Fifty years ago, one of the greatest movies of all time was released and the landscape of comedy movies was changed forever.

The British comedy troupe Monty Python had been active for about 5 years and growing steadily in popularity all over the world when they released “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” on April 3rd, 1975.  Although made on a shoestring budget, this movie soon became the Holy Grail of comedy movies of the era.

The film itself is a spoof on the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. King Arthur and his knights are given a divine quest by God to find the Holy Grail and along the way, they must overcome a man-eating rabbit, knights who say ni, rude Frenchmen and the violence inherent in the feudal system.

The best parts of the film came about as a result of the extremely limited budget that Monty Python had for the movie. For instance, they could not afford horses for the characters, so, the Pythons decided to do a running gag that the characters would gallop on foot, while their squires clopped coconuts together to act like horses. And this is the opening scene of the movie, setting the tone immediately and hilariously. 

Throughout the movie you can see how the Pythons got around the low budget. They only had money to rent the use of one castle, so every time the characters go to a new castle, it’s literally just a different angle of the same castle, or it’s a small model of a castle. For instance, Camelot is “just a model (shhh).”

My personal favorite bit in this movie is when the characters split up on their own quests. The best of these quests is the Tale of Sir Lancelot. In this one, Sir Lancelot tries to rescue a damsel in distress, who turns out to be a prince who doesn’t want to marry a girl for her huge tracts of land and just wants to sing instead.

What makes this movie so good is how the cast do not take themselves or the film seriously in the slightest,  which makes it ten times better. From monks slapping themselves in the face to keep time in their chants to Tim the Enchanter, the endless silliness makes the film flow very well and keeps the laughs coming. 

This film is one of the most quotable of all time for me and easily one of the top three comedy films of all time. 

And it’s not number two or three, either. 

If you haven’t already, give yourself the gift of watching “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” and you certainly will never forget it once you do. 

Categories: Arts & Entertainment