Monty Python and The Holy Grail
Okay, this one was kind of a gimmie. Everyone knows I love this film, although that was not always the case. In fact, I think I first saw the movie when I was 13 or 14, and I didn't like it much the first time I saw it. Here's how my first viewing came about. I was at Vacation Bible School, and that year we were doing yard work for shut-ins. To pass the time as we all worked, of course we carried on conversations. These older youth kept talking about the movie and quoting things. Now remember, I didn't know much about movies at this time in my life. I simply saw the latest blockbusters and the older movies my dad owned. This was not one of those movies. Well, I finally got around to borrowing the movie a few weeks later... and I thought it was the stupidest thing I'd ever seen. I only chuckled a few times, and I don't even think I made it to the end. Luckily, I decided to give the movie another try the next year... and something clicked this time. I "got" it.
Now, British humor can be hard to get at first if you've been raised simply on American humor. I still have friends that hate Monty Python stuff. I don't know what changed between the first and second time I watched the film. Maybe my expectations weren't there the second time? Perhaps I was feeling like being an asshole the first time? Who knows. The point is that the movie quickly became one of my favorites, and opened my eyes to another type of humor.
Anyone who knows me knows that I quote up a storm. I can find a movie quote for just about any situation. This is one of the most quotable movies in existence. Even people who haven't seen the movie in twenty-odd years can quote something from this one. And some of us know all the words to...
My favorite parts are the guy clapping along in the dungeon and the line after the song.
But I digress. This movie paved the way for Terry Gilliam to become one of the best directors out there. He co-directed this (mainly the animated sequences) along with Terry Jones. Gilliam would go on to direct films like Time Bandits, Brazil, and 12 Monkeys. The English humor would continue to permeate the world and give us the likes of Spaced, Shaun of The Dead, The Full Monty, and Mr. Bean. English humor is all about the absurd, whereas American humor is focused on word-play and slapstick. I enjoy both types, but I will admit that the English films are quite better.
So why this film, besides opening my eyes to British humor? Well, it was a defining point in my life. It was around this time that I started to get into film more, and this opened me up to British film, which besides James Bond, which I got into about a year before this, was really my only brush with their films. And in an odd twist of fate, one of the members of Monty Python would end up being in two Bond films just a year or two later!
I'm sorry if this installment isn't as great as the last two. It's hard to explain comedy to someone. Although I think anyone who's seen the film knows why it's on here. It IS an important film (even if I do prefer The Meaning of Life to this one nowdays.)
No comments:
Post a Comment