09-05-2025
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) review — moments of brilliance
The Pythons peaked as film-makers in 1979 with Life of Brian, a brief flowering of narrative storytelling for a troupe defined by sketch comedy. This earlier Arthurian spoof is somewhere in between.
There is ostensible dramatic coherence in the quest for the Grail by Graham Chapman's long-suffering King of the Britons. 'Ooooh king, very nice,' says a wonderfully grotty Michael Palin. 'How did you get that? By exploiting the workers!' But these are otherwise loosely related set pieces, held together by Terry Gilliam's animations and frequently punctuated by moments of brilliance.
The Knights Who Say 'Ni!' remains ridiculously funny. The Trojan Rabbit is a flawless sight gag. The irritable God (Chapman), depicted with the cartoon head of WG Grace, is an early preview of
