History is turned on its comic head when, in tenth-century England, King Arthur travels the countryside to find knights who will join him at the Round Table in Camelot. Gathering up the men is a tale in itself but after a bit of a party at Camelot, many decide to leave only to be stopped by God, who sends them on a quest: to find the Holy Grail. After a series of individual adventures, the knights are reunited but must face a wizard named Tim the Enchanter, killer rabbits and lessons in the use of holy hand grenades. Their quest comes to an end however when the Police intervene - just what you would expect in a Monty Python movie.Written by
garykmcd
Terry Gilliam brings up the "right brain/left brain" breakdown of Monty Python. John Cleese, Eric Idle, and Graham Chapman were all Cambridge educated, Michael Palin and Terry Jones were Oxford educated, and Gilliam is the "token American." Gilliam also breaks them down as the "tall group", which is the Cambridge men, and the "normal sized people", which was the other three. "Cambridge is interesting, because Cambridge seems to produce a kind of person that their best defense is a strong offense, and their minds seem to be more precise, more logical, more systematic, more attacking all the time." Gilliam also notes the Cambridge group were the bullies. See more »
Goofs
Very few of the accented characters used in the "Swedish" subtitles for the credits actually appear in the Swedish alphabet., although some do appear in Danish and/or Norwegian. See more »
The following are inserted into the real opening credits. They start as subtitles "translating" the credits into a "Pidgin-English-Swedish". (Though genuine Swedish does not use ø or ë.)
Mønti Pythøn ik den Hølie Gräilen Røtern nik Akten Di Wik Alsø wik Alsø alsø wik Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yër? See the løveli lakes The wøndërful telephøne system And mäni interesting furry animals The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used are fictitious and any similarity to the names, characters, or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional. Signed RICHARD M. NIXON Including the majestik møøse A Møøse once bit my sister... No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst Nordfink"... We apologise for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible have been sacked. Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti... We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked. Møøse trained by YUTTE HERMSGERVØRDENBRØTBØRDA Special Møøse Effects OLAF PROT Møøse Costumes SIGGI CHURCHILLMøøse Choreographed by HORST PROT III Miss Taylor's Møøses by HENGST DOUGLAS-HOME Møøse trained to mix concrete and sign complicated insurance forms by JURGEN WIGG Møøses' noses wiped by BJØRN IRKESTØM-SLATER WALKER Large møøse on the left hand side of the screen in the third scene from the end, given a thorough grounding in Latin, French and "O" Level Geography by BO BENN Suggestive poses for the Møøse suggested by VIC ROTTER Antler-care by LIV THATCHER The directors of the firm hired to continue the credits after the other people had been sacked, wish it to be known that they have just been sacked. The credits have been completed in an entirely different style at great expense and at the last minute. Executive Producer JOHN GOLDSTONE & "RALPH" The Wonder Llama Producer MARK FORSTATER Assisted By EARL J. LLAMA MIKE Q. LLAMA III SY LLAMA MERLE Z. LLAMA IX Directed By 40 SPECIALLY TRAINED ECUADORIAN MOUNTAIN LLAMAS 6 VENEZUELAN RED LLAMAS 142 MEXICAN WHOOPING LLAMAS 14 NORTH CHILEAN GUANACOS (CLOSELY RELATED TO THE LLAMA) REG LLAMA OF BRIXTON 76000 BATTERY LLAMAS FROM "LLAMA-FRESH" FARMS LTD. NEAR PARAGUAY and TERRY GILLIAM & TERRY JONES See more »
Alternate Versions
The UK cinema release in 1975 had edited some of the lines to receive an 'A' certificate. These lines include some of Zoot's texture about the oral sex and the overdubbing of uses of 'Jesus Christ'. It was not till 1996 that the UK video's became completely uncut. See more »
Monty Python will always be loved or hated depending on your personality. And this is Monty Python at its typical best. If you like daft jokes, killer fluffy animals, bad accents and intelligent discussions that will most likely go over your head the first time round, then you will love The Holy Grail.
The jokes vary from obvious visual puns (coconut halves to represent horses) and audio puns ("I am Roger the Shrubber") to more subtle and intelligent jokes ("I thought we were an autonomous collective" / the Witch-burning scene). The greatest thing about the Holy Grail is that there's something for everyone. No one is left out.
What many don't realise is the sophisticated intelligence behind the jokes that many of later generations don't understand (back in the Life of Brian - Romani Ite Domun - which wouldn't have such impact on the youngsters who never had to suffer through Latin classes) such as the witch burning scene, where it was true that any means possible was used to warp the natural and legal laws to create the desired result i.e. one less warty woman in the village, and how the mish-mash of Celtic tribes were suddenly forced to become a diplomacy ("Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"). It always reminds me of Blackadder - how so many great jokes were wasted by bad timing or bad judgement on the audience's vocabulary.
And for those who can't keep up with historical jokes, there's the Black Knight, Tim, and Zoot to keep you occupied. They sure as hell make me laugh.
So if you like daft humour, go for it! But promise to check out the subtle jokes as well. It's worth the effort, and you'll learn a little about history too.
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Monty Python will always be loved or hated depending on your personality. And this is Monty Python at its typical best. If you like daft jokes, killer fluffy animals, bad accents and intelligent discussions that will most likely go over your head the first time round, then you will love The Holy Grail.
The jokes vary from obvious visual puns (coconut halves to represent horses) and audio puns ("I am Roger the Shrubber") to more subtle and intelligent jokes ("I thought we were an autonomous collective" / the Witch-burning scene). The greatest thing about the Holy Grail is that there's something for everyone. No one is left out.
What many don't realise is the sophisticated intelligence behind the jokes that many of later generations don't understand (back in the Life of Brian - Romani Ite Domun - which wouldn't have such impact on the youngsters who never had to suffer through Latin classes) such as the witch burning scene, where it was true that any means possible was used to warp the natural and legal laws to create the desired result i.e. one less warty woman in the village, and how the mish-mash of Celtic tribes were suddenly forced to become a diplomacy ("Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"). It always reminds me of Blackadder - how so many great jokes were wasted by bad timing or bad judgement on the audience's vocabulary.
And for those who can't keep up with historical jokes, there's the Black Knight, Tim, and Zoot to keep you occupied. They sure as hell make me laugh.
So if you like daft humour, go for it! But promise to check out the subtle jokes as well. It's worth the effort, and you'll learn a little about history too.