Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.

Directors:

Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

Writers:

Graham Chapman, John Cleese

Stars:

Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle

Top Rated Movies #95 | 2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Graham Chapman	...	King Arthur / Voice of God / Middle Head / Hiccoughing Guard
John Cleese	...	Second Swallow-Savvy Guard / The Black Knight / Peasant 3 / Sir Lancelot the Brave / Taunting French Guard / Tim the Enchanter
Eric Idle	...	Dead Collector / Peasant 1 / Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Launcelot / First Swamp Castle Guard / Concorde / Roger the Shrubber / Brother Maynard
Terry Gilliam	...	Patsy / Green Knight / Old Man from Scene 24 (Bridgekeeper) / Sir Bors / Animator / Gorrilla Hand
Terry Jones	...	Dennis's Mother / Sir Bedevere / Left Head / Prince Herbert / Cartoon Scribe (voice)
Michael Palin	...	First Swallow-Savvy Guard / Dennis / Peasant 2 / Right Head / Sir Galahad the Pure / Narrator / King of Swamp Castle / Brother Maynard's Brother / Leader of The Knights Who Say NI!
Connie Booth	...	The Witch
Carol Cleveland	...	Zoot / Dingo
Neil Innes	...	First Monk / Singing Minstrel / Page Crushed by the Rabbit / Peasant #4
Bee Duffell	...	Old Crone
John Young	...	Dead Body / Historian Frank
Rita Davies	...	Historian's Wife
Avril Stewart	...	Dr. Piglet
Sally Kinghorn	...	Dr. Winston
Mark Zycon	...	Prisoner

Storyline

History is turned on its comic head when, in 10th century England, King Arthur travels the countryside to find knights who will join him at the Round Table in Camelot. Gathering up the men is a tale in itself but after a bit of a party at Camelot, many decide to leave only to be stopped by God who sends them on a quest: to find the Holy Grail. After a series of individual adventures, the knights are reunited but must face a wizard named Tim, killer rabbits and lessons in the use of holy hand grenades. Their quest comes to an end however when the police intervene - just what you would expect in a Monty Python movie.

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Plot Keywords:

knight | camelot | king arthur | holy grail | lancelot | 

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Taglines:

You can do worse than see it.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English French Latin

Release Date:

3 December 1975 (France)

Also Known As:

Monty Python sacré graal!

Filming Locations:

Appin, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£229,575 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$45,487 (USA) (15 June 2001)

Gross:

$1,229,197 (USA) (25 May 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Michael White Productions, National Film Trustee Company, Python (Monty) Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (2001 re-release) Mono (original release)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

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Goofs

Before the black knight loses one leg, he is slightly taller than Arthur. After losing the leg, he is slightly shorter, due to being played by a one-legged stunt man rather than John Cleese.

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Quotes

[first lines]
King Arthur: Whoa, there!

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Crazy Credits

All the credits are at the beginning. There are no credits at the end. The screen goes black after the movie ends with the depiction of the end of the physical film reel.

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Connections

Referenced in Supernatural: Mannequin 3: The Reckoning (2011)

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Soundtracks

Sunrise Music
Written by Neil Innes
Published by EMI Songs/United Partnership

User Reviews

Wonderful movie!

This is such a great film that a professor of mine actually used it in a Medieval Civilization class as extra credit. This was not because the movie was so historically accurate, but because the movie was so much funnier when we applied what we learned in her class to it! It was really hard to pick only 10 funny lines!

To anyone that watched it once and didn't quite get it or got frustrated the first time, here is a tip: Catch it on DVD with the subtitles or closed-captioning on. That way you will be sure to catch all of the French insults and the other one-liners that fly by so fast! I don't recommend doing that with kids in the room - my 7-year-old picked up a couple of words on the screen that he had missed previously...

Enjoy!