Plot
King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Grail, encountering many very silly obstacles.
Release Year: 1974
Rating: 8.4/10 (197,906 voted)
Critic's Score: 90/100
Director:
Terry Gilliam
Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle
Storyline The movie starts out with Arthur, King of the Britons, looking for knights to sit with him at Camelot. He finds many knights including Sir Galahad the pure, Sir Lancelot the brave, the quiet Sir Bedevere, and Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Lancelot. They do not travel on horses, but pretend they do and have their servants bang coconuts to make the sound of horse's hooves. Through satire of certain events in history (witch trials, the black plague) they find Camelot, but after literally a quick song and dance they decide that they do not want to go there. While walking away, God (who seems to be grumpy) come to them from a cloud and tells them to find the Holy Grail. They agree and begin their search. While they search for the Grail, scenes of the knight's tales appear and why they have the name they have. Throughout their search they meet interesting people and knights along the way...
Writers: Graham Chapman, John Cleese
Cast: Graham Chapman
-
King Arthur
/
Voice of God
/
Middle Head
/
Hiccoughing Guard
John Cleese
-
Second Swallow-Savvy Guard
/
The Black Knight
/
Peasant 3
/
Sir Lancelot the Brave
/
Taunting French Guard
/
Tim the Enchanter
Eric Idle
-
Dead Collector
/
Peasant 1
/
Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Launcelot
/
First Swamp Castle Guard
/
Concorde
/
Roger the Shrubber
/
Brother Maynard
Terry Gilliam
-
Patsy
/
Green Knight
/
Old Man from Scene 24 (Bridgekeeper)
/
Sir Bors
/
Animator
/
Gorrilla Hand
Terry Jones
-
Dennis's Mother
/
Sir Bedevere
/
Left Head
/
Prince Herbert
/
Cartoon Scribe
(voice)
Michael Palin
-
First Swallow-Savvy Guard
/
Dennis
/
Peasant 2
/
Right Head
/
Sir Galahad the Pure
/
Narrator
/
King of Swamp Castle
/
Brother Maynard's Brother
/
Leader of The Knights Who Say NI!
Connie Booth
-
The Witch
Carol Cleveland
-
Zoot
/
Dingo
Neil Innes
-
First Monk
/
Singing Minstrel
/
Page Crushed by the Rabbit
/
Peasant #4
Bee Duffell
-
Old Crone
John Young
-
Dead Body
/
Historian Frank
Rita Davies
-
Historian's Wife
Avril Stewart
-
Dr. Piglet
Sally Kinghorn
-
Dr. Winston
Mark Zycon
-
Prisoner
Taglines:
And now! At Last! Another film completely different from some of the other films which aren't quite the same as this one is.
Release Date: 10 May 1974
Filming Locations: Appin, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK
Box Office Details
Budget: £229,575
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $45,487
(USA)
(17 June 2001)
(4 Screens)
Gross: $1,821,082
(USA)
(21 December 2003)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The major characters all have appropriate artwork on their shields and armor. The cowardly Sir Robin has a chicken for his emblem. Bedevere, a man of science and nature, has a tree. Lancelot, an overzealous knight that often kills without thought, has a vicious dragon emblem. And King Arthur, who receives a vision from God in the sky/sun for his quest, has a symbol depicting the sun.
Goofs:
Continuity:
The position of Arthur's right arm while Robin answers the Bridgekeeper's questions.
Quotes:
[first lines]
King Arthur:
Whoa, there!
User Review
The reason Robin Williams isn't in a nut house.
Rating: 10/10
This is perhaps one of the greatest, funniest parodies in the history
of film. I think the greatest definition of irony is that to be
believably stupid on screen, you have to be very intelligent. This is a
rare occasion where something can be so stupid that it's funny, with
the addition of feeling you got your money's worth at the end. Examples
of failures would be anchorman, austin powers, scary movie etc. The
gore and clichés of three headed, and goofy "NI!" yelling knights are
what give this movie discreet beauty.
Did I mention that the acting is also very good for a movie of this
sort. All of the main characters, as they do in the series, take on
numerous characters, all of whom are well established and each have
their quirks about them. This was a well written, well thought out, and
perfectly directed, low budget comedy. The funniest of any monty python
film, and amongst the top comedies of all time. I laughed from
beginning to end and bruised one of my lungs. I highly recommend this
film to anyone. This is living proof that all you need is a good script
and good actors.
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