LOLLL never had so many comments get held for review due to ppl using the French dude's insults, best thing ever 🤣🤣🤣 Lots of jokes had to be cut for this edit. What's your fav that didn't make the cut? COMEDY Playlist: ua-cam.com/play/PLQHhQlj8i5dom33r48W9VdQjINncfXrLh.html BLAZING SADDLES: ua-cam.com/video/NwlCJBy5r88/v-deo.html PRINCESS BRIDE: ua-cam.com/video/JTjKaayFCJ8/v-deo.html
The long pause when the peasants can't figure out Sir Bedevere's question. You can see Eric Idle bite his scythe to keep from laughing. The more you watch (do look up Flying Circus 👍) the more you will notice the Pythons 'corpsing' (trying not to laugh) in scenes.
A great reaction, Jen, I knew that you'd appreciate the humour, not everyone gets it the first time around. My favourite French taunt is, "I fart in your general direction", my favourite scene is 'The Black Knight' "It's just a flesh wound". 😅😂
Note please that the police arrested the _wrong guys._ Arthur and his knights are innocent of the murder of the famous historian. How do we know that? Because the real murderer *_rode a horse!_*
One of my favorite "easter eggs" in this film that really isn't one is that The Black Knight is played by David Prowse who reprised his role of a "Black Knight" a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.
@@scouseofhorror104 It wasn’t until years after my first watch that I learned that “It’s a fair cop” means “Okay, you caught me.” Completely changed the whole scene.
I believe they said in a interview that they didn't use horses because they were too expensive to use and they would have had to learn to ride them, so they came up with the coconuts. Also the theory in my opinion is that none of the Knights of the Roundtable could have killed the historian because of the fact that the knight that killed him was riding a horse,
Also, if you look closely, the killer had different heraldry than the others. A sort of light blue figure possibly a lion rampant, but it passes too quickly to get a good look at.
The ironic thing is that the Monty Python's Flying Circus TV show was so popular and people so accustomed to its style of humor that the most surprising thing about Monty Python and the Holy Grail was how relatively structured it was.
@@jenmurrayxoomeone’s already mentioned it, but I have to just in case since you said you liked it and are watching Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys soon. A short fun fact,not only did he direct half of the film with the other Terry, Terry Jones, like the tv show the Python’s did, he also provided and made the animation sequences.
Also hard to edit because the audio from many of the sketches was made into an album(s?) and it'll throw up copyright blocks like popular music will in a soundtrack.
I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon at Doune Castle in Scotland where much of this was filmed reenacting scenes. Unfortunately, the East Wall was in such disrepair that we couldn't taunt each other. I was taking a picture from the taunting spot when someone came up and said he would watch for flying cows.
I want to take a moment to admire the performance of the actress who played the “Old Crone” in the shrubbery scene. She played it completely straight, which made it perfectly hilarious. Wonderful job, madam.
This movie has it all. True love, adventure, monsters, wizards, farm animals, sword fighting, witch hunting, the Plague, European Swallows, and police chases.
I was in high school when this came out - my friends and I thought it might have been the funniest thing we'd ever seen. Monty Python's Flying Circus was our favorite television show. My grandmother had almost no sense of humor, and no appreciation at all for absurdity. My cousin was visiting her, and Grandma wanted to watch TV. She thumbed through the TV Guide - said she was looking for something they would enjoy, meaning something she would enjoy. My cousin sighed and prepared herself for something deadly boring. Grandma turned on the TV and changed the channel, and after a few seconds, the opening skit of an episode of Monty Python started. My cousin was thinking that she might have misjudged Grandma as they watched the opening credits, and then the first bit of the regular episode started. About a minute into that skit, Grandma announced indignantly, "This isn't the circus!" and changed the channel again to something boring.
Jen, since you are enjoying the Monty Python troupe and their movies, you will love "A Fish Called Wanda" with John Cleese and Michael Palin. Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline (in an Oscar winning part) also have memorable roles in this hilarious British spoof.
The "Father smelt of elderberries" was a double insult back in the middle ages peasants who were to poor to afford grapes for wine they would make it out of elderberries so he was calling him broke and drunk
@@jenmurrayxo Not true, sadly. It's just typical Monty Python silliness, like "empty-headed animal food trough wiper", "illegitimate-faced bugger folk", "wiper of other people's bottoms", etc.
@@ftumschk Monty Python silliness; true. Not a real insult and only made up by them: possibly false. In fact, elderberries were used in the middle ages to make "poor man's wine", as they were more readily accessible than grapes in Britain. After looking through about 2 dozen websites about this phrase, I could not find any verified entimological evidence, however I did find reference to the origins of elderberry wine on a gardening website which would imply that it was a peasant drink and provided a cheap drunk. "I fart in your general direction", yelled from atop a castle wall, has a direct historical origin related to a specific incident after the Norman conquest, which is far too long for me to explain here but is not hard to look up.
You seem like you'll be a natural Monty Python fan. I've watched other people react to this and seem really weirded out by all the random and meta humor. But you just naturally get it. Nice reaction. :D
I never noticed this, but the guy who killed the historian was on a real horse, while ALL of King Arthur's men were riding imaginary horses. So, they weren't actually involved in the murder... some other random guy did it, who just happened to be dressed as a knight.
@@e.d.2096 No, I did it ages ago, Eric, about six months, it's looked like that to me since I changed it, has it only just started showing up recently?
I showed this film to my wife and she was utterly stupefied. We went to the local dinner theater when Spamalot (which is basically the Pythons’ musical adaptation of this film) was playing and she couldn’t stop laughing. The more frequent song and dance numbers made the difference 😂🤦🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️😂
😄👍 If you enjoyed this, then another Terry Gilliam movie you'll probably enjoy even more is "Time Bandits" (1981) because it has Sean Connery in it (❗)
I love Terry Gilliam's movies & this is the movie where he learnt about directing (he & Terry Jones co-directed), so all the shots with great lighting & mists are him. Also, of the 6 memebers of Python, Terry Gilliam is the only american, he first joined to do the animation (between skits on the TV show), but then joined as an actor in later seasons of the TV show. After the TV show finished, they started doing movies, this being the first one. They could only get permission to film in one castle, so all the castles in the movie are the one castle filmed in different angles (except for Camelot, which is, indeed, on a model, well, a cardboard cut out). And of course, the cocoa nuts were because they couldn't afford horses, but are now absolutely iconic!
Saw this in the theater on opening day. Everyone was handed a coconut on the way in. We all assumed it was just some random Python thing until Arthur rode over the hill, then we all started "galloping" along using our coconuts on the armrests. 😂
I love your ability to appreciate the brilliance and fun behind the movies I grew up watching. "Holy Grail" was very well known and widely quoted in "nerd" circles when I was a kid. Normies either never saw it or pretended they didn't know what you were talking about, but it slowly caught on with the wider public over the years. I found it baffling and fascinating as a youngster, but the ending always seemed too abrupt and left me wanting a more satisfying conclusion... but it's grown on me over time. These days, I appreciate Monty Python's approach to addressing the absurdities of society and life more than ever. Their penchant for breaking out in spontaneous song or senseless, bloody violence, without warning, never fails to bring a grin to my face.
"I'll be watching 12 Monkeys soon, which is also Terry Gilliam?" That's a great movie and you're about to meet a great director. Most of his oeuvere is flat-out amazing, his worst movie is still good. You're going to get a lot of suggestions for which one to see next, but make sure you do see the "Dream Trilogy" - "Time Bandits" "Brazil" and "Baron Munchausen" - in that order. Time Bandits is about the dreams of children, Brazil about the dreams of youth, and Baron M about the dreams of the elderly. "Brazil" is probably his most iconic movie. "Baron Munchausen" though is my personal favorite. Another one I want to mention that everyone seems to overlook is "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" featuring Heath Ledger's last performance, and tribute cameos by his friends, Jude Law, Colin Farrel, and Johnny Depp.
Another Monty Python film that I really enjoy is The Meaning of Life (1983) because it has so many quotable bits and a particularly memorable, large-cast, musical number. Also, The Life of Brian (1979) is a fan favorite, has an interesting story about who funded the film, and was so controversial that it was banned in some countries when it was released.
It's still banned from the cinema in my town apparently (Newbury, Berkshire UK) They've never got round to lifting the ban imposed when the film came out here !
In terms of meta, the DVD version I have includes a menu option "menu for the hard of hearing". If you press that button, a voice shouts the menu buttons at you. There's also an option for "subtitles for people who don't like the film" which claim to be the script to Henry IV part A, but aren't. They're kind of a Shakespearean riff on the actual dialogue of the film.
I think a lot of people missed it; the animator that had heart attack was the same guy who played the old man in Scene 54 and The Bridgekeeper. Pretty sure it was Terry Gilliam, who I believe was the only American member of Python. Terry was an artist and animator first and comedian actor second. He was good at all of it. I think 95% of all Pythons animations were done by Gilliam, at least until later, when they became much more profitable, the it is likely Gilliam got some additional help in the animation department. I think everybody in this film played between 10 and 15 different characters, that included Gilliam.
I do absolutely love the wheeze warning at the start of the comedy reactions Jen 😂 no horses were harmed in the making of this film! Jen, PLEASE, PLEASE, P L E A S E ! More Monty Python! (It's Just a Scratch...Come On You Pansy!😅) thank you Jen, this REALLY made my day!....Eric
@@Adam_Le-Roi_Davis. Hi Adam, I'm sorry I was busy with something else. I am so happy that Jen is reacting to Monty Python! Quick question, have you ever met any of the troupe?
Jen, I am a Pythoner from way, way back and this is one of my favorite films. You really need to watch the film multiple times to see "everything" and you'll still probably miss something that another fan points out to you years later. I am glad that you realized that as you were watching. :-) Having seen this film, you now need to treat yourself to the television show where it all began: _'Monty Python's Flying Circus.'_ ...and now, the Larch!
@@mikejankowski6321 "A man with three buttocks." "We did that already." "A man with nine legs." "He's run off." "Oh, bloody hell...a Scotsman on a horse!"
In the TV series, Cleese played the part of Dennis More, a highwayman who raided the Lupin Express. His horse was called Concorde. Hence Launcelot's squire's name. In one iteration of the script, they found the Holy Grail in Harrod's.
Anyone else feel like drinking a shot any time Jen sings? I’ve seen most of her videos and you get several in each. This one has 21. We would’ve been killed. 😂
End credits weren't really a common thing until the late '70s. Before that, most movies had the credits at the beginning... and they weren't nearly as long. It's only after they started crediting every single person who worked on the picture that they moved the credits to the end.
Wasn’t Star Wars the first movie to skip all credits at the beginning? George Lucas paid a fine to the Directors Guild of America and the resigned from the union.
loved the occasional British accent mixed in with the grandpa wheezes 😂 "strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government" that ehole scene is hilarious 😂
Totally rad reaction Jen!!!! I've lost count of how many times I've watched this movie and it never gets old. It's so freakin' awesome that you mixed in the accent with your wheezes, it really added to the reaction. "Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?" is my favorite line 😂 John Cleese couldn't remember the name of his character and came up with the name Tim on the spot......so we get Tim the Enchanter (one of my favorite scenes)! Also, ending is a literal "cop out"!! Your reactions never fail to be entertaining and fun, keep up the great work!!! Many blessings to you and yours.
I hoped beyond hope that the music would get an award, and, as usual, you didn't disappoint. Great reaction, btw. Of note is that the only horse in the movie was ridden by the knight who slew the historian.
They didn’t have enough money for horses, so they had to improvise, and all of the castles are the same castle in Scotland just filmed from different sides. Also, when John Cleese said the name “Tim”, it was originally a different, longer name, but he had trouble remembering it, then said, “Tim” during a take, and everyone liked it so they kept it in. Also also, Terry Gilliam did all of the animations for the movies and their TV show.
The decision for having coconut-shell clopping serfs instead of horses was decided at an early stage simply because it was silly, not for budgetary reasons. (The Pythons were hugely influenced by The Goon Show on radio, where clopping coconut shells featured frequently.) Besides, few, if any, of the Pythons could ride horses, and it would have been more expensive to hire actors/extras to play the horses than to have real ones. Not only that, but coconut jokes run throughout the film, and the "Concord" scene would only have worked if Eric Idle was playing the "horse".
@@LordVolkov Exactly. The Pythons were into creating the funniest, silliest jokes they could, and men clopping coconut shells together meets that description perfectly. It was so clearly a deliberate choice, not for budget reasons, but simply because it looks ridiculous and it's as funny as hell.
@@ftumschk, literally every member of Monty Python, as well as members of the crew, have said that it was because of budgetary reasons for them not having horses, and that they had to come up with something else.
@@sithlordkaeyl21 Actors love nothing more than regurgitating an entertaining anecdote, even if they're not true. The fact is that the clopping coconut "horses" were in the earliest versions of script, long before the budget was decided. Furthermore, references to coconuts (and/or swallows) run all the way through the film, and there are scenes requiring one or other of the knights to talk to their "horses" and for the "horse" to talk back. There is NO WAY that those scenes were last-minute additions, as they're so intrinsic to the script, and take up many minutes of screen-time. As for "literally" every member of the Pythons saying otherwise, Terry Jones, who was "literally" the director and co-scriptwriter, said NOTHING about ditching the idea of having real horses due to budgetary, or any other, constraints. In the official "biography" of the Pythons ("Monty Python Speaks"), Jones said quite clearly, that Michael Palin came up with the coconuts idea in an early brainstorming session.
22:45 "That guy cracks me up, that keeps lifting up his thing. He can _see_ through it. He doesn't _have_ to lift it up." Actually, he can't. Take a closer look. That visor has a couple vertical slats that _just_ happen to fall over his eyes when it's down. So, like, in the heat of combat, it can protect his face from _swinging_ blows, but not _stabbing_ blows, and it impedes his vision. That's one of the movie's subtler jokes.
It's not just the ending that's reminiscent of Blazing Saddles. Both films also have the joke about a sentence ending with a bogus interjection ("Tell them I said . . . OW!").
Feel better soon, Jen. Okay, here goes. Re : "Bring out your dead." Yup, 'death carts' were an actual thing during times of plague. There were simply too many victims to bury, and not enough able-bodied men to do it. Remember 2020's "refrigerated morgue trucks?" Same concept. 😢 Re: "Coconuts and invisible horses." So iconic that if you visit that castle today, the guy who runs the gift shop will happily go outside and film you prancing around banging coconuts, which he provides. 🥥 🐦 🤺 🏇 🐴 All of the animation sequences done by Terry Gilliam, - the only American Python. (Although he lives in England.) Re: Carol Cleveland, "the Witch, Zoot, etc." Happy to report she is still alive today and any attempts to burn her at the stake have been unsuccessful. The script was written by Terry Jones, who majored in medieval history and literature at Oxford. Believe it or not, all of the most outrageous scenes in the movie were lifted right out of the old chronicles, especially the 12th century Geoffrey of Monmouth. (But scholars have long realized that he had a VERY fanciful imagination.) 😏 The Ballad of Sir Robin - and all of the other hilarious Python songs - were written by Eric Idle and Neil Innes, - Sir Robin and his minstrel. They were the Lennon-McCartney of Python. 🎶🎵
1. Great sense of humor 2. I enjoy the way you get right to the movie without delay 3. I like when you show screenshots of other related movies that you've seen 4. I love that there a still a ton of movies that you likely haven't seen yet. Also, you have a great ear for composers and an eye for actors that have been in other movies. Also, also, it's nice to see your true sensitivity to horror. So many people are desensitized, like myself, stay gold. Very fun to watch. Looking forward to seeing more reactions. Great channel.
Jen, I love this movie. You probably didn't notice the size of the creek the bridge went over that King Arthur fought the black knight over. Probably 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep. He didn't even need to use the bridge. Also, Brave Sir Robin had a picture of a chicken on his tunic. There's all kinds of little things throughout this movie that you'll pick up with repeated viewings. Also, the Python guys all did many different roles. Another cult movie you have to check out is Harold and Maude, a kind of a black comedy, love story with music by Cat Stevens. For the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3rd, you need to watch a racehorse movie, like Seabiscuit. It's a wonderful true story that I promise you'll love. Promise.
Okay so my mom is one of the sweetest human beings on the planet, and Ashleigh Burton is a pretty chill reviewer also on UA-cam, and at THAT ending, I'm not sure who took it worse. In the case of my mother I knew _vaguely_ that she knew that kind of language but I'd never heard so MUCH of it! Then again, when _I_ first saw it I swore in Gaelic, Russian and KLINGON. And I don't even KNOW Russian!
I learned so many of the lines from this film from my older sibling's college theater friends and finally got to watch a showing by the residence hall council in a dormitory basement at midnight when I went away for uni...it was quite fun! 🥳 Great to see you reading the silly subtitles at the beginning - it can be hard to read without pausing. Fun Film Industry Fact: Credits used to be at the beginning and the trailers at the end - the trailers (called such because they were taped in place at the end of the movie reel by the projectionists) were equivalent to today's previews and included teasers for serial (weekly) films as well as the full-length features. I can't recall when the switch was made, but it happened and now we have previews and end credits instead. Opening credits are still there, but the content is only a portion of the films production.
The Animator, Terry Gilliam, is the guy who defected films such as 12 Monkeys, The Fisher King, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Time Bandits, Brazil, Zero Theorem, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and much more. He was an awesome animator, and one of my favorite directors
The animator who keels over with a heart attack is actually Terry Gilliam. He did all the animations in the Monty Python TV show (Monty Python's Flying Circus) as well as in this movie. He also played Patsy, King Arthur's trusty "horse".
My favorite is during the witch questions. "What, aside from witches, floats on water"? There's a guy in the back says "churches". I always wonder if that's a historical reference. Some churches that float upon water.
A medieval history expert on UA-cam watched this movie and gave it pretty high marks for accurate depictions of several things. But not the coconuts, of course!
The best Easter egg in the game Dragon's Crown for me was the killer rabbit as a boss monster 😂 You literally come into a room with an enormous pile of bones. And then this little bunny drops down and wrecks your day. 😂
It's not just the jokes in this movie. Most people are too young to get how much they pranked the audience in the theater with this film. Remember, this came out when films were actually made of film and some movies had actually had intermissions and all movies had credits at the end. So when the intermission sign came up and the somewhat typical intermission music started, people got up to go take a break but it's just there long enough to let them stand up and then feel foolish when it restarted. Then at the end it looks like the film broke. That happened occasionally so you'd wait for them to repair it and restart. And the intermission music started up again so you had a queue that they knew it was broken and were working on it. So you wait.... and wait.... and wait. Everyone starts looking at each other with that "I think it's over but I don't want to walk out first" look until someone finally gets up and they all realize that's actually the end of the movie.
11:55 *me wheezing* 😁 Yes, more Python, Jen, or I shall say Ni to you! Life of Brian is amazing and I can’t wait to see your reaction! Also, a kinda-sorta Pythony recommendation would be A Fish Called Wanda (it’s got John Cleese and Michael Palin in). As for the music in Holy Grail, originally the soundtrack was going to be more medieval and folksy (and written by Neil Innes, Sir Robin’s minstrel), but the Pythons decided after it was all written that they’d prefer something more epic and orchestral, so they went to De Wolfe Music and made the whole soundtrack from pre-existing library pieces. Anyway, yes, on to 12 Monkeys now! One of my all-time favourites 🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒
Time to meet Tim the enchanter!! He spits when he talks! Beware of the beast that guards the cave, There is also a beast inside the cave, the black beast! What is your name, what is your quest, what is your favorite color! No love they did not murder the historian. The murder was on a horse!! I glad you enjoyed it. Silly equals Monty Python!!!!
So many things I love about this movie: the recurring swallow joke especially when Bedevere is trying to tie the coconut to the swallow, Arthur continually confusing 5 for 3, Bedevere having difficulty correctly pronouncing "Ni", the fourth wall breaks throughout, the fact that whoever killed the historian couldn't have possibly been any of Arthur's grail-seekers because he rode by on a real live horse, etc. Favorite bit: the guards who can't quite get a handle on their instructions, which comes back as Lancelot storms in Favorite MP movie: Some might say it's a pass but I love And Now For Something Completely Different specifically because it's so disjointed and nonsensical Hope the next one you check out is The Meaning of Life
My first time seeing this film, I was around 8. I had just had a bad accident on my bike and just made it home crying my eyes out and spitting blood. After my grandma put ice on my hands, elbows, knees, and mouth, my step-uncle at the time made me chocolate pudding and put this on. As soon as I saw Arthur on his "horse" I forgot my pain cause I was laughing so much and never really stopped. Laughter truly is the best medicine!
This is classic comedy. So many quotable lines. If ever you want to watch a serious movie about King Arthur there's "Excalibur" (1981). It stars very young versions of Liam Neeson, Helen Mirren and Patrick Stewart. No fake horses though. Terry Jones' first movie was a fantasy called "Jabberwocky" (1977). No one has ever reacted to it but I think it's underrated.
I'm actually impressed at how many of the jokes and gags you did catch. Most reactors miss a lot more. I do wish that reactors would familiarize themselves with Monty Python's Flying Circus to at least a small degree before watching these movies though. There'd be a lot less confusion about certain things all around.
@@jenmurrayxo That is the correct way to absorb any art form. The black-slate mind is best. Most artists make their creations for a brand new audience rather than the fan. Just as the church is for the sinner, not the saint...
@Runaway Mindtrain That may be one school of thought, but not the only one. When this movie came out, almost anyone likely to see it would have been familiar with the show. It was incredibly popular with the British public and the vast majority of college age Americans. There's a reason nearly every English dictionary has an entry for Pythonesque. Saying you should go into any movie completely blind seems like a blanket policy rife with holes. Are you saying it's fine to watch Spaceballs without having ever seen Star Wars? Or watch Avengers: Endgame without seeing any other MCU film? Sure, the creators try to make sure you will enjoy it without context, but how much better are they when you have the proper frame of reference. I've seen many youtubers and friends watch Holy Grail that get so hung up trying to understand the style that they miss all the humor. I'm glad Jen didn't have a problem, but that's not always the case.
One of the jokes that always gets me, is the old lady that's beating dirt from a rug with a live cat. 🤣 All the films this group has done, tovether and apart, are great to watch.
The minstrel is Neil Innes, who worked with Eric Idle a lot. He was also part of the Bonzo Dog Band, which was a British surrealist band. The knight trying to rescue the "damsel" is John Cleese, you're right. The Los Angeles International Film Exposition started the US interest in Monty Python in 1974 with AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. The next year, they scheduled MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL and it was the first movie to sell out that year. A second screening was added, and it was the third movie to sell out. And at one of those screenings, Chevy Chase met Lorne Michaels while they were waiting in line. For me, it is still the only movie that made me laugh so hard that tears came to my eyes DURING THE OPENING CREDITS. Mind you, møøse bites can be pretti nasti...
5:30 The heraldic symbol on the black knights tunic is a wild boar which is a very fitting symbol as its an animal famous for ignoring lethal injuries and fighting on regardless of how badly hurt it is, it's that tenacious that in medieval times they developed a special spear for hunting wild boar, the aptly named Boar Spear had horizontal lugs just below the spearhead to stop an impaled boar from running up the length of the spear and continuing to attack.
I’ve owned some version of this movie (vhs, dvd, blu ray) since I first saw it age 12 and it remains near (or even at) the top of my favorite all time comedies. I love using the French insults irl
Delightful reaction. I'm glad the music was singled out for special mention. What always amazes me is that the bulk of the musical soundtrack was taken from stock library recordings, as they couldn't afford to hire a composer. Somehow they managed to find those dramatic orchestral clips that made the scenes on the lake feel almost epic.
I saw this in Paris at a theater in 1976 and about a quarter of the audience spoke English and rest were French- speaker. When the French guard (John Cleese) said “ fetchez la vache” the French people were completely confused, as “fetchez” is not a French word but the English speaker burst out laughing. Really great reaction to a classic film. Bravo!
00:30 Credits for all movies were at the beginning until Star Wars (1977). Lucas wanted the impact of the title "crawl" and didn't want all the credits at the beginning to lessen that impact. He got in trouble with the Director's Guild, which he then departed, and history was made. Now credits are at the end of movies.
That was indeed John Cleese as Sir Lancelot. He was also the "bring out your dead" guy trying to get rid of the old man, the Black Knight, the taunting Frenchman, Tim the Enchanter, and probably some other roles too. Almost all of the roles in this were handled by the same six Monty Python members, seven if you count Neil Innes (Robin's minstrel / the guy on whom the wooden rabbit landed).
Another great reaction, Jen! (Fun fact- on the DVD features, two of the surviving Python members go to Prince Herbert's castle and visit the gift shop and buy their own souvenir book 😅😂)
No one has ever bettered the Pythons humour and imagination , although many have tried, and no one will ever manage to reach that level of comic genius .EVER !!!!!!
I was there at the beginning! It spawned so many catch phrases at the time: 'It's just a scratch!' 'I've had worse!' ' 'It's only a model' and more that I don't remember now lol!
The sound effect of the arrow and 'message for you sir' was my actual incoming email notification sound for several years, even at work for a while. Very funny. btw, you mentioned Terry Gilliam, co-director, he was also responsible for all of the animation in the films and their TV series. He was the only American in the troupe.
The Black Knight to the Balrog: "None shall pass!" To me the funniest part is the "Famous Historian" could not have been killed by anyone of the characters. The killer was riding a real horse, not using coconuts. "what is the capital of Assyria?" Which one?? There were several.
It's amazing how many times this spontaneously appears in my everyday life. Just this last week I was with a new-ish group of friends when suddenly the cave with the deadly bunny and its message ending with "aaaaargh" came up, even though we'd not mentioned Monty Python before! 🤔 But maybe this is only true with writers and theater people.
Yup… my friends & I had scene after scene committed to memory which we would repeat ad infinitum. It never seemed to get old😂 Terry Gilliam was the American in Python and their brilliant animator. He went on to become an important director (12 Monkeys) but the best one for me is Brazil. Please don’t miss it! Another total game changer.
Jen, see if you can count how many times you see a cat getting hit against a wall, and pay attention to the scales with which they weighed the "witch". This is my favorite movie of all time. Glad you loved it.
I like how your editor reversed the scene where the animator died so he could be seen left of your bubble. My cousin was a projectionist in 1975 when this movie was shown in my home town. When the Knights Who Say "Ni" would come on...we would chant "Ni" along with them in the back of the auditorium. A 70's make-do surround sound. We had the advantage of having the album of the soundtrack of the movie before the movie appeared in my town. Being on the Autistic spectrum, Monty Python was a godsend.
Bedemere's visor is my favorite joke in this movie. He's so smart and logical, but the only thing that visor blocks is his vision with one bar running straight down in front of each eye. When I first saw this, I rented the video and sat through several minutes of that end before I thought back to the opening credits being all the credits. HISTORY THING: Back in the days of radio dramas, coconuts were used to make horse sounds, because there was no way to record real ones. After portable recording was a thing, they used recordings of actual horse beats, but audiences hated them, feeling that the coconut versions were better. "The Coconut Effect" describes those times that the "wrong" thing is more accepted than the "right thing". We see this in space movies where we can see stars slowly drift by at slower speeds, or when there's sound in space. The use of coconuts here was because they couldn't afford actual horses, but it does bring the old sound effect back full circle.
It's ironic because they get arrested for something they didnt do. The historian got murdered by someone on a real horse; something Arthur & pals didnt have.Probably by the French :P Also the ending is a *literal* cop-out.
LOLLL never had so many comments get held for review due to ppl using the French dude's insults, best thing ever 🤣🤣🤣
Lots of jokes had to be cut for this edit. What's your fav that didn't make the cut?
COMEDY Playlist: ua-cam.com/play/PLQHhQlj8i5dom33r48W9VdQjINncfXrLh.html
BLAZING SADDLES: ua-cam.com/video/NwlCJBy5r88/v-deo.html
PRINCESS BRIDE: ua-cam.com/video/JTjKaayFCJ8/v-deo.html
The long pause when the peasants can't figure out Sir Bedevere's question. You can see Eric Idle bite his scythe to keep from laughing.
The more you watch (do look up Flying Circus 👍) the more you will notice the Pythons 'corpsing' (trying not to laugh) in scenes.
Sorry to be a broken record Jen, but "Life of Brian " is a must! Please consider!
they didnt kill the old guy. The old guy was killed by someone on a horse, they dont have any horses
A great reaction, Jen, I knew that you'd appreciate the humour, not everyone gets it the first time around. My favourite French taunt is, "I fart in your general direction", my favourite scene is 'The Black Knight' "It's just a flesh wound". 😅😂
If Monty Python and the holy Grail was great, try, Monty python the meaning of life. It’s where a fat guy goes boom.
Note please that the police arrested the _wrong guys._ Arthur and his knights are innocent of the murder of the famous historian. How do we know that? Because the real murderer *_rode a horse!_*
The least noticed joke: The Ending is a literal "Cop Out"
One of my favorite "easter eggs" in this film that really isn't one is that The Black Knight is played by David Prowse who reprised his role of a "Black Knight" a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.
The five main takeaways from this film:
One. It's only a model.
Two. Ni!
Five. That rabbit is dynamite.
I'm so glad Jen caught the guard saying "....Hey...." So many reactors miss it....its so quiet and subtle but makes me lol every time.
And Connie Booth's "It's a fair cop" 😂
I feel like I'd be that guy in this movie 😂
I always thought that guard looked like Conan O'Brien
I can’t blame him for voicing some protest. Running up, and stabbing the other guard was a bit uncalled for.
@@scouseofhorror104 It wasn’t until years after my first watch that I learned that “It’s a fair cop” means “Okay, you caught me.” Completely changed the whole scene.
"She turned me into a newt"
"I got better"
😂
I like that it could mean that he either recuperated or has better false claims and the "wha" before the quote
I believe they said in a interview that they didn't use horses because they were too expensive to use and they would have had to learn to ride them, so they came up with the coconuts. Also the theory in my opinion is that none of the Knights of the Roundtable could have killed the historian because of the fact that the knight that killed him was riding a horse,
Also, if you look closely, the killer had different heraldry than the others. A sort of light blue figure possibly a lion rampant, but it passes too quickly to get a good look at.
They were framed. Didn't the shrubbery guy have a horse?
I bet it was those pesky French.
The ironic thing is that the Monty Python's Flying Circus TV show was so popular and people so accustomed to its style of humor that the most surprising thing about Monty Python and the Holy Grail was how relatively structured it was.
It's the perfect combination of sketch comedy and complete narrative. Has anything else combined those two types of structure as well as this has?
Hard to edit this movie since just about every scene contains somebodies favorite line.
Totally!!! 🐦🥥
No It Isn't !!!
and now you see the repression inherent in the system
@@jenmurrayxoomeone’s already mentioned it, but I have to just in case since you said you liked it and are watching Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys soon. A short fun fact,not only did he direct half of the film with the other Terry, Terry Jones, like the tv show the Python’s did, he also provided and made the animation sequences.
Also hard to edit because the audio from many of the sketches was made into an album(s?) and it'll throw up copyright blocks like popular music will in a soundtrack.
I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon at Doune Castle in Scotland where much of this was filmed reenacting scenes. Unfortunately, the East Wall was in such disrepair that we couldn't taunt each other. I was taking a picture from the taunting spot when someone came up and said he would watch for flying cows.
Lol at taunting
I have a photo of my friends standing guard at the castle gate, waiting for Lancelot to charge
They even have a pair of coconut husk halves you can rent to approach the castle properly...
I want to take a moment to admire the performance of the actress who played the “Old Crone” in the shrubbery scene. She played it completely straight, which made it perfectly hilarious. Wonderful job, madam.
Agreed. The fear in her eyes when saying "we have no shrubberies here" is great acting.
Bee Duffell - sadly she died before the film was released.
Bee Duffell, also with prominent roles in Fahrenheit 451 (1966) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967).
“Do you know where we can find a shrubbery?”
“Who sent you?!”
This movie has it all. True love, adventure, monsters, wizards, farm animals, sword fighting, witch hunting, the Plague, European Swallows, and police chases.
And Miracles! Don't forget the Miracles!
"Do you have any cheese at all?"
@@ggrarl "Now, i'm going to ask you that once more..."
I was in high school when this came out - my friends and I thought it might have been the funniest thing we'd ever seen. Monty Python's Flying Circus was our favorite television show.
My grandmother had almost no sense of humor, and no appreciation at all for absurdity. My cousin was visiting her, and Grandma wanted to watch TV. She thumbed through the TV Guide - said she was looking for something they would enjoy, meaning something she would enjoy. My cousin sighed and prepared herself for something deadly boring.
Grandma turned on the TV and changed the channel, and after a few seconds, the opening skit of an episode of Monty Python started. My cousin was thinking that she might have misjudged Grandma as they watched the opening credits, and then the first bit of the regular episode started.
About a minute into that skit, Grandma announced indignantly, "This isn't the circus!" and changed the channel again to something boring.
9:34 "Your mother was a _hamster_ and your father smelt of _elderberries!"_
Boy. No one taunts like the French.
Jen, since you are enjoying the Monty Python troupe and their movies, you will love "A Fish Called Wanda" with John Cleese and Michael Palin. Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline (in an Oscar winning part) also have memorable roles in this hilarious British spoof.
Agreed! and it is a HEIST movie!
@@randy7831 Randy! Don't say the word " heist " to loudly around Jen. She goes bananas 🍌
@@e.d.2096 don't I know it! 😂
Great shout! Comedy heist classic. 🐠
Yes a fish called Wanda. I've not seen a reaction to that one yet by anyone
I love seeing how YT reactors react to the ending. It is always silly fun.
"The Brits love their butt humor, eh?" The truest thing anyone's ever said about British humor.
The "Father smelt of elderberries" was a double insult back in the middle ages peasants who were to poor to afford grapes for wine they would make it out of elderberries so he was calling him broke and drunk
Oh good to know 😂👍
Also hamsters have lots of offspring so he was calling Arthur's mother a Ho.
@@jenmurrayxo Not true, sadly. It's just typical Monty Python silliness, like "empty-headed animal food trough wiper", "illegitimate-faced bugger folk", "wiper of other people's bottoms", etc.
@@ftumschk
Monty Python silliness; true.
Not a real insult and only made up by them: possibly false.
In fact, elderberries were used in the middle ages to make "poor man's wine", as they were more readily accessible than grapes in Britain.
After looking through about 2 dozen websites about this phrase, I could not find any verified entimological evidence, however I did find reference to the origins of elderberry wine on a gardening website which would imply that it was a peasant drink and provided a cheap drunk.
"I fart in your general direction", yelled from atop a castle wall, has a direct historical origin related to a specific incident after the Norman conquest, which is far too long for me to explain here but is not hard to look up.
On top of the fact that people in the Middle Ages were always middle-aged...
I remember my dad showing me this film when young and I couldn’t stop laughing. This film cracks me up LOL
Soooo good ☺️👍🐦🥥
So, in other words, a proper upbringing!
You seem like you'll be a natural Monty Python fan. I've watched other people react to this and seem really weirded out by all the random and meta humor. But you just naturally get it. Nice reaction. :D
I never noticed this, but the guy who killed the historian was on a real horse, while ALL of King Arthur's men were riding imaginary horses.
So, they weren't actually involved in the murder... some other random guy did it, who just happened to be dressed as a knight.
A good point. It never occurred to me and I've seen the film many times .Arthur was innocent .He must be freed immediately .
I can highly recommend 'The Life of Brian' as a great Monty Python film to react to, Jen.
I'm so glad that you enjoyed this and got the humour. 😊
Adam adding your middle name Le-Roi, was that for my benefit?
I have great friend in Rome called
@@jwn411 Yes, Jen, would definitely find that bit funny. 😁
@@e.d.2096 No, I did it ages ago, Eric, about six months, it's looked like that to me since I changed it, has it only just started showing up recently?
I showed this film to my wife and she was utterly stupefied. We went to the local dinner theater when Spamalot (which is basically the Pythons’ musical adaptation of this film) was playing and she couldn’t stop laughing. The more frequent song and dance numbers made the difference 😂🤦🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️😂
One of those movies where I've truly lost count of how many times I've rewatched it.
😄👍 If you enjoyed this, then another Terry Gilliam movie you'll probably enjoy even more is "Time Bandits" (1981) because it has Sean Connery in it (❗)
I love Terry Gilliam's movies & this is the movie where he learnt about directing (he & Terry Jones co-directed), so all the shots with great lighting & mists are him. Also, of the 6 memebers of Python, Terry Gilliam is the only american, he first joined to do the animation (between skits on the TV show), but then joined as an actor in later seasons of the TV show. After the TV show finished, they started doing movies, this being the first one. They could only get permission to film in one castle, so all the castles in the movie are the one castle filmed in different angles (except for Camelot, which is, indeed, on a model, well, a cardboard cut out). And of course, the cocoa nuts were because they couldn't afford horses, but are now absolutely iconic!
Saw this in the theater on opening day. Everyone was handed a coconut on the way in. We all assumed it was just some random Python thing until Arthur rode over the hill, then we all started "galloping" along using our coconuts on the armrests. 😂
You are so lucky! I hope you saved those coconuts! 🌴 🥥 🐎
Brilliant!
r/thathappened
Seems unlikely that a theater would hand you stuff that makes a bunch of noise. Not every viewer would want that.
And I thought 3D movies were great.
Terry Gilliam did all the animation. He was also the only American in the Monty Python comedy group.
I love your ability to appreciate the brilliance and fun behind the movies I grew up watching. "Holy Grail" was very well known and widely quoted in "nerd" circles when I was a kid. Normies either never saw it or pretended they didn't know what you were talking about, but it slowly caught on with the wider public over the years. I found it baffling and fascinating as a youngster, but the ending always seemed too abrupt and left me wanting a more satisfying conclusion... but it's grown on me over time. These days, I appreciate Monty Python's approach to addressing the absurdities of society and life more than ever. Their penchant for breaking out in spontaneous song or senseless, bloody violence, without warning, never fails to bring a grin to my face.
☺️👍🐦🥥
@@jenmurrayxo The ending is a literal "cop out".
"I'll be watching 12 Monkeys soon, which is also Terry Gilliam?"
That's a great movie and you're about to meet a great director. Most of his oeuvere is flat-out amazing, his worst movie is still good. You're going to get a lot of suggestions for which one to see next, but make sure you do see the "Dream Trilogy" - "Time Bandits" "Brazil" and "Baron Munchausen" - in that order. Time Bandits is about the dreams of children, Brazil about the dreams of youth, and Baron M about the dreams of the elderly. "Brazil" is probably his most iconic movie. "Baron Munchausen" though is my personal favorite.
Another one I want to mention that everyone seems to overlook is "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" featuring Heath Ledger's last performance, and tribute cameos by his friends, Jude Law, Colin Farrel, and Johnny Depp.
Yes, I'd definitely recommend watching them in the order they were made.
Agree with your Dream Trilogy suggestion ☝️👏
Another Monty Python film that I really enjoy is The Meaning of Life (1983) because it has so many quotable bits and a particularly memorable, large-cast, musical number. Also, The Life of Brian (1979) is a fan favorite, has an interesting story about who funded the film, and was so controversial that it was banned in some countries when it was released.
It's still banned from the cinema in my town apparently (Newbury, Berkshire UK) They've never got round to lifting the ban imposed when the film came out here !
In terms of meta, the DVD version I have includes a menu option "menu for the hard of hearing". If you press that button, a voice shouts the menu buttons at you.
There's also an option for "subtitles for people who don't like the film" which claim to be the script to Henry IV part A, but aren't. They're kind of a Shakespearean riff on the actual dialogue of the film.
Jen: I'm wondering how meta this is going to get.
Movie: Yes.
I think a lot of people missed it; the animator that had heart attack was the same guy who played the old man in Scene 54 and The Bridgekeeper. Pretty sure it was Terry Gilliam, who I believe was the only American member of Python. Terry was an artist and animator first and comedian actor second. He was good at all of it. I think 95% of all Pythons animations were done by Gilliam, at least until later, when they became much more profitable, the it is likely Gilliam got some additional help in the animation department.
I think everybody in this film played between 10 and 15 different characters, that included Gilliam.
A lot of older movies use to have the credits at the beginning but film crews were smaller back then.
I do absolutely love the wheeze warning at the start of the comedy reactions Jen 😂 no horses were harmed in the making of this film! Jen, PLEASE, PLEASE, P L E A S E ! More Monty Python! (It's Just a Scratch...Come On You Pansy!😅) thank you Jen, this REALLY made my day!....Eric
I'm so glad! Thanks Eric! ☺️👍🐦🥥
@@jenmurrayxo Jen, " Life Of Brian " is an absolute must! IMO even funnier than this film!
Hi Eric, I agree with you, 'The Life of Brian' is a must do for Jen to react to.
Agreed, "Life of Brian" is a must. Great reaction Jen!
@@Adam_Le-Roi_Davis. Hi Adam, I'm sorry I was busy with something else. I am so happy that Jen is reacting to Monty Python! Quick question, have you ever met any of the troupe?
Jen,
I am a Pythoner from way, way back and this is one of my favorite films.
You really need to watch the film multiple times to see "everything" and you'll still probably miss something that another fan points out to you years later. I am glad that you realized that as you were watching. :-)
Having seen this film, you now need to treat yourself to the television show where it all began: _'Monty Python's Flying Circus.'_
...and now, the Larch!
And now for something completely different.
@@mikejankowski6321 Yes. Of course, now that you say that, I am pining for the fjords.
@@mikejankowski6321 "A man with three buttocks." "We did that already." "A man with nine legs." "He's run off." "Oh, bloody hell...a Scotsman on a horse!"
... And now, On the Mouse Organ, "The Bells of St. Mary's".....
And now, a man with a tape recorder up his brother's nose...
In the TV series, Cleese played the part of Dennis More, a highwayman who raided the Lupin Express. His horse was called Concorde. Hence Launcelot's squire's name.
In one iteration of the script, they found the Holy Grail in Harrod's.
Anyone else feel like drinking a shot any time Jen sings? I’ve seen most of her videos and you get several in each. This one has 21. We would’ve been killed. 😂
😂🥂
@@jenmurrayxo You’re a musician, aren’t you? Clarinet?
Love your videos.
End credits weren't really a common thing until the late '70s. Before that, most movies had the credits at the beginning... and they weren't nearly as long. It's only after they started crediting every single person who worked on the picture that they moved the credits to the end.
True, but at least a "The End" title card over the last shot or fade out, was a fairly standard thing. This one just stops. It's great.
Wasn’t Star Wars the first movie to skip all credits at the beginning? George Lucas paid a fine to the Directors Guild of America and the resigned from the union.
loved the occasional British accent mixed in with the grandpa wheezes 😂
"strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government" that ehole scene is hilarious 😂
Totally rad reaction Jen!!!!
I've lost count of how many times I've watched this movie and it never gets old.
It's so freakin' awesome that you mixed in the accent with your wheezes, it really added to the reaction.
"Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?" is my favorite line 😂
John Cleese couldn't remember the name of his character and came up with the name Tim on the spot......so we get Tim the Enchanter (one of my favorite scenes)!
Also, ending is a literal "cop out"!!
Your reactions never fail to be entertaining and fun, keep up the great work!!!
Many blessings to you and yours.
I hoped beyond hope that the music would get an award, and, as usual, you didn't disappoint. Great reaction, btw. Of note is that the only horse in the movie was ridden by the knight who slew the historian.
They didn’t have enough money for horses, so they had to improvise, and all of the castles are the same castle in Scotland just filmed from different sides. Also, when John Cleese said the name “Tim”, it was originally a different, longer name, but he had trouble remembering it, then said, “Tim” during a take, and everyone liked it so they kept it in. Also also, Terry Gilliam did all of the animations for the movies and their TV show.
The decision for having coconut-shell clopping serfs instead of horses was decided at an early stage simply because it was silly, not for budgetary reasons. (The Pythons were hugely influenced by The Goon Show on radio, where clopping coconut shells featured frequently.) Besides, few, if any, of the Pythons could ride horses, and it would have been more expensive to hire actors/extras to play the horses than to have real ones. Not only that, but coconut jokes run throughout the film, and the "Concord" scene would only have worked if Eric Idle was playing the "horse".
It also makes it funnier that the one horse they did spring for is part a brick joke that ends the movie.
@@LordVolkov Exactly. The Pythons were into creating the funniest, silliest jokes they could, and men clopping coconut shells together meets that description perfectly. It was so clearly a deliberate choice, not for budget reasons, but simply because it looks ridiculous and it's as funny as hell.
@@ftumschk, literally every member of Monty Python, as well as members of the crew, have said that it was because of budgetary reasons for them not having horses, and that they had to come up with something else.
@@sithlordkaeyl21 Actors love nothing more than regurgitating an entertaining anecdote, even if they're not true. The fact is that the clopping coconut "horses" were in the earliest versions of script, long before the budget was decided. Furthermore, references to coconuts (and/or swallows) run all the way through the film, and there are scenes requiring one or other of the knights to talk to their "horses" and for the "horse" to talk back. There is NO WAY that those scenes were last-minute additions, as they're so intrinsic to the script, and take up many minutes of screen-time.
As for "literally" every member of the Pythons saying otherwise, Terry Jones, who was "literally" the director and co-scriptwriter, said NOTHING about ditching the idea of having real horses due to budgetary, or any other, constraints. In the official "biography" of the Pythons ("Monty Python Speaks"), Jones said quite clearly, that Michael Palin came up with the coconuts idea in an early brainstorming session.
22:45 "That guy cracks me up, that keeps lifting up his thing. He can _see_ through it. He doesn't _have_ to lift it up."
Actually, he can't. Take a closer look. That visor has a couple vertical slats that _just_ happen to fall over his eyes when it's down. So, like, in the heat of combat, it can protect his face from _swinging_ blows, but not _stabbing_ blows, and it impedes his vision. That's one of the movie's subtler jokes.
It's not just the ending that's reminiscent of Blazing Saddles. Both films also have the joke about a sentence ending with a bogus interjection ("Tell them I said . . . OW!").
Feel better soon, Jen. Okay, here goes.
Re : "Bring out your dead."
Yup, 'death carts' were an actual thing during times of plague. There were simply too many victims to bury, and not enough able-bodied men to do it. Remember 2020's "refrigerated morgue trucks?" Same concept. 😢
Re: "Coconuts and invisible horses." So iconic that if you visit that castle today, the guy who runs the gift shop will happily go outside and film you prancing around banging coconuts, which he provides.
🥥 🐦 🤺 🏇 🐴
All of the animation sequences done by Terry Gilliam, - the only American Python. (Although he lives in England.)
Re: Carol Cleveland, "the Witch, Zoot, etc." Happy to report she is still alive today and any attempts to burn her at the stake have been unsuccessful.
The script was written by Terry Jones, who majored in medieval history and literature at Oxford. Believe it or not, all of the most outrageous scenes in the movie were lifted right out of the old chronicles, especially the 12th century Geoffrey of Monmouth. (But scholars have long realized that he had a VERY fanciful imagination.) 😏
The Ballad of Sir Robin - and all of the other hilarious Python songs - were written by Eric Idle and Neil Innes, - Sir Robin and his minstrel. They were the Lennon-McCartney of Python.
🎶🎵
Sorry, but the witch was played by Connie Booth.
@@rogermooretibbetts5310 Oh, darn. Thank you for letting me know.
1. Great sense of humor
2. I enjoy the way you get right to the movie without delay
3. I like when you show screenshots of other related movies that you've seen
4. I love that there a still a ton of movies that you likely haven't seen yet.
Also, you have a great ear for composers and an eye for actors that have been in other movies. Also, also, it's nice to see your true sensitivity to horror. So many people are desensitized, like myself, stay gold. Very fun to watch.
Looking forward to seeing more reactions. Great channel.
Thank you! ☺️👍
Never saw a reactor get every joke in this movie. Amazing reaction. So good.
Jen! I am so glad to see you react to this. It changed the paradigm for movie making in many ways.
"And there was much rejoicing." is one of my favourite moments. 🤣
Best reaction I've seen to this, I love how you just immediately recognized the silly wackiness and embraced it and had a good time :D
Jen,
I love this movie. You probably didn't notice the size of the creek the bridge went over that King Arthur fought the black knight over. Probably 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep. He didn't even need to use the bridge. Also, Brave Sir Robin had a picture of a chicken on his tunic. There's all kinds of little things throughout this movie that you'll pick up with repeated viewings. Also, the Python guys all did many different roles.
Another cult movie you have to check out is Harold and Maude, a kind of a black comedy, love story with music by Cat Stevens.
For the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3rd, you need to watch a racehorse movie, like Seabiscuit. It's a wonderful true story that I promise you'll love. Promise.
Okay so my mom is one of the sweetest human beings on the planet, and Ashleigh Burton is a pretty chill reviewer also on UA-cam, and at THAT ending, I'm not sure who took it worse. In the case of my mother I knew _vaguely_ that she knew that kind of language but I'd never heard so MUCH of it! Then again, when _I_ first saw it I swore in Gaelic, Russian and KLINGON. And I don't even KNOW Russian!
I love that the end was a literal cop-out :)
I learned so many of the lines from this film from my older sibling's college theater friends and finally got to watch a showing by the residence hall council in a dormitory basement at midnight when I went away for uni...it was quite fun! 🥳
Great to see you reading the silly subtitles at the beginning - it can be hard to read without pausing. Fun Film Industry Fact: Credits used to be at the beginning and the trailers at the end - the trailers (called such because they were taped in place at the end of the movie reel by the projectionists) were equivalent to today's previews and included teasers for serial (weekly) films as well as the full-length features. I can't recall when the switch was made, but it happened and now we have previews and end credits instead. Opening credits are still there, but the content is only a portion of the films production.
The Animator, Terry Gilliam, is the guy who defected films such as 12 Monkeys, The Fisher King, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Time Bandits, Brazil, Zero Theorem, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and much more. He was an awesome animator, and one of my favorite directors
The animator who keels over with a heart attack is actually Terry Gilliam. He did all the animations in the Monty Python TV show (Monty Python's Flying Circus) as well as in this movie. He also played Patsy, King Arthur's trusty "horse".
My favorite is during the witch questions. "What, aside from witches, floats on water"? There's a guy in the back says "churches". I always wonder if that's a historical reference. Some churches that float upon water.
Terry Gilliam was the animator, and the only American member of the Monty Python troupe. And yes, he was the one who "died" at the drawing table.
A medieval history expert on UA-cam watched this movie and gave it pretty high marks for accurate depictions of several things. But not the coconuts, of course!
The best Easter egg in the game Dragon's Crown for me was the killer rabbit as a boss monster 😂
You literally come into a room with an enormous pile of bones. And then this little bunny drops down and wrecks your day. 😂
It's not just the jokes in this movie. Most people are too young to get how much they pranked the audience in the theater with this film. Remember, this came out when films were actually made of film and some movies had actually had intermissions and all movies had credits at the end.
So when the intermission sign came up and the somewhat typical intermission music started, people got up to go take a break but it's just there long enough to let them stand up and then feel foolish when it restarted. Then at the end it looks like the film broke. That happened occasionally so you'd wait for them to repair it and restart. And the intermission music started up again so you had a queue that they knew it was broken and were working on it. So you wait.... and wait.... and wait. Everyone starts looking at each other with that "I think it's over but I don't want to walk out first" look until someone finally gets up and they all realize that's actually the end of the movie.
11:55 *me wheezing* 😁
Yes, more Python, Jen, or I shall say Ni to you! Life of Brian is amazing and I can’t wait to see your reaction! Also, a kinda-sorta Pythony recommendation would be A Fish Called Wanda (it’s got John Cleese and Michael Palin in).
As for the music in Holy Grail, originally the soundtrack was going to be more medieval and folksy (and written by Neil Innes, Sir Robin’s minstrel), but the Pythons decided after it was all written that they’d prefer something more epic and orchestral, so they went to De Wolfe Music and made the whole soundtrack from pre-existing library pieces.
Anyway, yes, on to 12 Monkeys now! One of my all-time favourites 🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒🐒
Time to meet Tim the enchanter!! He spits when he talks! Beware of the beast that guards the cave, There is also a beast inside the cave, the black beast! What is your name, what is your quest, what is your favorite color! No love they did not murder the historian. The murder was on a horse!! I glad you enjoyed it. Silly equals Monty Python!!!!
That line... "and no singing!" was a running gag in my family for DECADES.
So many things I love about this movie: the recurring swallow joke especially when Bedevere is trying to tie the coconut to the swallow, Arthur continually confusing 5 for 3, Bedevere having difficulty correctly pronouncing "Ni", the fourth wall breaks throughout, the fact that whoever killed the historian couldn't have possibly been any of Arthur's grail-seekers because he rode by on a real live horse, etc.
Favorite bit: the guards who can't quite get a handle on their instructions, which comes back as Lancelot storms in
Favorite MP movie: Some might say it's a pass but I love And Now For Something Completely Different specifically because it's so disjointed and nonsensical
Hope the next one you check out is The Meaning of Life
I’ve watched. Lot of Jen videos no shame. But I think she’s non-wheeze giggled way more in this than most videos. Like full on belly laughs.
My first time seeing this film, I was around 8. I had just had a bad accident on my bike and just made it home crying my eyes out and spitting blood. After my grandma put ice on my hands, elbows, knees, and mouth, my step-uncle at the time made me chocolate pudding and put this on. As soon as I saw Arthur on his "horse" I forgot my pain cause I was laughing so much and never really stopped. Laughter truly is the best medicine!
This is classic comedy. So many quotable lines. If ever you want to watch a serious movie about King Arthur there's "Excalibur" (1981). It stars very young versions of Liam Neeson, Helen Mirren and Patrick Stewart. No fake horses though. Terry Jones' first movie was a fantasy called "Jabberwocky" (1977). No one has ever reacted to it but I think it's underrated.
I'm actually impressed at how many of the jokes and gags you did catch. Most reactors miss a lot more. I do wish that reactors would familiarize themselves with Monty Python's Flying Circus to at least a small degree before watching these movies though. There'd be a lot less confusion about certain things all around.
I liked going in not knowing anything, it was a shock to my senses lol 😆
@@jenmurrayxo That is the correct way to absorb any art form. The black-slate mind is best. Most artists make their creations for a brand new audience rather than the fan. Just as the church is for the sinner, not the saint...
@Runaway Mindtrain That may be one school of thought, but not the only one. When this movie came out, almost anyone likely to see it would have been familiar with the show. It was incredibly popular with the British public and the vast majority of college age Americans. There's a reason nearly every English dictionary has an entry for Pythonesque. Saying you should go into any movie completely blind seems like a blanket policy rife with holes. Are you saying it's fine to watch Spaceballs without having ever seen Star Wars? Or watch Avengers: Endgame without seeing any other MCU film? Sure, the creators try to make sure you will enjoy it without context, but how much better are they when you have the proper frame of reference. I've seen many youtubers and friends watch Holy Grail that get so hung up trying to understand the style that they miss all the humor. I'm glad Jen didn't have a problem, but that's not always the case.
@@jenmurrayxo I'm glad you enjoyed it. But I'm pretty sure you would also have enjoyed it if you'd seen it after seeing The Fish-Slapping Dance. 😉
One of the jokes that always gets me, is the old lady that's beating dirt from a rug with a live cat. 🤣
All the films this group has done, tovether and apart, are great to watch.
The minstrel is Neil Innes, who worked with Eric Idle a lot. He was also part of the Bonzo Dog Band, which was a British surrealist band.
The knight trying to rescue the "damsel" is John Cleese, you're right.
The Los Angeles International Film Exposition started the US interest in Monty Python in 1974 with AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. The next year, they scheduled MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL and it was the first movie to sell out that year. A second screening was added, and it was the third movie to sell out. And at one of those screenings, Chevy Chase met Lorne Michaels while they were waiting in line.
For me, it is still the only movie that made me laugh so hard that tears came to my eyes DURING THE OPENING CREDITS. Mind you, møøse bites can be pretti nasti...
5:30 The heraldic symbol on the black knights tunic is a wild boar which is a very fitting symbol as its an animal famous for ignoring lethal injuries and fighting on regardless of how badly hurt it is, it's that tenacious that in medieval times they developed a special spear for hunting wild boar, the aptly named Boar Spear had horizontal lugs just below the spearhead to stop an impaled boar from running up the length of the spear and continuing to attack.
I’ve owned some version of this movie (vhs, dvd, blu ray) since I first saw it age 12 and it remains near (or even at) the top of my favorite all time comedies. I love using the French insults irl
Delightful reaction. I'm glad the music was singled out for special mention. What always amazes me is that the bulk of the musical soundtrack was taken from stock library recordings, as they couldn't afford to hire a composer. Somehow they managed to find those dramatic orchestral clips that made the scenes on the lake feel almost epic.
Me and my friends used to watch this. When we were little We are 35 now, and we're still quoting it.
I saw this in Paris at a theater in 1976 and about a quarter of the audience spoke English and rest were French- speaker. When the French guard (John Cleese) said “ fetchez la vache” the French people were completely confused, as “fetchez” is not a French word but the English speaker burst out laughing. Really great reaction to a classic film. Bravo!
The humor in Monty Python is such a vibe... I just hope it's Jen's kind of humor!
You know I love the Brits! ☺️👍🐦🥥
@@jenmurrayxo have to ask you, did you ever watch the Bristish tv show Are You Being Servied?
Another rewatch done for you and your channel, Jen. I loved seeing your reaction to this epic but silly film. 😊
I had a great time watching you enjoy this Jen! Give A Fish Called Wanda a try if you'd like more Pythonesque fun ❤
00:30 Credits for all movies were at the beginning until Star Wars (1977). Lucas wanted the impact of the title "crawl" and didn't want all the credits at the beginning to lessen that impact. He got in trouble with the Director's Guild, which he then departed, and history was made. Now credits are at the end of movies.
That was indeed John Cleese as Sir Lancelot. He was also the "bring out your dead" guy trying to get rid of the old man, the Black Knight, the taunting Frenchman, Tim the Enchanter, and probably some other roles too. Almost all of the roles in this were handled by the same six Monty Python members, seven if you count Neil Innes (Robin's minstrel / the guy on whom the wooden rabbit landed).
Another great reaction, Jen! (Fun fact- on the DVD features, two of the surviving Python members go to Prince Herbert's castle and visit the gift shop and buy their own souvenir book 😅😂)
I knew there was a gift shop, but I didn't know about that!
No one has ever bettered the Pythons humour and imagination , although many have tried, and no one will ever manage to reach that level of comic genius .EVER !!!!!!
I was there at the beginning! It spawned so many catch phrases at the time: 'It's just a scratch!' 'I've had worse!' ' 'It's only a model' and more that I don't remember now lol!
The Pythons often used the DeWolfe music library for the TV series. Stock music always helps the budget. And this movie had a very small budget😂
The sound effect of the arrow and 'message for you sir' was my actual incoming email notification sound for several years, even at work for a while. Very funny.
btw, you mentioned Terry Gilliam, co-director, he was also responsible for all of the animation in the films and their TV series. He was the only American in the troupe.
The Black Knight to the Balrog: "None shall pass!"
To me the funniest part is the "Famous Historian" could not have been killed by anyone of the characters. The killer was riding a real horse, not using coconuts.
"what is the capital of Assyria?"
Which one?? There were several.
It's amazing how many times this spontaneously appears in my everyday life. Just this last week I was with a new-ish group of friends when suddenly the cave with the deadly bunny and its message ending with "aaaaargh" came up, even though we'd not mentioned Monty Python before! 🤔 But maybe this is only true with writers and theater people.
Nope. We nurses and anesthesia assistants quote it ad nauseum, too.
Monty Python were in a class by themselves. Great reaction Jen.
Yup… my friends & I had scene after scene committed to memory which we would repeat ad infinitum. It never seemed to get old😂
Terry Gilliam was the American in Python and their brilliant animator. He went on to become an important director (12 Monkeys) but the best one for me is Brazil. Please don’t miss it! Another total game changer.
Jen, see if you can count how many times you see a cat getting hit against a wall, and pay attention to the scales with which they weighed the "witch". This is my favorite movie of all time. Glad you loved it.
I like how your editor reversed the scene where the animator died so he could be seen left of your bubble. My cousin was a projectionist in 1975 when this movie was shown in my home town. When the Knights Who Say "Ni" would come on...we would chant "Ni" along with them in the back of the auditorium. A 70's make-do surround sound. We had the advantage of having the album of the soundtrack of the movie before the movie appeared in my town. Being on the Autistic spectrum, Monty Python was a godsend.
In the first drafts of the script, they find the Grail in Harrod's Department Store, because, of course, you can find anything at Harrod's.
I hope you know how much I love you! Love everything I do. The laughing is infectious.❤
Bedemere's visor is my favorite joke in this movie. He's so smart and logical, but the only thing that visor blocks is his vision with one bar running straight down in front of each eye.
When I first saw this, I rented the video and sat through several minutes of that end before I thought back to the opening credits being all the credits.
HISTORY THING: Back in the days of radio dramas, coconuts were used to make horse sounds, because there was no way to record real ones. After portable recording was a thing, they used recordings of actual horse beats, but audiences hated them, feeling that the coconut versions were better. "The Coconut Effect" describes those times that the "wrong" thing is more accepted than the "right thing". We see this in space movies where we can see stars slowly drift by at slower speeds, or when there's sound in space. The use of coconuts here was because they couldn't afford actual horses, but it does bring the old sound effect back full circle.
And remember the original tagline for the movie: IT MAKES 'BEN HUR' LOOK LIKE AN EPIC!!
It's ironic because they get arrested for something they didnt do. The historian got murdered by someone on a real horse; something Arthur & pals didnt have.Probably by the French :P
Also the ending is a *literal* cop-out.