King Arthur and his faithful, coconut-clacking servant Patsy are “riding” through England, gathering knights to populate Arthur’s round table in the goodly kingdom of Camelot.
Why aren’t they really on horseback? Well, horses are expensive. And you have to actually learn to ride one. Besides, coconuts sound great. So with each step along their journey, Patsy bangs them together.
Anyway, the king and his servant are trying to convince locals he passes that he is their God-appointed king. I mean, the Lady in the Lake gave him the sword Excalibur after all.
That, however, isn’t always immediately accepted by proletarian peasants.
“Listen, strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords is no basis for a system of government,” one such peasant opines. “Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.”
In any event, Arthur manages call a few good knights to his side—each galloping along with their own personal coconut-clackers. But then, before they get to the fabled Round Table, Arthur is given a quest from on high. The Almighty has determined that the knights will seek the “holy grail … a quest to make them an example in these dark times.”
And with a hearty “God be praised!, Arthur and his knights—Sir Bedevere the Wise; Sir Lancelot the Brave; Sir Gallahad the Pure; and Sir Robin the Not so Brave as Sir Lancelot—clackity clack forth across muddy ol’ England in search of the holy grail.
It could be said that Arthur and his knight are trying to fulfill a holy quest. Though, frankly, their efforts are all rather ambling and goofy.
The knights get their marching orders from an animated image of “God” that appears in the sky. This version of the Almighty, however, is rather impatient and grumpy, yelling at the knights for being hapless.
The knights find messages written in Aramaic that they declare were left by Joseph of Arimathea. They also exclaim “Praise God!” and mention “blessings from God” on several occasions.
We also see a number of animations that accompany the movie’s narration; each looking like the ornamental angelic artwork that first-century monks would draw in the margins of the Bible and holy texts. In this case, though, those animations lean toward the funny or ribald. Angelic trumpeters blow horns using their backsides, for instance. And an animated monk flips upside down, exposing his backside.
Monks read “scripture” that defines how to properly use a “holy hand grenade.”
There’s also a scene featuring a group of peasants who drag a woman to the authorities claiming she is a witch. They claim she must be burned, though the woman is clearly just a put-upon woman from their village.
There are also a number of scenes that feature magic-casters and strange disappearing soothsayers. In one instance, for example, a character named Tim the Enchanter casts fiery explosions and blasts of flame that light up a hillside and set a tree on fire. A soothsayer also points the knights toward dark magical locations such as the Gorge of Eternal Peril and the Bridge of Death.
In the decades since this film’s release, many commentators have suggested that beneath the story’s ridiculous gags is a subversive, satirical skewering of culture in the Middle Ages, much of which revolved around Catholicism and Christian imagery. That said, trying to mine a serious point of view on religion out of this movie’s nonstop inanity requires more effort than the vast majority of viewers are likely to invest in this silly story.
In one scene, Sir Galahad the Pure approaches a castle and sees a beacon display of the Holy Grail that he’s seeking hovering in the sky. However, he finds that castle is filled with “eight score of young blondes and brunettes, all between 16 and 19 and a half.” And they are each very eager to rid Galahad of his chastity.
Jokes fly about spankings and oral sex. When Galahad flees into one room, he finds it filled with young women dressed only in sheer shifts (some wet and nearly see through.)
Sir Lancelot rescues Galahad from his plight and Galahad accuses him of being gay. A father encourages his son to marry a wealthy man’s daughter, pointing to her “huge … tracts of land.”
All of the violence in this film is exaggerated and played for laughs. But we do see several scenes where knights battle with swords and some die with abundant splashes of stage blood. People are shot with arrows and stabbed with blades.
For instance, Arthur fights with a path-obstructing knight and systematically lops off the man’s arms and legs—the stubborn opponent shrugging each mortal wound off as merely a flesh wound.
In another instance, Lancelot hacks his way bloodily through a wedding party on his way to rescue an imprisoned maiden. Only to find that the prisoner is a sad prince.
Early on, we see the muddy and disease-ridden streets of an English town filled with the sick and dying. A gather of the dead drags his cart pile high with corpses. And one citizen carries his father over for disposal, even though the old man protests that he’s feeling quite well. That sets up a running joke of wounded people be killed while protesting their improving health that runs throughout the film.
Arthur and his knights are led to a cave guarded by a deadly, sharp-toothed beast that turns out to be a small white rabbit. The knights scoff until the rabbit leaps up, rips open a man’s throat and lops his head off. (Again with exaggerated spurts of stage blood.)
We see a man hanging high by a set of wrist irons. Knights in a castle attack Arthur by catapulting cows and other farm animals over the wall. A large “Trojan Rabbit” gets lobbed over the wall, too, to crash down on a man’s head.
A group of monks chant and bash themselves in the forehead with planks of wood. During a historical narration, we’re told that traveling minstrels are eaten by Arthur’s starving knights. (We see the animated singers pulled behind a bush for the meal.) The knights are also chased by a huge, animated monster after it gobbles up one of their group. But then the animator has a heart attack, and the beast disappears.
A song details wounds Sir Robin might willingly endure in battle: “He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp/Or to have his eyes gouged out and his elbows broken/To have his kneecaps split and his body burned away/And his limbs all hacked and mangled, brave Sir Robin.” This ode to Robin’s fortitude culminates with a reference to Robin’s male anatomy being added to the list. “That’s enough music for now, lads,” Robin says.
The cameras cut to a modern-day historian who shares some historical info before being attacked and killed by a charging knight on horseback. A couple people answer posed questions incorrectly and are tossed screaming into the Gorge of Eternal Peril.
There are two or three s-words on the dialogue mix, along with multiple uses each of “b–tard,” “b–ching,” and the British crudities “bloody and “buggering.” Other insults are tossed out, too. Such as: “You t-t!” and “Mankey Scot’s git.”
Jesus’ name is misused some three or four times.
Guests at a wedding party drink mugs of some beverage.
Arthur encounters French knights manning a castle who throw barbs and insults at him such as: “You don’t frighten us, English pig-dogs. Go and boil your bottoms, you sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you! I wave my private parts at your aunties.” We also hear, “I fart in your general direction.”
A frightened knight reports that he “soiled his armor.”
Monty Python and the Holy Grail wasn’t a huge award winner back in 1975. But it has been thought of as Academy Award-worthy for all the many goofy quotes that 12-year-old boys (and some older sorts) will giggle over, long after seeing it.
The fact is, this pic should never have gotten much attention, if you look at it from the perspective of its list of parts and pieces.
The story is rambling, disjointed and oh so inanely silly. Its production budget appears to be somewhere around $300 and a few stray bottle caps. Its costumes seem yanked out a college prop closet, and its effects pulled from somebody’s left over fireworks supply.
Despite all that, though, this is one of those films that many place at the top of their comedy-classics list. From coconut-carrying sparrows to supercilious insults to deadly killer rabbits, this pic is rife with goofy quips and the most incongruent visual gags you can imagine.
It’s quite simply a collection of silly, irreverent sketches. Which is exactly what made the TV comedy troupe Monty Python a must-watch for rib-tickled fans way back when.
But for those just venturing in to see Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the first time, now on its 50th anniversary, be forewarned: 12-year-old boys may love to quote it, but they may not be ready to actually see it.
The film is rated PG, but there’s a whole bunch of content rattling around in its muddy and irreverent scenes. There’s some off-color language amidst the snark, comically lopped off limbs (with buckets of stage blood), dozens of randy castle maidens (some in see-through shifts), sexual quips, and faith-focused lampooning here.
Sure, it’s all mitigated by a script with the mentality of a punch-drunk clown. But if you’re sensitive to any of those categories, this may not be the guffaw-worthy grail you’ve been seeking.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
