I was recently in hospital … nothing too serious … and they bought a guy in who had broken both legs in a motorcycle accident. After he was settled in I just asked him if he was ‘ok’ in the sense that he obviously wasn’t but it was an opener. He replied ‘’’tis but a flesh wound’. We both cracked up😊😊😊
This is a movie that you can watch a dozen times and still find clever details (like that the crossing the black knight was defending was small enough that you could jump over it at any other place). It is absolutely brilliant. I grew up watching Monty Python. There is absolutely no equivalent today.
Thanks to censorship and political correctness there is nothing like it these days. You HAVE TO be "offensive" to make jokes, because "making fun of people" is part of it.
I don't think I have ever seen anyone enjoy this film as much as you two did here. This was a blast! Some people watch this and barely crack a smile at all. They just don't get it. This was great! Thank you!
Several of my friends and I rented it back in the mid 80s in our late teens. Our sides hurt the next day from laughing so hard. A few months later we got together again to watch a movie, this time with a group of girls who went to HS with part of our circle, and decided to get it again so they could see the hilarity. They just didn’t get it, and barely even cracked a smile. Apparently either you 'get' the Pythons, or you don’t. They fell into the latter category. Oh well. WE still laughed our asses of, probably even harder the second time, watching them just not get it.
This was SO MUCH FUN! Your laughs were making me laugh all over again. Hey, you two HAVE to see their next movie, "Life Of Brian" because you'll get so many of the jokes. It's more cohesive than "Holy Grail", it's got more of a throughline plot. The animation is always a part of Monty Python; they started as a TV show and the animation would link all the random sketches together. The guy who did the animation was Terry Gilliam and he went on to become a great director in his own right ("Brazil", "Time Bandits", "Adventures Of Baron Munchausen"). But DEFINITELY do "Life Of Brian"!
@@the98themperoroftheholybri33 Yeah, but they have a background in the Bible so they're going to specifically have an appreciation for Life Of Brian that not just every reactor has. Meaning Of LIfe is ok, but first Life Of Brian which even the Pythons themselves consider their greatest achievement.
@@the98themperoroftheholybri33 Meaning of Life isnt really that good, because it is just a movie version of "Monty Python's Flying CIrcus" with not really that funny jokes (because they are all far too long and thus taken to ridiculous levels). Watching "Flying Circus" instead is much more rewarding.
I'm humbled by how easily you embraced the beautifully absurdist comedy of this film, I honestly didn't expect it. One of the best reactions I've seen to The Holy Grail. Cheers- I hope to find 'The Life of Brian' on your channel at some point!
@@ostrichman Actually ... they should start with "Monty Python's Flying Circus" ... to understand where they came from. There are soooo many classic gems in that ... the Spanish Inquisition, the dead Parrot, the origin of SPAM, "Hell's Grannies", the argument clinic, ... ... ...
@@Muck006 but in reality they dont need to sit through roughly 22 hours of monty python to understand where they came from, just go to Life Of Brian and watch that. Then if really interested then maybe go back and check out flying circus where as you said they will find so many classic gems interspersed among some less funny sketches.
The Assyrians had a several capitals over the timespan of their empire, so that was a trick question... something the Pythons would have known, since performer and director Terry Jones (Sir Bedevere the Wise) was a medieval scholar who also went on to write serious academic books about Chaucer and the Middle Ages.
Well written script with some great improvisation. "Some call me...TIm" happened because John Cleese couldn't remember line so he ad-libbed. "How do you know he's a king? He isn't all covered with shit" was also ad-lib.
I've read that Tim was chosen because it's the most weakly sounding name they could think of. You'd expect the enchanter would introduce himself as Sauron from his build-up.
This movie is definitely in the top ten of the funniest movies ever made. Now that you’ve seen it you’ll start recognizing quotes from it in so many things.
I saw it days after it came out, and I laughed until my cheeks cramped up. I've seen it dozens of times, and I still laugh. I think one measure of a great movie is how many lines it has that people remember, and this is packed with them.
"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!" Fun Fact: The famous depiction of galloping horses by using coconut shells (a traditional radio-show sound effect) came about from the purely practical reason that the production simply could not afford real horses. Metal Funding Fact: Funds earned by Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973) went towards funding this movie. The band were such fans of the show, they would halt recording sessions just to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969). Led Zeppelin and Genesis contributed to this movie's budget as well. Swallow This Fact: The airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow is roughly eleven meters per second, or twenty-four miles per hour, beating its wings seven to nine times per second rather than forty-three. It's true: A five-ounce bird cannot carry a one pound coconut, but furthermore, no swallow weighs five ounces. The English barn swallow weighs only twenty grams (two-thirds of an ounce). Historical Fact: The French tactic of pelting Arthur (Graham Chapman) and his knights with livestock echoes the relatively modern legend of a medieval siege of the fortified southern French town of Carcassonne. Said to have been near starvation, the townspeople used the last of their food to pelt the besieging army to convince them, suffering likewise, that the town was well stocked with food and that the siege was hopeless. The tactic was successful, and the siege was lifted.
The use of coconuts due to budget constraints is an urban myth, I'm afraid. Coconut jokes run through the film, and are used to set up other running jokes: the scene about African/European swallows carrying coconuts by the husk; Sir Bors trying to get a duck to carry a coconut shell; the African/European swallow question saving the day at the Bridge of Death. From these and other examples, it's evident that coconuts were intrinsic to the script from the outset. Indeed, Terry Jones (co-writer, director, Sir Bors etc) recalled Michael Palin (Sir Galahad etc) coming up with the idea of having servants clopping coconuts together at an early ideas meeting, before the script was written and long before the budget was known. In short, having servants clopping coconut shells together instead of horses is just a typically silly Pythonesque touch, no more no less.
Not just Carcassone. There are historical records of besieging armies would occasionally catapult dead beasts of burden into a castle to spread disease among the defenders. There's not much record of the defenders catapulting animals out 'though.
The insults came from: Hamsters had many sexual partners , and Eldeberry was used to make cheap peasant wine. So they can translate to , your mothers a slut and your dad"s a drunk.
They only used 2 castles for this film, and the castle on the island at the end still has someone living in it. The other castle has a pair of coconuts at the entrance for visitors to use.
What was so good about Monty Python in general was everyone involved acted like nothing particularly funny was happening, they all gave serious performances. Graham Chapman played Arthur completely straight, like it was a dramatic role. And something about being serious in an absurd movie is absolutely hilarious. Leslie Nielsen made a career off doing that as well. It always works.
I have loved this movie since I first saw it as a kid in the late 70’s, I’m 56 now and I still love it, I showed it to my grandson and now he just runs around yelling “NI”!!!!😂
This movie had me hooked at the opening credits. The stuff about the moose had me laughing so hard I was crying. Monty Python, Mel Brooks and Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker are some of the best comedy filmmakers of all time.
Millenial here. In the D&D Nerd Circles I ran, it's basically a requirement to see this film (and is constantly quoted). Watching it with the right people is certainly an experience. This film will continue to be watched by future generations.
@@jamesalexander5623 Despite it's silliness and irreverence on the surface, there's plenty of research that went into its creation (Terry Jones was a Chaucer scholar), political commentary, and subversive meta-comedy.
I guarantee that over the next few days and weeks you will be quoting lines from this movie. I still say "it's just a flesh wound " whenever I accidentally hurt myself
Yes. I saw it in a theatre in Australia with a bunch a 17 yr Python fans. We cried laughing!!.. Have seen it many times since and enjoyed watching it again with you. And to concur with your insights, Eric Idle , one of the Pythons, said that there are two essential elements to comedy, "Not enough money, and not enough time."
@@ForceOfLightEntertainment you’re very welcome!! It was hysterical watching the two of you crack up. Hope you guys are well and Congratulations again on officially becoming Dr. Michelle with Two L’s!!🎉🥳
The only kind of comedy that seems to exist these days is Joss Whedon style "quirky clever dialogue" humor. Which is fine, but when it's ALL you get out of any comedy movie it gets stale as hell. Something like this would be a breathe of fresh air in the modern age.
OK you guys… I can always tell how well I’d get along with someone by how they react to Monty Python. There’s usually no in between with them. People either love them or can’t stand them. I’m so glad you fall on the correct side of that line.😂 Anyway, I stumbled across your channel by accident, saw that you were reviewing the holy grail, and decided to watch. I’m not at all disappointed, and I’m looking forward to going back through your uploads to watch all the reactions. Keep up the good work and have fun with it!!!
Yes, monty pythons flying circus. ( BBC) 5 guys they met in college and were in the acting/ comedy club . They put on a show that was so funny, they were asked to take it to the theatre, it did great and they got a TV deal. They did 3 movies and another was like highlights of the show. And several huge live comedy tours . ( monty python at the Hollywood bowl) was particularly good . They all had great careers. John Cleese did sitcoms ( one of the best , the witch in this was his wife and they wrote it together) ( faulty towers) two perfect seasons . Four brits and one American. ( the director and the coconut guy , and several other characters) he had a great directing career . Made movies with Robin Williams, Brad Pitt and Bruce wills. ( the Fisher King, also about someone looking for the holy grail) and 12 monkeys. Oh and fear and loathing in Las Vegas with Johnny Depp.
Traditionally, Sir Galahad was supposed to find the Grail, but here he got side-tracked by a decoy beacon (and… other things) at Castle Anthrax, and then cast into the Gorge of Eternal Peril because he forgot his favorite color. By the way, depictions of murderous rabbits can actually be found in some medieval illustrations, so even that is sort of historically accurate. 😄
Real things: They borrowed the Rabbit, having promised to return it in good shape. But the red dye they used for blood, couldn't be washed out. LOL. The owner wasn't happy about their little bunny.
I lived in England as a kid and grew up with Monty Python's Flying Circus. I saw this movie in 1975; with the background of having watched the TV series, the ending made perfect sense to me. I really enjoyed your reaction, and I was impressed that you picked up on Sir Bedivere with the swallow and the coconut. Many reactors completely miss that. Your laughter was infectious. You've got to watch Life of Brian next.
Here in America, before the film was released here, old episodes of Flying Circus were shown on TV, to get Americans used to British humor (humour?). Then Holy Grail was released only in certain theaters (cinemas). They were usually small theaters that showed artsy films or foreign films. American audiences still didn't quite get the humor and would laugh loudly, before the punch lines. This was so loud, that the jokes were missed. This caused Holy Grail to become a cult movie, where Americans would go watch it time and time again at the theaters, to try to hear all of the jokes. In the 1970's, theaters charged a one time entrance fee for the whole day and evening. The daytime fee was much lower than the evening fee, but you could stay until closing time. The theaters would have a miniature Trojan rabbit in the lobby.
The Pythons were highly educated University students, that had incredible abilities to satirize anything. I saw it at my University , re-watch the earlier scene with Dennis complaining about Arthur's Rigjt to be King, and the social structure of the collective community. I was a science major but the information about sociology is spot on accurate and funny as shit.
When I was in high school, there were so many "memes" from this movie. Kids would go around quoting a piece, and everyone knew the follow up. Like the entire "She's a witch" skit, the black knight ("It's just a flesh wound"), etc.
The Holy Grail is one of my all time fav movies. Since you liked this I can also recommend their other movie "Life of Brian". There are so many quotes from these movies. The priests that chanted and hit themselfs with a board was actually included on the DVD as a sing-a-long with the instructions to use the DVD box as a board. But the instructions are interupted by them because it gets out of hand.
Just found your channel today. As a Brit brought up on this, it's really nice to see you enjoy Monty Python, as it's a hard "sell" overseas. Some Americans get the humour, some don't. You seem like you were happy to just go along with the silliness, which is nice to see. Incredible to think that the production cost for this movie was only $400,000.
I watched this film several times in the theatre, because it was there more than a year and we all repeat watching this just because we wanted to see the faces of people who watched it for the very first time, specially at the end when the screen turned black and the music was still on.
Most of us who saw this in the theater were already huge fans of Monty Python's Flying Circus, their long running BBC TV series (US PBS reruns). It was the highlight of our viewing week. So we were so pumped when they took their talents to the big screen. This wasn't their 1st film but, imo, it was their finest. These 5 silly men will live forever! Loved you reaction! You're so right, it takes a few watches to get it all.
Plot twist: the knight that killed the historian was on horseback, Arthur and his knights had coconuts for horses. Therefore The King was framed by an outside influence..🤔
Monty Pythons Life of Brian has to be next, arguably better, imho Life of Brian is one of the best comedy films ever made...The fact you both loved this, it's a must watch.
They got a much bigger budget on that one, thanks to George Harrison wanting to see the movie. Eric Idle joked that it was the most anyone ever paid for a cinema ticket.
I love how much you two are laughing at this. Some other reactors I've seen watch this didn't seem to "get it", but you both really seem to be having a great time. And that makes me happy.
@@ForceOfLightEntertainment Good Reaction Ladies. George Harrison of The Beatles rescued this by financing them as they even used coconuts for horses to cut costs. Monty Python's Flying Circus has endless sketches on RU-vid:)
@@Isleofskye Nah you're thinking Life of Brian. That's the one George Harrison bankrolled. You're right, though, the coconuts thing was because of budget constraints, which is even better lol
@@DavidEllis94Yes,Davod. It's 3.48am, approximately in London Town and my disappointment in myself is immeasurable and no words can adequately express my remorse regarding my inexcusable faux pas. I am mortified that I got to make such a Schoolboy error and I only try to crave your forgiveness for my brief moment of total complete and utter insanity in making this mistake. I have no excuses and I can only apologize, profusely, for my stupidity, once again. You are a good man for pointing this out to me. I'm inconsolable at the moment.....:(
Every single D&D group ever can quote this movie almost perfectly. I actually run two "Rifts" groups, which is a science fiction RPG. My east coast, bread basket, west coast, and even my Australian players regularly quote this movie.
Thank you! Thank you! Your reaction to this touched me. 😊 I and my two friends saw this movie in the theater five times when it was released. Five decades later, we quote the best lines to each other and laugh all over again. Having you enjoy it just as much as we have makes me misty... For your consideration, "All of Me" (1984 Steve Martin / Lilly Tomlin) is amongst the best comedies of all time. I think everyone will enjoy your reaction to it, and it will bring fond memories to us all. I'll be back to see what you do next. Much love...
The arrow noise, followed by "message for you sir" was my text notification for a very long time. Now that I'm ancient, it's just "If you ignore it, it'll go away"
Around 1994, (yes I’m old) the BYU University Theater did 4 showings of The Holy Grail (with some editing) starting with the first Showing at 9pm and the last showing starting Saturday Morning at 6am. All 4 showings sold out in 30 minutes. My friends and I had tickets for the second show at 12:30am. When it started there was cheering and clapping which lead to everyone quoting the lines out loud even before they happened in the Movie. For the first few minutes it was fine then it started to get annoying because you could not hear the movie just the whole audience quoting the movie out loud. After a few minutes myself and others started to yell “Shut up”!!! More started joining in. It took 15 minutes to everyone to Stop Quoting the Movie out load. We were finally able to enjoy the movie. Great memories, ton of fun, and easily one of the greatest and most influential comedies of all time
Thanks for running this. I forgot how damned funny it was! And I laughed just as hard as the two of you and the raging bunny! Great take on what creative and intelligent thought can do over bloated budgets. These guys were all Cambridge graduates so that helped! Keep up the good picks, ladies. You have a fun channel.
The scene where the dead animals are thrown from the walls. My dad lived in Doune where they filmed several scenes, my dad and my uncles as well as the other village kids got enlisted as it was the school holidays, to help pick the animals up. Then Run them back up to the people throwing them for another take. He said they had great fun helping out. One of the funniest films of all time. Second only to life of Brian, In my opinion.
My favorite movie comedy, narrowly ahead of "Airplane." As you point out, a good example of how good writing is much more important than a big budget. They also had the advantage of being an experienced ensemble cast from the TV show. Kind of like Orson Welles and his radio theater company when they made "Citizen Kane."
I first saw this movie when I was 14, I'm 56 now. I was high when I watched it with a bunch of my friends also high. Talk about side splitting pain from laughing. Still funny after all these years and still high.
Oh yes, I saw it in its first release. It is so well written that it is one of the most quotable movies ever with many, many memes dedicated to it. It is meant to be watched over and over and savored.
The Animator was an American called Terry Gilliam & a fully fledged member of the Pythons. His animations were used in the Pythons tv shows too. I've gotta admit that you cracked me up when you lost it at the rabbit scene. Never seen anyone react like that at the bunny, hilariously contagious.😂👍
I first saw this movie when it came out on VHS in the 80's. However I already knew all the skits because my best friend in school was a big Monty Python fan and had a stack of Monty Python albums. We would memorize the bits spent hours in School reciting Monty Python skits. So every time I see a Monty Python movie It reminds me of all the fun Derik and I had running these lines. Thanks for the memory's. Chris
I have been watching this movie for nearly 40 years and I still find it hilarious. It is still witty and relevant and hope you both enjoy it as much as me
When I was in the Army and stationed in West Germany (aging myself there) we would have field exercises that went from weeks to months out in the field living in tents, running generators and doing our jobs in mock war games. I had the manuscript to this movie and to help break the monotony on most nights my team and I would take the script and read, in bad English accents, parts from the movie. The most requested were the holy hand grenade and bring out your dead scenes. But we'd end the day just laughing so hard we were all crying and gasping for breath. A much needed break from the daily grind in the field dealing with mud, cold weather, wet clothing and sleep deprivation. I was and am a fan of the show Monty Python's Flying Circus, where this team came from and the skits they'd put on. Loved watching your reactions to this one. Have to say that the two of you have been raised up higher in my eyes for your love of this movie and the appreciation you have for all aspects. Keep up the great work, stay safe and looking forward to more of your content. Yes, I know this is an older release, but I'm slow.
This movie has turned into a drinking game with my friends and siblings. Every time you hear a cat scream and every time someone is "feeling better" you take a drink 😂😂😂
As funny and meta as this movie is, the ending is a literal cop-out, imagine how well the silliness goes over when middle schoolers watch it for the first time. We quoted its nonsense for years.
Great reaction. Repeated watchings really are rewarding. Also, the more history you know, the more funny you'll find them. Five out of the six Python members were Oxford or Cambridge educated in law, medicine, or history and their scripts and settings are filled with plays on anachronisms, language, etc, that tweak the brain. You mentioned SNL. The Monty Python television show that ran from 1969 to 1974 was one of the main inspirations for the creation of the original "Saturday Night Live" in 1975. You also mentioned at the beginning that you thought you might have heard men talk about the film more than you'd heard women talk about it, and it did seem back in the seventies that, though their appeal was broad, Monty Python and their humor did have maybe more of an appeal to men than to women, not that the troupe intended it that way. I remember a female friend years ago recalling that back in the seventies and early eighties, guys tended to just go on and on about Monty Python, endlessly repeating lines from their shows. This friend considered that to be a sign that a guy was not partner material, that a guy who did that lacked originality and might be tedious to be around. Monty Python was that popular, though. People really did quote from them all the time back in the seventies and early eighties.
I thought they all went to Cambridge. That's where the comedians usually come from at any rate, but I'm not 100%. I do know that 'most' (if not all) went to Cambridge though.
The entire score, aside from the songs from Camelot and Robin's minstrels, is pieced together from cues provided by the De Wolfe Music Library. Most of them can be found on RU-vid in their unedited forms. Hats off to whomever went through all the cues and edited them together; that must have been a lot of work!
Wot?!? No Castle Anthrax? No brave Sir Robin? 😂 Glad you enjoyed this classic bit of cinematic humor 😁👍 Now watch The Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life - both also Monty Python flicks.
Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of Elderberries I break wind in your general direction We will know we are in trouble when Chatgpt understands that!
Excellent reaction from both of you, considering that you had no prior knowledge of the Pythons! For me, after being introduced to Monty Python's Flying Circus (a TV series by a group of comedy writers and performers who were all very well educated) by my half-English cousins when I was 9 or 10 in 1971, my friends and family (including me) were excited to see this movie when it appeared in 1975. I laughed so much in the cinema that I had to go and see it again to make sure that I saw and heard all of it. Starting with those hilarious opening credits subtitles! Since then I have seen it many times, have bought the soundtrack recording, the book of the screenplay, and the blu-ray disc. When Monty Python's Life of Brian hit cinemas in the summer of 1979, I was at an opening weekend screening while visiting friends in Los Angeles. And again, we all laughed so much that I had to go see the movie again shortly afterwards to see and hear more of the jokes that I had missed. And now I have a blu-ray of Life of Brian, as well as the screenplay book, the soundtrack album, as well as a DVD box set of all episodes of the Flying Circus TV series, and their other comedy albums and books. And I was lucky enough to be in London in July 2014 to attend one of the reunion live shows of the Monty Python troupe at the O2 Arena. In the group, Terry Gilliam is the only American member, and he was the animator and an occasional actor. Mr. Gilliam has had a fascinating second career as a movie director (12 Monkeys, Brazil, The Fisher King, Time Bandits, etc). If you encounter more work by the Pythons I hope you will enjoy it as much as you did when reacting to Holy Grail.
There many medieval stories about King Arthur and the Grail and in most of them, the Grail isn’t found. So I guess it make sense that way. Also remember that he IS King Arthur so he should definitely have an army. King Arthur is supposed to be entombed and to re-emerge in the modern world so the police do fit.
The first time I watched this movie, I laughed so hard, I almost lost my breath. I had to seriously calm down. But I kept on laughing. It is so much funnier when you have read the history of the middle ages, particularly England/Britain as well as fiction set in those times.
Michelle and Natalie - so glad you saw this classic and enjoyed it. I remember seeing this at the Drive In theater when it was release - my older brother was nice enough to take me. We laughed so much. It ended up being one of the first VHS we needed to get. I've bought it on DVD, BluRay and will grab the 4K I am sure at some point. Monty Python humour and its like are sorely lacking these days. So enjoyably. Time for a rewatch again I guess. Glad you enjoyed it and you will like it more and more as you watch it over again. It's worth putting on the yearly watch list. Bless you ladies.
Absolutely brilliant! Brought me joy watching you ladies laugh it up! My AP history teacher played this movie for us my sophomore year of high school. I have never laughed so hard! Glad you enjoyed it! -Chantal G.
I saw this as a teenager when it came out. For me, a big part of the humour came from seeing movie conventions subverted and mocked. The genuinely heroic theme music would play, and I'd be up for some real adventure, and then wham! they'd frustrate my desire with yet another transgression! Not everybody likes Monty Python, but those who do, like it a lot! By the way, mocking the police is a Monty Python passion, and you'll note that not only do the police stop the picture and ruin the ending, they do it by incompetently arresting innocent people; King Arthur et al could not have been involved in the murder of "Famous Historian", because the guilty party rode a horse.
The ending is funnier in a reaction video where you can actually watch people waiting there unsure whether the movie is actually over or not. And this video captures that perfectly.
Thanks, ladies. We are all maidens between 17 and 19 and a half. 😆. I don't what to marry her . But son, she has two huge big beautiful ( tracts of land ) . . They ran out of Money for the horses. The movie was going to not get made , but George Harrison from the beatles stepped in . And he funded the next two . ( he was a fan of the show , and script)
Thank you for this reaction - brought back memories. I remember seeing this as a teenager in the theaters moons ago, and I enjoyed it but truthfully, some bits went "over my head." The subsequent times I saw it, I got more and more of the jokes and sometimes it felt like as if I was watching that part for the first time. For example when I finally got that the taunting French soldier referring them as "kniggets," it was actually poking fun at the English language by pronouncing the silent "k" in knight. And over time, during my 3rd or 4th viewing, I heard the prince who fell from the tower @ 18:53 say the sacred word "Ni" before hitting the ground. . . . maybe that's what saved him? Anyway, I hope you find some additional nuggets in your subsequent viewings. Thanks again.
