Monty Python

Monty Python, or The Pythons, is the collective name of the creators and stars of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show, started way back in 1969. I didn’t have a clue of who these guys are. On my recent visit to Mysore, one of my ol’ pals Prajwal gave me these 2 movies made by the pythons’ in the 70’s and promised me a good laugh. Knowin’ him for some time, I knew what kind of humour the movie had, only not exactly!!

The first one I watched was The Holy Grail.

This film is based on the King Arthur’s quest for the Holy Grail. It begins with these credits like any other movie, but very different. It has proper names at the top, but the below credit lines speak some very funny, strange, non-english lines which doesn’t make any sense. They apologise for the fault in the sub-titles only to goof up again. Read it..

We apologise for the fault in thesubtitles. Those responsible have beensacked.

Mynd you, m?bites Kan be pretty nasti...

We apologise again for the fault in thesubtitles. Those responsible for sackingthe people who have just been sacked,have been sacked.

The story begins with King Arthur (Graham Chapman) recruiting Knights of the Round Table throughout England. He is initially frustrated at his recruiting attempts several times eventually, he is joined by Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Galahad called both the Chaste and the Pure Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot ,and the aptly named Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film (they show a baby dressed as a knight in a frame..)

Once assembled, the knights receive a quest from an animated version of God to find the Holy Grail. In their search, they encounter the perils of Castle Anthrax ,the Knights who say Ni (these guys really cracked me up!), a killer rabbit , and a gigantic cartoon monster, The Legendary Black Beast of Aaaargh. (They are saved when the animator suffers a fatal heart attack.) This reminded me of the joke that Chandler cracks in FRIENDS, that he doesn’t want to cry just because the cartoonist stopped drawing!! (when ‘Bambi’ dies).

The best part of the movies is when Arthur is at the bridge of death along with his accomplices. They are at this bridge guarded by this witch, whose 3 questions have to be answered to allow them to cross. This is what happens…

BRIDGEKEEPER: Stop! Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.
LAUNCELOT: Ask me the questions, bridgekeeper. I am not afraid.
BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is your name?
LAUNCELOT: My name is 'Sir Launcelot of Camelot'.
BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is your quest?
LAUNCELOT: To seek the Holy Grail.
BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is your favorite color?
LAUNCELOT: Blue.
BRIDGEKEEPER: Right. Off you go.
LAUNCELOT: Oh, thank you. Thank you very much.
ROBIN: That's easy!
BRIDGEKEEPER: Stop! Who approacheth the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.
ROBIN: Ask me the questions, bridgekeeper. I'm not afraid.
BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is your name?
ROBIN: 'Sir Robin of Camelot'.
BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is your quest?
ROBIN: To seek the Holy Grail.
BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is the capital of Assyria?
[pause]
ROBIN: I don't know that! Auuuuuuuugh!
BRIDGEKEEPER: Stop! What... is your name?
GALAHAD: 'Sir Galahad of Camelot'.
BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is your quest?
GALAHAD: I seek the Grail.
BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is your favourite color?
GALAHAD: Blue. No, yel-- auuuuuuuugh!
BRIDGEKEEPER: Hee hee heh. Stop! What... is your name?
ARTHUR: It is 'Arthur', King of the Britons.
BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is your quest?
ARTHUR: To seek the Holy Grail.
BRIDGEKEEPER: What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
ARTHUR: What do you mean? An African or European swallow?
BRIDGEKEEPER: Huh? I-- I don't know that. Auuuuuuuugh!
BEDEVERE: How do know so much about swallows?
ARTHUR: Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.

The film ends abruptly when a group of police from the 1970s interrupt the climactic battle scene to arrest Sir Lancelot for the murder of a "famous historian" very much like him earlier in the film. The Grail presumably is left in the hands of the Frenchmen in Castle Aaaargh…….

Amazingly the film was shot with a budget of $300,000 only, and even more amazingly, money was raised in part with donations from rock groups such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Worth a cause….

Now, the second one was Life of Brian.

Brian is born in the stable a few doors down from the one in which Jesus was born (a fact which initially confuses the three wise men come to praise him, as they must instead put up with his boorish mother Mandy...this was simply hilarious at the least). He grows up to be an idealistic young man who resents the continuing Roman occupation of Judea. While attending the Sermon on the Mount he becomes infatuated with an attractive young rebel, who persuades him to join one of the many fractious and bickering separatist movements plotting to strike at the Roman occupiers. His first assignment as a rebel is an attempt at scrawling some graffiti on the wall of the governor's palace. This succeeds beyond his wildest dreams when he is caught by a passing Roman guard who, in disgust at Brian's use of improper Latin grammar, reacts in a manner resembling that of an old-fasioned English grammar school teacher and forces him to copy out the 'correct' message one hundred times as 'punishment'. He ends up adorning the whole palace with his 'punishment'..this is worth a watch..

Unfortunately, a failed raid on the palace, a resulting series of unfortunate coincidences, and some meaningless babble recited as an attempt to avoid the Roman guards, leads a small army of people to come to regard Brian as the Messiah. Despite his best efforts to (a) convince people that this isn't the case and (b) try and use his influence to get people to embrace their individuality and not rely on authority figures (advice which is merely parrotted unthinkingly back at him), he is arrested, sentenced to death, crucified, and abandoned by anyone who could possibly help him. Still, got to "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

The scene in which Brian tries to drive away his ‘followers’ with his speech from the window is pretty interseting and funny.

Brian: 'Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't NEED to follow ME, you don't NEED to follow ANYBODY! You've got to think for yourselves! You're ALL individuals!'
The Crowd: 'Yes! We're all individuals!'
Brian: 'You're all different!'
The Crowd: 'Yes, we ARE all different!'
Man in crowd: 'I'm not...'
The Crowd: 'Shhhh!'

The song at the end of the movie, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" is too gud and pretty true, with which eventually the movie ends with the crucified prisoners singing.

Cheer up, Brian. You know what they say.
Some things in life are bad.
They can really make you mad.
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle,
Don't grumble. Give a whistle.
And this'll help things turn out for the best.
And...
Always look on the bright side of life.

If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten,
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle. That's the thing.
And...
Always look on the bright side of life.

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin.
Give the audience a grin

Enjoy it. It's your last chance, anyhow.
So,...
Always look on the bright side of death,
Just before you draw your terminal breath.

Life's a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life's a laugh and death's a joke. It's true.
You'll see it's all a show.
Keep 'em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.
And...

I read somewheer that, ironically, this song was later re-released with great success, after being sung by British football fans. The increase in popularity, though, became evident in 1982 during the Falklands War when British sailors, injured in an Argentine attack, started singing it. Indeed, many people have come to see the song as a life-affirming ode to optimism.

Another interesting thing I read that the producer of the movie was George Harrison(ex-beatle). He especilally created “Handmade Films” just to produce this movie. George & many Brits apparently believed that The Pythons were the answer to Beatles in Comedy!!!

I heard there is one more to the series..The Meaning of Life. Prajwal willin’ I hope to complete the trilogy..