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Monty Python and the Holy
Grail (1975, UK)
In the second irreverent Monty Python feature film
- from co-directors Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones that skewered religion,
medieval epics, the Middle Ages and the Arthurian legend, the witch
trials and black plague, the quest for the Holy Grail in the 10th
Century AD, Camelot and a host of other topics - in many favorite
scenes:
- the opening view of King Arthur (Graham Chapman)
galloping over a hill - with an imaginary stallion (announced by
the clopping sound of approaching hooves) - next to the King was
his hunchbacked servant-lackey Patsy (Terry Gilliam) banging two
coconut shells together to simulate the horses' hooves
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King Arthur (Graham Chapman) with Patsy (Terry
Gilliam)
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- the performance of the loopy, anarchic "Camelot
Song (Knights of the Round Table)" that broke out after
King Arthur spotted the castle Camelot in the distance to his Knights
of the Round Table. (Patsy downplayed the sight: "It's only
a model!" King Arthur: "Shh!") - the song featured
high-kicking, helmeted knights in a chorus line; after the number
was concluded, King Arthur memorably reconsidered and sighed: "Well,
on second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place"
- the ridiculous argument with castle gatekeepers and
guards about whether African or European swallows may have carried
the coconuts to the more temperate Northern zone: ("It's a simple
question of weight ratios. A five-ounce bird could not carry a one-pound
coconut...In order to maintain air speed velocity, a swallow needs
to beat its wings 43 times every second...It could be carried by
an African swallow. An African swallow, maybe, but not a European
swallow...But then, of course, African swallows are non-migratory.
So they couldn't bring a coconut back anyway. Wait a minute. Supposing
two swallows carried it together!")
- the outrageous scene of the collection of corpses
(for ninepence apiece) by the Dead Collector (Eric Idle) on his rounds
through a muddy medieval village as he cried out: "Bring Out
Your Dead!" and the argument with a Large Man (John Cleese)
over a half-dead candidate: ("I'm not dead!...I don't want to
go on the cart")
- King Arthur's encounter with the Black Knight (John
Cleese) who persistently insisted on combat even after all of his
limbs had been hacked off and he had been reduced to a head and torso:
("It's just a flesh wound!...I'm invincible!... The Black Knight
always triumphs!...I see. Running away, eh? You yellow bastards!
Come back here and take what's coming to you! I'll bite your legs
off!") - remarkably, the Black Knight didn't expire at the end
of the scene, and the duel ended in a tie, even though the Black
Knight was reduced to only a head and torso and asserted: "All
right, we'll call it a draw."
Mutilation of The Black Knight
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- the scene of the prosecution of a suspected witch:
(Question: "What makes you think she's a witch?" Answer: "She
turned me into a newt!...I got better!"), who was weighed
by Sir Bedevere the Wise (Terry Jones), and found to be guilty
because she weighed the same as a duck: ("So logically, if
she weighs the same as a duck, she's made of wood. And therefore?
A witch!")
- the French sentry's taunting and insulting words
to King Arthur at a French-controlled castle: ("I fart in your
general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt
of elderberries")
- the surprising scene of a modern-day documentarian/historian
named Frank (John Young), commenting on the Arthurian legend, suddenly
and viciously slashed to death across the neck with a sword by an
un-named horseback-riding knight (the master of the Black Knight?),
the main villain in the film; afterwards, the man's wife (Rita Davies)
(from off-camera) rushed to her dead husband's side, crying out: "Frank!" It
is possible this knight (not with Arthur) was framing Arthur and
his Knights with murder.
- the dreaded tree-shaped Knights Who Say 'Ni' in the
forest, led by a helmeted towering knight (Michael Palin) with deer
antlers sticking up from his head - who made strong demands of Arthur
to appease them by giving them shrubbery before being allowed passage:
("One that looks nice... and not too expensive")
- the scenes about the Fierce Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog
(a guardian beast living in a cave that looked like a harmless white
rabbit) that viciously attacked and beheaded a number of the Knights
("It's just a harmless little bunny, isn't it?"), and the
ritualistic use of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch (a sacred relic)
to blow up the Killer Rabbit
- the guarded Bridge of Death crossing scene where a
trollish, creepy soothsayer / bridgekeeper (Terry Gilliam) asked
travelers five (or three) questions before they were allowed to pass
over the Gorge of Eternal Peril
- the plot-twisting conclusion, when a police car, a
paddy wagon, and officers of the law pulled into the scene in front
of King Arthur's large battle army, and Frank's wife (Rita Davies)
exited the car and shouted out: "Yes, they're the ones, I'm
sure" - the group of insane knights were arrested by the authorities
for the murder of historian Frank; one of the police officers threatened
the cameraman, and put his hand over the camera lens: ("All
right, sonny, that's enough, just pack that in") - but after
the cameraman swore: "Christ!", the film reel broke in
the projector and derailed from the gate and the film abruptly ended
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Frank's Wife: "Yes, they're the ones, I'm
sure"
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The Abrupt End of the Film
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"Camelot Song"
Arguing with Castle Gatekeepers
Collection of Corpses: "Bring Out Your Dead"
Quest For the Holy Grail
Murder of Historian
The Knights Who Say 'Ni' - Not Allowing Passage
Killer Rabbit
Ritualistic Throwing of the Holy Hand Grenade at the Killer
Rabbit
Questions at The Bridge of Death
Ending: Arrests of the Knights
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