Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Director: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

Cast: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman

Genre: Comedy

Year: 1975

The first comedy by the Monty Python cast follows a collection of knights in the Middle Ages on a quest from God to discover the Holy Grail. On their adventure, they encounter an array of bizarre enemies who stop them from passing and strange folk who assist them in the best way they can.



It is shocking how a film with an almost non-existent budget managed to craft such a tremendously hilarious and beautifully witty movie that still holds up today. The humour has become iconic with memorable quotations such as "Just a flesh wound!" or "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries" which are still as hilarious today as they were 40 years ago. The writing within this film is essentially flawless, with jokes being made constantly, the humour of which is very flexible, using slapstick to absurdist, surreal humour, a style which has since become synonymous with Monty Python. That being said, the film manages to pace itself well enough that it controls the jokes being said in order that it doesn't become overwhelming to the viewer and they have enough time to recover from the previous joke. Occasionally, some jokes are repeated several times throughout the film which, though isn't particularly irritating, means that it doesn't have the same initial effect the joke had from its first use. Nevertheless, the humour is slick and fluent and perfectly executed, through magnificent writing, directing and marvelous acting from all the cast.

Many of the cast, due to the budget restraints, had to take on a multitude of roles in order to make up for the lack of other actors, which gives the film a nice quirkiness to it, seeing the faces of other actors and how they had to make do. The actors naturally adapt to their different roles that it isn't distracting to see them as different people, but adds to the entertainment factor instead. Through all the different characters, their performances remain flawless and feel fresh each time. Of course, so many characters which appear have become iconic, such as the Black Knight or the Knights Who Say 'Ni'. All the scenes are completely unique as well, bringing their own style of humour and section of the story. Essentially, the film is a compilation of sketches which form a plot when put together, but it is constructed in such a way that it feels like it couldn't have been done in any other way.

The low budget the film had to deal with is occasionally noticeable with obviously makeshift outfits and relatively simplistic set pieces. Yet, the film and the cast absolutely embrace this factor and essentially makes do with this, which means this can be easily overlooked and the rest of the film flows even better because of this. Seeing as this is all they had, what they managed to accomplish is extraordinary and it is so refreshing to see something so good come from so little, rather than modern day films which are all set on a colossal scale, and anything less than this is underappreciated or ignored.

Ultimately, despite its cripplingly low budget, 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' is brilliantly executed with barely any flaws. It is laugh out loud funny, with iconic characters and quotations, and proves that you can do a lot with a little, if you know what you are doing. It stands almost alone as one of the few comedy films based on a comedy series which has become hugely successful and has gained  a cult status among modern day society.

Verdict: 9/10