Monty Python and the Holy Grail

**One of the pinnacles of British humor.** This was my first contact with Monty Python, which I already knew famously, and I loved the movie. It is quite simply one of the high points of British humor. The film is easy enough to understand, parodying the Arthurian legends surrounding the quest for the Grail, but the story is just a pretext for successive jokes, each one better than the last. I don't know the group of comedians very well, but I do know a number of great British comedy actors here, starting with John Clease, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Eric…

Seriously, you could die laughing from this film. I remember the first time I watched this film, back in antenna days on the educational UHF station that was all fuzz, and even then I thought I would die laughing. The story of King Arthur always did beg for such a satire. The bits are almost all memorable. I durst not mention even one, because I would be tempted to mention a hundred more scenes and a thousand more lines. This is very slapstick. I never thought I would laugh at cruelty, but when it is obviously so overdone that it can't be taken seriously, like a man having his arms and legs…

Fortunately for me this was a rather short visit to the surreal land of Monty Python, and though it does have it's moments, I was really quite unimpressed by their Arthurian antics. We start with Graham Chapman's King Arthur gadding about England tying to recruit some suitably worthy individuals to sit at his round table. Task complete, he gets a sign from God that they must undertake the most holy of quests - and find the Cup of Christ. It now falls to the other three - Cleese, Idle and Gilliam - to dress up in suits of armour and seek the grail amongst the innuendo-ridden kingdom. Along…

## **Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Review: An Unassailable, Coconut-Clapping 10/10 Masterpiece** To call *Monty Python and the Holy Grail* a mere "comedy" is a disservice akin to calling the Crown Jewels "some nice rocks." It is not just a film; it is a cultural atom bomb, a foundational pillar of absurdist humor, and quite simply one of the most perfectly constructed, relentlessly inventive, and side-splittingly funny films ever committed to celluloid. From its budget-starved opening to its cop-out ending, it is a flawless comedic symphony conducted by madmen. ### A Quest Unlike…