players are encouraged to answer a question incorrectly. The robes the bridge-keeper wears are amusingly stronger than most armor in the game. Answering with a question will lead to the bridge-keeper dying horribly. Another parody exists, but doesn't usually function. In it, the player discovers a large group of knights wearing power armor who ask the player if he has found the Holy Hand Grenade. Had the joke existed fully, the player could (through a random encounter) find the Grenade for these Knights. However, perhaps it was just half-made. One of these random encounters will never show up. There is, however, a fan-made patch that allows the player to have the random encounter in which the Holy Hand Grenade (an extremely powerful, one-time-use item) can be found.
- Worms series: The Holy Hand Grenade is one of the most powerful hand-launched weapons, unleashing a huge explosion only after a Handel-esque "Hallelujah". It made its first appearance in Worms: The Directors Cut for the Amiga and has since appeared in almost every version of the game to date. In Worms 4: Mayhem, when on 0 health, some worms utter 'It's just a flesh wound!'.
- The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang: The frozen country Vampra features an enemy called "Python Bunny", which seems to be a harmless white fluffy bunny... with a set of nasty, sharp, pointy teeth.
- MythBusters: In "Breakstep Bridge" after Adam is cut while making the bridge, he utters "It's only a flesh wound!"
- RuneScape: Pulling the lever in the party room causes a bunch of knights to dance on a table and sing a song similar to a scene in this movie. There is also a members only quest called "The Holy Grail".
- Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura: At one point in the game, the character is given the choice of tracking down the Stillwater Giant, a monster with the ability to turn into a harmless looking blue bunny.
- Banjo-Tooie: "Old King Coal" is a boss that loses all of its limbs while still continuing its attack. Its attitude about losing limbs is similar to that of the Black Knight, with such quotes as "I've still got another one," when he loses an arm, show how hard headed he is.
- Mortal Kombat 3: One of the fatalities for the character Kitana would have her transform into a small, seemingly harmless, white rabbit, that attacks the opponent in the same manner as the Killer Rabbit.
- True Crime: Streets of L.A.: The game's protagonist, Nick Kang, quotes a number of lines from the film after the player completes certain tasks.
- Age of Empires III: When the "Home City Chatter" customization is enabled, a nobleman will remark that his wig "smells of elderberries", and a laborer will shout, "Help, help! I'm being repressed!".
- Naruto: Recently, the protagonist made a speech that resonate the words given by the Black Knight.
- Dredd vs Death: One of the lines used by the medical judge when consulted is, "It's only a flesh wound."
For other uses of the Holy Hand Grenade, see the relevant article.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail was also spoofed as a LEGO movie. This spoof was then itself spoofed with a version done in Macromedia Flash with the style of 8-bit Theatre.
The card game Munchkin (by Steve Jackson Games) has a very weak monster called the 'perfectly ordinary bunny rabbit' (itself a reference to the webcomic Sluggy Freelance), which has a chance of actually being 'that rabbit from that movie' and a very strong monster.
- A game The Bard's Tale (2004) features a creature for summoning, a virtually harmless rat. After upgrading it, it gaines the highest damage in the game. It is described as 'most bad-tempered rodent', as was the rabbit in a Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
See also
- Knights of the Round Table
- Anarcho-syndicalism
- Castle Anthrax
- Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch
- Black Knight
- Knights who say Ni
- Doune Castle
- Castle Stalker
- Sir Robin the Not-So Brave
- Tim the Enchanter
External links
- {{{2|{{{title|Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database,
- A Monty Python & Britcom forum
- Monty Python Forums,
- Estimating the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow,
- Monty Python's Holy Ail,
- Widget of Quotes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail Konfabulator Widget.
| Monty Python | Image:MontyPythonFootLeftSmall.jpg | |
|---|---|---|
| Members | Graham Chapman • John Cleese • Terry Gilliam • Eric Idle • Terry Jones • Michael Palin | |
| Other Contributors | Douglas Adams • Connie Booth • Carol Cleveland • Neil Innes | |
| Films & TV Series | Monty Python's Flying Circus • Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus • And Now For Something Completely Different • Monty Python and the Holy Grail • Monty Python's Life of Brian • Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl • Monty Python's The Meaning of Life • Monty Python's Personal Best | |
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