Fun fact: George Harrison was friends with the Python crew (mainly Eric Idle). When the movie studio backed out of making this film, George mortgaged his house for $4 million dollars, created his own movie studios and helped them make the movie. Eric says “it’s the most anyone had paid for a cinema ticket”
This is the better film in terms of how it flows from start to finish, but I think Holy Grail has funnier gags. But my favorite bit of trivia about Life of Brian is about the actress who played Judith (Sue Jones-Davis) who came from Aberystwyth, a town in Wales that actually banned the film on its release. She later became the Mayor of Aberystwyth and removed the ban and held a charity screening of the film.
Holy Grail definitely made us laugh a lot more, but Life of Brian felt more like a proper "movie" if that makes sense. I can understand preferring either one!
It was never officially banned in Aberytwyth, though the town council did take issue with her nude scene. She did become mayor and do a charity screening, though
@Brad1980 if you take out the bit about the ban (which didn't happen, and so wasn't overturned) the rest is solid facts. So basically... she became mayor of her home town. Okay I see why people made up the thing about the ban.
No, the ban was true. Local councils, as licensing authorities, had the power to prevent films being shown in their own areas until the eighties at least.
They sung the song "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" on Graham Chapmans (Brian) funeral. John Cleese delivered a memorable eulogy during Grahams funeral, I can recommend you have a look at it.
Eric Idle sang it at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. Including the line "life's a piece of shit" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jiu0lYQIPqE.html
When Mel Gibson released "Passion of the Christ", this movie got a re-release and one of the cast was asked to comment on Gibson's work. He replied along the lines of, "He should've ended with a song".
that has also become one of the top three most played songs at funerals in the UK, its is epic and has never failed to make me smile, so i'm having it at mine! although hopefully many decades off yet!
Y'all missed the best joke in any movie ever (imao). When Brian tells the crowd "You're all different!" and the crowd replies, "Yes! Yes! We're *all* different!"...one guy, quietly, sadly and differently, says, "I'm not." 🤔😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The tagline reads: "So funny it was banned in Norway." And even parts of Europe found the movie to be very offensive to Catholics, Jews, and Christians.
In Finland they had to add a text explaining that the film was a parody of Hollywood historical epics was added to the opening credits. How much time has progressed though in attitudes here... luckily.
The best part about the Biggus Dickus scene is they were actually told not to laugh. It was supposed to be a somewhat serious scene but when they started giggling the actor who played the emperor really REALLY leaned into it to try and make them crack. Them turning red in the face and struggling for dear life to not laugh was very genuine.
If the stories I've been told are true: the extras in that scene were told that laughing or breaking character would result in them not being paid! Explains why they were trying so hard.
None of the above is true. It was a scripted scene. The guards were actors who were instructed to act as if they were holding their laughter. They did several takes. The improvised element is that they would vary the Joke names with each take as to make the joke fresh for each take.
It was indeed banned in some counties and towns. Sue Jones-Davies, who played Brian's girlfriend, later become the Mayor of Aberystwyth and In 2009 overturned a 30-year ban on the film in the Welsh town. It was put on to raise funds for charity, with Terry Jones and Michael Palin there to promote the event.
The "a Roman was your father" line was a real hot button in this movie. Historically, it is entirely likely the occupying Roman troops were abusing the local girls and, should that result in a pregnancy, it is also possible an influential family could save their daughter from being stoned to death by saying "It's a miracle!" and having her move to another town, perhaps with a new husband. This loophole seems to date back to ancient Mesopotamia.
If I remember correctly, the spaceship sequence came about as a result of the writing team realizing they wrote themselves I to a corner sending Brian up the tower with no way down, and in true Monty Python fashion, they just went with it rather than go back and change it
Big part of that scene was also a little internal dispute with Terry Gilliam. He wanted to have a lot more say in the script but in his memorable fashion of pure bonkers nonsense his suggestions would have turned Life of Brian into a veeery different film. And when he finally got on everyone's nerves about wanting to have a scene they basically let him have his alien spaceship so he'd stop complaining :D
Watched it as a kid in 88 and laughed at the silliness and then later I realised there were so many life lessons crammed into the satire that I consider it one of the most important films to show any young person. Thank you George Harrison for making sure it got made
You probably didn't notice the Beatle in the room. George Harrison actually appears briefly in the scene when Brian comes down into the room full of followers after the speech upstairs. He paid to have the movie made after funding pulled out over the subject material just because he wanted to see it.
@@NiceDudeMovieNight It was part of the opening ceremony at the London 2012 Olympic games. The line, "life's a piece of shit" got altered by the performers but the entire crowd was singing along to the original lyrics so there's a very noticeable dip in the audience microphones for a second.
@@Roggor not surprised one bit about that, you know how the enlgish are once they started singing along just like how a couple of guys off their skulls come up with some hilarious sentences in the bus or the bar before watching footy match and just get the crowd to go with it, those are amazing, and they have no problems admitting they're shit in their own chants, stuff like "you're nothing special, we lose every week" hahahaha , that pessimistic/sarcastic, self-devaluing stuff is so fucking hiliarous the brits know how to come up with some funny shit to say, as well as get into that shit, just 1 guy being convincingin enough in shouting something ridiculous and it couold kick off a chanting choir that somehow just can drop in lock-step on the spot :')
My favorite part of the window scene is one of the few ad-libs that made it into any Python material. Brian urges everyone, "You're all different!" Everyone responds, "We're all different!" But there's one extra who pipes up afterward with "I'm not." That was not only not in the script, but since the line actually made it into the movie the extra had to be paid more because he was technically a speaking part.
I thought it was shot on location in Tunisia and the extras were all Arabs. The "I'm not" guy has a very convincing Cockney accent - he deserved his pay rise!
Everything points to the ad-lib thing being a myth. It’s not just that line that isn’t in the original script, but most of the final scene, because the scene was rewritten very late in the process according to John Cleese. In the commentary track Terry Jones talks about directing the extras in the scene, who were French-speaking Tunesians, and the line itself is a typical Python line. In all versions of the final script I have seen the line is in the script, and given to the character “Dennis”, the man who has the “I’m Brian, and so is my wife”-line at the end of the film.
Funniest thing I've read about this movie is when it generated so much controversy at the time of its release, the stars were set up to debate Malcolm Muggeridge and some bishop on a radio show. The stars came to the debate well prepared. It was the "establishment" folks who came in without having seen the movie and had no idea what the controversy was all about.
the bishop said something along the lines of "the crucifixion was a special moment " Cleese said "it was the standard form of execution they done 1000s every year"
Specifically, they'd missed the first 15 minutes of the movie which establishes that the movie is very specifically not making fun of Jesus, and based their whole shitty argument on that. The debate is one of the most frustrating things I've ever seen (you can find it on RU-vid), and even poor Michael Palin was clearly losing his patience with the whole thing.
The debate is a treasure to watch, because it makes Malcolm Muggeridge and the bishop look so idiotic. Eventually, they try to save themselves with humour, which was a very bad idea. The not the nine o'clock spoof of it is hilarious, with Rowan Atkinson clearly showing his own comedic brilliance.
What's hilarious is right at the start they had the same reaction as many people (who left without even seeing the clearing up of 'no that's brian, born around the same time as jesus and initially mistaken for him... for the rest of his life') Like there's a whole documentary/movie about the public backlash the python's faced over this movie, mainly due to the fact that a lot of people were throwing out their opinions without even watching it through.
Not only was this reaction video hilarious and spot-on (you guys obviously "got it" from the very beginning, when you noticed they're actually riding on animals!), but the post-film analysis was super quick, yet super brilliant. Concise. SO HAPPY YOU LOVED IT! I'd say hit the original TV series, on or off the channel, that's the rest of their most essential, classic stuff. And the animation is part of every episode!! :D PS: Terry Gilliam (who did the animations) became a director in his own right and did "Brazil", the classic 80s dystopian satire, highly recommend that one! And if you like The Beatles, Eric Idle did the original mockumentary: "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash", which is a hybrid of Python and the original cast of SNL (Bill Murray, John Belushi, Dan Ayckroyd, Gilda Radner, etc).
One of the best film endings of all time. Never fails to make me smile. But the song is surely anything but morbid, as you said; it's a joyful expression of life.
It's a beautiful depiction of how ugly the world can get but how important it is to keep your chin up in ugly times. It just happens to tell it in such a ridiculous manner lolol
@@NiceDudeMovieNight During the falklands war, a british ship, hms sheffield was sunk by an exorcet missile. While waiting to be rescued, the crew sang that song.
Another great reaction! For me, this is the best thing that Monty Python ever did as a group. While I like the show and the other movies, none has the focus and strength of this film. This was actually one of the last things of Python that I ever saw, but I knew the phrase "always look on the bright side of life" was associated with them. And so I kept looking for it. The first time I watched this film, and Eric Idle started "sing speaking" I realised what was about to happen and fell into such hysterics that I did not even hear the actual song. I had to go back and watch it again to actually hear the song . . . the simple idea of it was so great to me . . . this is still one of the greatest endings to a movie that I know of. On another point . . . this movie caused A LOT of controversy at the time it came out. It was banned in many countries and in several states. People thought it was blasphemous. Terry Jones always said that it was heretical (because it attacks the authority of the church and organized religion generally), but it was not blasphemous because it did not attack the divinity of Christ himself (who is clearly established as being separate from Brian in the film). They originally were going to attack the idea of Christ, but in doing their research (because they were all nerds), they discovered that, whether or not you believed in the divinity of Christ, the morality that he preached was essentially good, and you cannot make fun of something that is essentially good. And so they changed their tack to attack the way that humanity has taken Christ's teachings and fucked it up for their own gain (something we still see happening to this very day). One other funny story: When Brian opens the window and we see him in his fully glory, they had to retake that shot. Terry Jones called cut and shouted to Graham Chapman, "We can tell you are not Jewish!!" to which Chapman responded "Make-up!!!"
I don't think they were originally going to "attack" Jesus, but have the historical Jesus surrounded by idiotic followers and opponents. The problem was that whenever Jesus was on screen, the comedy stopped, because what Jesus said (as opposed to what his followers say) was pretty good. They realised this pretty early in the writing process and quickly changed the main character to Brian.
@@ThreadBomb I only say that because Eric Idle has said that the idea for the film originally came from a reporter asking them what their next film was going to be (after Holy Grail) and off the cuff, he said, "Jesus Christ: Lust for Glory" which does seem to suggest they were going to directly attack the idea of Jesus . . . but then, as you say, they realised that it was humanity that screwed things up rather than anything that Christ actually did or said.
Three....... if you only count from Holy Grail. I would count And now for something, purely as it was supposed to intro Python to the colonials. I'd also count a lot of Gilliam's early work as honourary Python, especially Erik, Baron and throw in Time Bandits.
George Harrison of The Beatles sold his house to finance this movie. When asked why he simply stated:"I just wanted to see it."You can see him at 18:52. Also, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and Genesis helped financing The Holy Grail.
I'd love to see you do the last film as well, The Meaning of Life. More sketchy again so somewhat more uneven but the funniest parts are simply amazing. Well worth a watch and makes for a very good reaction movie I think.
The Meaning of Life has some of the absolute best Python material imo. It has the random sketch feel of the tv show but with an overarching theme tying it all together.
Meaning of Life is almost a musical! I just wish they'd spent a bit longer on the writing, because there is _almost_ a plot there for a movie with a title like "The Decline and Fall of the British Empire" (a parody of the famous history book about Rome by Edward Gibbon).
I'd heard the song "Always look on the bright side of life" many times in my life, but didn't know it was specifically written for this movie until I saw it for the first time a few years ago. The song became a hit in Britain, it encapsulated a theme of British culture, kind of in the vein of "Keep Calm and Carry On" (but was actually known by people all these decades). In 1982 during the Falkland Islands war a British ship was hit by a missile. After the sailors abandoned ship and watched it burn from the water they began singing the song.
I saw Monty Python' last live performance in London in the O2 arena in 2014. At the very end the whole stadium was chanting Always Look On the Bright Side of Life. A truly magical moment and I'm glad to have seen them live. A few years later I also saw a stand-up of John Cleese live and damn, this man has a dark humor and it was incredibly funny.
I must say that one of the mightiest concert experiences I've ever had was in the London O2 arena, where Monty Python did their live show "One down, five to go" (since only one member had died at that point). At the end they sung Always Look at the Bright Side of Life and the entire arena was just roaring. To me, that beat AC/DC, Queen feat. Adam Lambert and even Rammstein in how powerful of an experience that was.
One of the funniest films ever. Before a nights out, we used to watch the “tea time fight” to get us i a giid mood. And one of the local clubs always played “bright side” as they were closing and people were sent home, as they realised it got people in a great mood and had less fights outside.
1. "Always look on the bright side of life " is the most requested song for the end of funerals in the UK. 2. Life Of Brian was banned in Florida and other stats in the US and might still be. 3. There is a 1970's Tv debate with John Cleese and Michael Palin and members of the Church of England as to Life of Brian being BLASPHEMES. I think you can still find it on RU-vid
I once used the ending song for a school assignment as an example of a song that motivated me or taught me something. I mentioned how it points out how life can go bad, but you just gotta continue and make yourself happy. Even with these guys being crucified their happy. I had a follow student give me instructive criticism, saying, "It was good, but could have been less religious." Do people not know crucifixion was a widely used punishment and not just a Christian thing?
The old man in the hole that Brian falls into was played by Spike Milligan. He was a famous English comedian who was most famous for writing and preforming in the Goons. The Monty Python performers had grown up listing to these shows. He had fought in the desert in World War 2 and was visiting the old battlefields, and happened to be in the area and visited the set. They quickly came up with the cameo. They filmed the part in the film in the morning and were to shoot more in the afternoon, but he had left.
The reason the guards were struggling so hard in the biggus dickus scene is none of them were informed about the content of the scene so they were genuinely losing it
When it came out it became banned in Norway because it was considered offensive. This caused it to be called "the film that is so funny that it was banned in Norway", in neighbouring Sweden.
5:15 Fun Fact: In german, when you wish someone good luck, instead of saying keeping my fingers crossed for you, you say "I'm pressing the thumbs for you". Which actually goes back to medieval times when people thought that disease and bad luck was caused by evil spirits. And people thought that evil spirits were scared of corpses. So rich people would buy a corpse to keep with them during travels to ward off evil spirits. People who couldn't afford that would buy only a part, usually the thumb, because you could keep it in your pocket and then if you were scared or needed luck, you'd take the thumb out and squeeze it to ward the evil spirits off. And that became "pressing the thumbs for you", though barely anyone still knows that and most people just press their own thumb in their palm to wish you good luck.
I read somewhere the biggus dickus scene was all improv, the guard were actually trying their hardest not to laugh and the actor playing julius caesar was trying to make them laugh.
Oh and if you want to know how it was received, well it was banned in several countries. The Pythons were called out by the Catholic church as zealots and would burn in hell. John Cleese and Michael Palin went on tv to discuss it with members of the church (Cardinals, Archbishops etc) and they argued their case. The videos are on youtube, it was crazy. All because Brian lived in a similar area and was a victim of mistaken identity haha
I took Latin classes in University. By then I had seen the movie a lot. Needless to say I had a propper problem when we came to the lesson with the conjugation of ire... (I felt a little bit like those poor guards with Biggus.)
"Meaning of Life" is the third Monty Python film (not counting the live and compilation shows). Also, Terry Gilliam used similar styles and some of the cast members for "Jabberwocky" and "Time Bandits."
What I love about this film is, that it's not just funny, but also very intelligent... From the founding of religions, over "sceptics" never realizing all the good that the object of their hate has brought, to little things like, when Brian tells them they were all individuals, them chanting, "Yes, we are all different!" and one single voice pipes out, "I'm not!", totally subversing the message... Together with the gender discussion, this movie is still as relevant as it was all those years ago, which shows how good the Python's understood humanity. Oh, and aliens!
My favorite trivia for this is how every studio turned them down and refused to fund it. George Harrison was friends with some of the cast and gave them $2 million dollars after reading the script because he wanted to see the movie.
Fun fact: the filmed was banned in several places across the UK when it was released, and the last ban was lifted in 2009 in Aberystwyth, Wales - and the woman in the People's Front of Judea who falls for Brian was a lecturer at Aberystwyth university.
I've not long discovered your channel, but you chaps are an utter joy to watch. Your openness and understanding of humours from across the film industry and various nations has been a real draw for me personally to keep watching. Not only have you loved many of the films I love (both serious and otherwise), you also giggle like schoolchildren at really dumb things... Like a normal human being rather than self absorbed film critics. Thanks for the joy you bring fellas, RU-vid was made for people like you. 🙂
So glad you enjoyed this movie. I feel sometimes this goes over teh head of US viewers, but you guys were spot on. The spaceship part always catches people off guard pmsl...! Great video dudes.
In the "Bigus Dickus" scene, the actors playing the Roman soldiers were actually warned they would be fired if they laughed out loud ( Unless scripted ).
I saw Eric Idle and John Cleese during a live show in which they talked about Monty Python and answered audience questions. The night closed with us all singing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” It was great!
:D In this silly, silly movie with all it's surprisingly funny bits we still get a bonus by hearing "Always look on the bright side of life" written by Eric Idle. The show "Monty Python's Flying Circus" on American broadcast television was one of the biggest comedic influences in my young life.
Also at 22:11, John Cleese as head of the People's Front of Judea walks away, while on the right John Cleese as a Roman Centurion walks forward. Oh - Sue Jones-Davies, who played Judith, became Mayor of a town called Aberystwyth. On becoming Mayor, she learned that the film had been unofficially banned for 30 years due to the full frontal nudity. So naturally she sponsored a charity screening of the film; the first time it had ever played in the town.
I love moments of them almost breaking here and there. The best is where Eric Idle loses it during his "Call me Loretta" seen and John Cleese starts going off about the baby issue... If you watch for it instead of focusing mostly on John's primary role in the scene that while Eric has his head down and face covered as though he's being upset by John that he's actually laughing so hard his entire body is shaking, for short moments he is positioned wrong to block the camera and you can see his face just struggling with it.
I really enjoyed your reaction. Your the first reaction channel I've seen that completely gets the concept and the satire. Not everyone seems to get the nuance and the underlying message. Yes it has over-the-top silly and slapstick comedy, but the satire is the real comedy that keeps the film funny and relatable even today.
John Cleese, who played the Roman Sgt. who caught Brian painting graffiti, among a hundred other roles in the movie, actually taught Latin at Oxford when he was taking law classes.
I really recommend you guys check out another film of theirs _‘And Now for Something Completely Different’_ ! It’s older and consists of their most popular ‘Flying Circus’ sketches, but it’s very funny and I reckon you’d enjoy it! :D Sending love from England!
Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life was performed by Eric Idle at the Opening Ceremony, of the Olympic games in London in 2012. The whole audience was singing... find it on Tube!
The fronts are fighting each other because Monty Python wanted to poke fun at all the movements that were around in the 1970s. They all had the same goals but were mostly fighting among each other who was best. And of course one group overclassed the other groups.
Fun fact: THe actors who played the guards in the Biggus Dickus scene were told that if they laughed, they would be fired, and then half of it was completely improv'd.
@@NiceDudeMovieNight I bought that at the stroke of midnight the day it came out at Walmart. I still have a Blu-ray and I listen to the full soundtrack on Apple music often. Not only because it's amazing but it wasn't on Spotify. So when I got Apple music I was so excited! Love your channel!
"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" has become a popular sing-a-long for funerals and wakes. I have told my kids that I want it to close out whatever ceremony they have for me.
With the "Biggus Dickus" scetch, those Centurions are guys they brought in and told they wouldn't get paid if they laughed which is why they're trying so hard not to 😀
Fun fact for you both: During the Biggus Dickus sequence, Michael Palin changed the wife's name on roughly 20 different takes. The one you see in the film is the one where the others actors laughed uncontrollably the least!
