Film Review: Monty Python and the Holy Grail – 9/10

‘I am your king…’

When I think about the movies that defined my childhood, I would consider Back to the Future and Stand Be Me, Karate Kid and Rocky. It would take me a while before I reached for the Monty Python films, but in terms of sheer volume, number of times watched, Monty Python and the Holy Grail would be right up there. To the point where I could probably quote pretty much every scene word for word.

Monty Python was a big thing in my house growing up. Just as me and my friends watched The Office and I’m Alan Partridge so much that it started to affect our speech and cadence, my dad and his friends were similarly influenced by Python. On the occasions when I would meet up with them for a drink, there would normally be a Python reference inside the first 15 minutes, and it filled me with the warm glow of recognition and belonging when I could recognise these references and throw some of them into the mix myself.

In short, Python has always been a part of my life, and while it has been years since I’ve revisited it, it felt fitting to return to the film that started it all, Monty Python and the Holy Grail…

When the courageous but numerically challenged knight King Arthur (Graham Chapman) is charged by God to recover the Holy Grail, he must contend with impudent Frenchmen, a killer rabbit and The Knights Who Say ‘Ni!’. Joining him on this most holy quest are Sir Launcelot the Brave (John Cleese), Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Launcelot (Eric Idle) and Sir Galahad the Pure (Michael Palin).

This viewing was probably the first time I’ve revisited Holy Grail in 15 years and the first thing that surprised me was my own level of recall. Even after all this time, there were absolutely no surprises here. I still know every line, every joke, every glance. And yet it was still an utter pleasure to see these sketches, these masterpieces, stitched together into an uneasy whole. It’s impossible to pick out highlights from a film that is pretty much perfect but the scene featuring Cleese’s Launcelot unwittingly responding to an SOS call from what he thinks is a damsel in distress is as good as comedy gets. Utterly majestic.

It may well be another 15 years until I sit down with the Knights of the Round Table again, but I would bet my bottom dollar that I can still quote every word. Quite simply one of the best comedies ever made.