Bring Out Your Dead

Monty Python have brought the world plenty of humor to keep everybody laughing. Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, have always kept the masses entertained with their goofball humor and memorable parodies. Their quotes are unforgettable. The pythons have influenced many comedians such as Eddie Izzard. Monty Python’s 1975 movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is one of their best pieces of work. This movie will live on forever! But how is this movie pieced together? One has to peel back the simple humor and look at the hard work the pythons have done. It might look hard, it really is not.

Every play and movie has a perceived interpretation, casting, staging, pacing, and overall effect. Monty Python nails all of these elements in an odd way. But that will not stop it from being broken down piece by piece. The perceived interpretation is that King Arthur is surrounded by idiots. The Pythons seem to make Graham Chapman’s character, King Arthur, the only smart person in the film. One example is the first scene after the credits when Arthur and his servant, Patsy, go up to the first castle looking for knights to join his round table. It starts out serious, but then the conversation descends down into swallows and coconuts. Annoyed by this pointless argument, Arthur and Patsy go away elsewhere. More people to annoy King Arthur are the peasants with their endless talk about government and democracy, the Black Knight with his endless desire to keep fighting even with all four of his limbs hacked off, and the Knights Who Say Ni. They all serve to drive King Arthur batty with their stupid humor. The characters in the movie are made to stupid for a laugh. They help add onto the funny relevance of a good parody that is worthy of a diamond classic.

The second item on the list is the casting. The Pythons played most of the parts in the movie. Graham Chapman fits the main role of King Arthur because he fits the role of someone trying to be serious yet funny at the same time. The rest of the boys fit the roles of the knights and peasants down to the very detail. All of the actors, even Michael’s then infant son as Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Film, fit the parts just beautifully to make everyone laugh. Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones’ casting choices proved to be rewarding.

The staging of the movie is a parody of all the King Arthur and the knights at the round table movies ever made up to that point. The style is typical of Monty Python harm. The whole thing is just a huge joke with many running gags in it. Holy Grail is not meant to be taken seriously. The movie is made to be funny, silly, and light-hearted to make the fans laugh. The pythons spoof everything in this spoof just like they did in their show, Monty Python’s Flying Circus. To make the parody even more effective, the Pythons threw in many anachronisms to keep everyone entertained. There are many things that just do not fit in the Holy Grail. One instance is when the modern Historian in the film gets killed and the police are trying to find out who did it. That one is an obvious anachronism. It does not even need to be explained. A more subtle example is the question of the how much weight can a European swallow can carry. In Medieval times, people had no knowledge of that sort of thing. But then again, if the Pythons stayed completely true to the time period, the movie would not be as entertaining.

The pacing is a mixed one. Some parts of the movie such as the Knights Who Say Ni are slow. But others such as the fight with Black Knight are fast paced. In short, the movie moves along just like any normal parody and spoof up until the confusing ending. The overall effect was funny. Holy Grail was out to make everyone laugh. It succeeded beautifully. As a result, Monty Python and the Holy Grail stands to be a classic for all time and an unforgettable parody.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an unforgettable piece of treasure. It remains to this very day to be one of the Python’s best works ever. Young and old will love this film even beyond the end of time. Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones did their best directing with this movie.