Interesting tidbit: it turns out various scenes of this film (french soldier, witch burner..etc. etc.) were sold in audio only format and there for categorized as albums. So when we were uploading the initial.. oh god, dozen versions, we kept getting copyright blocked. Turns out its because the audio of those scenes are considered 'music', and we had hell of a time cutting and recutting them until we got a version of the video that wasnt blocked.

Interestingly, we know that Arthur and co are innocent of the historian's murder, because the suspect actually had a horse - the only one in the movie.

Pretty amazing watching two people who not only haven't seen the movie but also had never even heard of Monty Python, having absolutely NO IDEA what to expect!

I still think Dennis the repressed citizen is my favorite gag in the entire movie. “Strange women in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government” gets me every time I hear it

LOL, I know the French taunting sounds silly as hell, but here's the wonderful thing about it: it's absolutely accurate. Men-at-arms would indeed taunt enemies that were outside, daring them with insults to get them to come closer so they could shoot arrows or drop things on them. (Though not usually animals.) And the insults? ALSO accurate. For instance, in medieval times, grapes were for the rich, so poor folk made wine from whatever was available. In England, elderberries were a favorite. And rodents were well known to be extremely prolific. Thus "your mother was a hamster" = "your mama was a 'ho", and "your father smelt of elderberries" = "your daddy was a drunk". 🤣

_"He must be a King."_ _"How'd you know?"_ _"He hasn't got shit all over him."_ Eric Idle ad-libbed that, out of nowhere. Genius.

When I saw this as a college student in 1975 I was on a date with a beautiful girl who had lost a leg much earlier in her life. When the sword fight between Arthur and the Black Knight was going on and the knight lost a leg I was horrified because of my date. I looked over at her and she was laughing so hard that she was crying!! She loved it! It was a good date. Sherry, wherever you are, I will always remember that moment.

That's my ringtone: Arrow slicing the air, FWHOOMP! "Message for you sir."

Personally, my favorite bit is the brick joke with the French Taunter. He tells Arthur that his Lord won't be interested in questing for the Holy Grail because he already has one, and it's very nice. Since the French Taunter is also at the Castle Augh, where the Grail is hidden, it turns out that the French DID have a holy grail, and it is very nice.

The ending is a literal “cop out”.

My parents said that when they first watched this when it came out - they hated it. It was strange nonsense and they didn't laugh once. Until they went home and tried to explain what they just watched to a friend. They could not explain a *single scene* without breaking down laughing, and since then it's been one of their favorites.

“Where do they have this many castles?” Scotland. I grew up there, and I had nine castles, two crannogs, several hill forts and a Palaeolithic chambered cairn within a twenty-minute drive. And despite that, almost all the castles in this film are just lots of different angles of Doune Castle… And the sets are amazing because they’re pretty much just the actual castle interiors dressed to look right.

"I don't know what to say about this movie" is the single most accurate thing anyone has ever said about this movie.

My favorite tidbit from this movie is that John Cleese actually forgot the name of the Enchanter. So his little hesitancy when he says "There are some who call me... Tim?" is totally real. And everyone else in the scene just went with it.

I have always loved how they handled the fact they they could not afford the budget for actual horses by using the coconut shells, and then made it a bit on the movie by making fun of it. And then they could not afford to actually film a big battle scene at he end, so the finale was a literal cop out.😂

"Strange women lying in ponds, distributing swords is no basis for a system of government" has to be my alltime favorite Monty Python quote

(Intermission) Just in case no one has mentioned this already, a little known fact today is that when this first showed in theaters, there were these things called intermissions. The studios didn’t expect American audiences to sit for an hour and a half so they would break the movie about halfway or 2/3 of the way through and have something called an intermission that lasted about five minutes. But this process originally started because the movie theater would have to change reels. During that time a lot of people would get up and get popcorn and go to the bathroom or get a soda. This was how the movie theaters made their money. If you saw the scene that says intermission, it only lasts about 15 seconds. During the intermission when this movie was in theaters, people got up to go to the lobby and then they were caught out of their seats because the intermission was already over. So that was part of the joke and it was a huge joke on the audience itself. But now that movie theaters don’t have an intermission anymore, and watching something on video you can just pause it, this is a joke that really worked in it’s day and it’s kind of sad that such a great prank on the audience that can only be done once will now be forgotten forever.

Carol Cleveland's frustrated "Oh, Shit!" still cracks me up everytime.

The ending is actually very Monty Pythonesque in that they would end sketches in the most non-ending sorts of ways. They didn't like "punch lines" so they never had them in their sketches, and they would often end a sketch with someone saying "We should end this because it's just too silly." So for them to end a whole film with a non-ending is just par for the Monty Python course.

John Cleese played Tim the Enchanter and apparently he was supposed to say "there are some who call me..." And then it was supposed to be this long complicated name, but he forgot it in the moment and just ad libbed "Tim". It was so funny that they rolled with it. It's still one of my favorite little parts.

The impact that the Monty Python crew had on modern comedy cannot be understated. Pythonesque is a real word made to describe comedy that follows their stylings.

The ending is a literal cop-out, and the coconuts were added since they couldn't afford more than 1 horse (which was used only for the murder of the historian)

When you do get to Life of Brian, just realize that George Harrison from the Beatles basicly financed the film just because he wanted to see it. Highest price of admission ever for one of the best movies eventually made. The background stories and the fallout from it makes it essential viewing. You will cry laughing.

The look of open-eyed incredulity on Simone's face for almost all of the film made this reaction worthwhile on its own. Take a trip to Doune Castle in Scotland where the castle scenes (French insults etc) were filmed and you can hire out coconut shells to accompany you on your tour! The "Cop Out" ending, literally, is just perfect.

There's a mini documentary on the making of this movie that really shows how brilliantly it was done. The BBC gave them a budget of just $100k, and only 2 castles were used for all the interior scenes because they couldn't get permission from the government to use any others, and privately owned historical manors or castles wouldn't agree either. Both Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam took turns directing it, and it didn't get released in the U.S. for almost 5 years afterwards because no American distributors wanted to take a chance on it. The consensus was that British humor would not be funny to American audiences, another great example of William Goldman's quote about Hollywood: "Nobody knows anything."

The thing I love the most about this movie is that they keep shouting "Run away!", because 'retreat' is a French word and wasn't introduced to the English language until the Late Middle English period, so it's historically accurate for them to have shouted RUN AWAYYYY

"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!: one of the best lines in this movie lol

My favourite part is the minstrel singing the Brave Sir Robin song, it never fails to make me laugh, the lyrics are hilarious. “He bravely ran away…”

You have to understand, Monty Python was a British comedy troupe and had a show, Monty Python's Flying Circus. It was, as you can imagine, filled with silly skits but in that very unique British comedic style. The Holy Grail was sort of their first full-length comedy skit. A classic for sure. Everybody grew up quoting this movie for decades!

Fun fact: if you say to Alexa "I fart in your general direction" she responds with "your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elderberries"!🤣

There's only one way to explain this film: it's Monty Python.

It's the little details that Python get so right, like Cleese's Lancelot attacking the decorated torch holder on the stairs during his rampage.

According to Jerry Shilling, one of Elvis Presley's buddies, Elvis absolutely loved this film, especially the "it's only a flesh wound" scene, and would often sit around at Graceland watching a copy while quoting the dialogue. Eric Idle of the Pythons said in an interview that it blew his mind when he heard about that ...

Just think...when they made the movie with the subtitles gag at the beginning they couldn't have anticipated that in the future we would have optional subtitles available for home viewing. And now the subtitles gag is even better! With people fumbling with their remote controls trying to turn them off or set them to the proper language. (It's kind of like the Andy Kaufman TV special where he purposely messed with the vertical hold on the picture so people around the country would get up off of their couches and try to adjust their televisions.) I'm also picturing people in the theater when it first ran, at the end sitting in their seats wondering "Is that it? That can't be it right?" and just sitting there with that music playing waiting for something to happen...

8:55 every shot of a castle is the same castle! Just filmed from different sides! They couldn’t afford more than one horse, they also couldn’t afford to film on more than one location! 🤣 John Cleese actually had a long list of names for the Enchanter but he forgot them and just said “Tim?” The rest of the pythons thought it was way funnier so the character became “Tim the Enchanter”

The interesting thing about the ending is, while a satire, also happened for Arthur's quest for the Holy Grail in terms of that he never got the Grail in the end. I think it was quite brilliant in that sense.

Many people think the story ends the way it does "just because its Monty python", but beyond that tradicional Arthurian legends/troubadour songs about his quest would always end with them not finding the grail at the last minute. Since reaching the grail would be achieving perfection, the stories would always have knights facing all odds to get to it, with miraculous savings and all (like the animator with the heart attack) and right in the last moment, they wouldn't manage.. So MP used a traditional Arthurian troubadour storyline, and then did their - amazing - thing.

To answer your question, "Are there any other movies where they find The Holy Grail?" Yes, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.

ok so you definitely have to do Monty Python: Life of Brian. They had a bigger budget and more coherent story. It's my favorite.

This is one of those movies that is so hilariously silly you can't help but watch it over and over and memorize every line of every sketch.

The witch on the scales is actually Connie Booth, John Cleese's wife at the time - more well known as the co-writer ( with JC ) of the famous and hilarious TV comedy series Fawlty Towers, where she also played the role of the receptionist and hotel maid Polly.

This movie is why so many games, specifically RPGs love to sneak in a harmless little animal that is insanely overpowered.

"Now we see the violence inherent in the system..." maybe the single greatest line of dialogue ever penned.

"Excalibur" from the late 70s is also about Arthur's quest for the Holy Grail, and about a lot more, too. "Excalibur" started the entire Swords & Sandals trend in movies that prevailed in the 1980s. It was also the first movie for four of today's biggest male acting stars: Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart, Gabriel Byrne and Ciaran Hinds. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was the very first movie about the Dark Ages to show dirt and excrement on people's clothes and bodies. and so changed forever the look of movies. Monty Python's animator was one of this movie's directors: Terry Gilliam, the only U.S. member of the troupe. He went on to be one of the most innovative and influential filmmakers of the Sound Era of Cinema. Gilliam's films include "Brazil", "Time Bandits", "Twelve Monkeys" and "The Fisher King". "Holy Grail" is the cup from which Jesus and his twelve disciples drank, at the Last Supper. Since the wine that they drank is supposed to represent the blood of the Christ, in French/Latin the cup is called the Sangreal, "sang" being French for blood. The third "Indiana Jones" movie is about indy's searcg for the grail. Thus endeth the lesson.

Oh Monty Python are a category of movies all by themselves, but can’t wait to see your reaction to this one. Pressing play!

I envy anyone watching this for the first time! Welcome to the club!

There's a very subtle running gag throughout this movie. A person is injured or about to die and says I'm not dead yet I'm getting better. It starts with the bring out your dead skit, that is repeated several more times.

When I saw this for the 1st time at the theater I remember sitting listening to that the music at the end and waiting for something else to happen. My friends and I sat there for 15 minutes listening to the same 15 seconds of music until the manager came down and told us it really was over. One last joke from the Python Circus.

"I fffffffffart in your general direction!" "This is a happy occasion, let's not bicker and argue about who killed who...."

In my opinion "Life of Brian" is the best Monty Pythons movie. "The Meaning of Life" is partially good.

Two interesting facts: All of the castles in the movie (except one) were actually shot at the same castle - Doune Castle - in Scotland. The only exception is the final castle in the movie is Castle Stalker, which is basically someone's house. Also in the scene with Tim the Enchanter, he was supposed to have a really long and complicated name, but John Cleese forgot the line and ad-libbed "Tim?" as a joke, which stuck.

George-“I’m not going to try to make sense of this.” [achievement unlocked] Simone-“Are there any other movies where they actually find the Grail? [and so began The Quest for the Movie Detailing (finally)the Retrieval of the Holy Grail]

It's good to see people genuinely laughing at the absurbity of the humour in Holy Grail, just as the Pythons wanted it. My personal favourite bit is where they're being chased by the animated monster and the animator has a fatal heart attack - cut to Terry Gilliam comically making faces and falling back off his chair...

"I think it's all three... knights on a journey, breaking the fourth wall, and people in costume play-acting..." Yes. All of the above. One of the things that made the Monty Python show so wild was that if they couldn't come up with a good ending for a skit, they would just cut over to a completely different skit, hence the insane end of this movie. Seek out some of their more famous skits... Dead Parrot, Nudge-Nudge, Minister of Silly Walks, Argument Clinic, Mr. Smokestoomuch, etc. You won't be sorry!

"Help Help! Im being repressed!" This movie had some gems

For the record, the Holy Grail never shows up in the Bible, any version of it. It's a legend that was basically created along with the Arthur legend.

Much of this is filmed at Doune Castle in Scotland, I had the pleasure of re-enacting several scenes, unfortunately we couldn't get on the wall to taunt each other. One funny bit was when I went to the spot the knights were being taunted to get a picture someone came up to me to watch for flying cows. The final castle is about an hour away.

This is one of the films that changed my life growing up. Saw it when it first came out and had no idea who Month Python was (definitely go watch some of their TV show sketches. the movie will make a little more sense once you see their style). Loved every second of it. Oh, and 'Ni' is Scottish for 'No". RIP Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, and Neil Innes, who was the troubadour in Sir Robin's group, and an unofficial member of MP. Oh, and 90 minutes is traditionally the standard length for movies, primarily because it allowed theaters to have more showings per day which meant more $$.

Honestly wish I could hit the like button more than once. Watching people discovering this with no clue what they're in for helps me recapture the experience of seeing this for the first time many years ago

9:37 butt trumpets were actually a thing in ancient art. Usually painted in the borders of works of art, or drawn in the margins of documents and illustrations, they were meant as a not so subtle statement on those referred to in the main work.

They were allowed to film in just one Scottish castle and so had to be inventive with props and film angles - which is just proof that what matters are good ideas and a clever script.

Monty Python was a comedy troupe. They had a television show and then a handful of movies. Your reaction was exactly as it should be. This came out when I was a sophomore in high school. This movie was so quotable with a quote for every occasion. It was a great time to be a teenager!

I find it hilarious that because I grew up with this movie, I completely understand everything that’s happening and I’m like “sure yup makes sense,” and so seeing someone come to it with no idea of what to expect is just incredible

In case no one's said it, and you haven't figured it out...."Kuhhhhniggit!" is the phonetic pronunciation of "knight".

"Did they ever find the Holy Grail?" Yes, but in another movie: "Excalibur" (1981) directed by John Boorman. It's the serious version of the King Arthur story.

Highly recommend watching "A Fish Called Wanda" Starring Python alumn John Cleese and Michael Palin, it's easily one of the best comedies of the 1980s

Yes!!! It has been SO many years since I have seen anyone experience my favorite movie for the first time!! The amount of glee I had at your utter confusion and laughter throughout this gem cannot be measured. 😂 A fun fact for me and my fellow Minnesotans: the only non-British member of Monty Python is "the animator" (and Patsy), Terry Gilliam, who is from here in Minnesota. His very unique and impressive animation is a standard of the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" TV show, which you should definitely check out. Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching this!!

Perhaps the most rewatchable movie of all time...I've lost count how many times I've seen this movie,and I laugh my ass off every time

Life of Brian is my favorite. You know you are in good company when you can quote a line from one of the movies in a room full of strangers, and someone will respond with the next line.

"Where did they film this where there are so many castles?" There's hundreds of castles in the UK :)

My Mum took a 9 year old me to see this when it came out at the cinema. Life changing! Thanks Mum 😁

Glad you enjoyed that wonderfully crazy movie! Did you know that Monty Python's Flying Circus was a comedy TV series starring an ensemble of six (five British and one American, who was also the animator) comedians, who are better known, collectively, as Monty Python? After several seasons of the TV series were finished, the guys decided to make a movie, based around the myths of King Arthur and the quest for the Holy Grail. This is a very established myth story from the Medieval period of Western Europe (Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur" from 1485 is one example). Their next movie, Life of Brian, makes fun of a better known set of myths... Python humour builds on the foundation of British wit and humour evident in The Goon Show (Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe), Beyond The Fringe (Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Dudley Moore), Marty Feldman, etc. And since the Pythons, the next generation included Not The Nine O'Clock News and others. Btw, a member of Beyond the Fringe (Peter Cook) and a member of Not The Nine O'Clock News (Mel Smith) were both part of the cast in The Princess Bride. So there is a (rather tenuous) connection. Don't want to give any spoilers, but if you want to see another movie built around a similar myth, try Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Indy III in the franchise). Plus, there are plenty of other books, movies, and TV shows about King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.

Just randomly found your reaction, I loved it! I've never seen people react to this movie so blind before, it was wonderful seeing people who knew absolutely nothing about Python going in

Love this movie! Interesting factoid : A 2021 tweet by Eric Idle revealed that the film was financed by eight investors: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Holy Grail's co-producer Michael White, Heartaches (a cricket team founded by lyricist Tim Rice), and three record companies including Charisma Records, the record label that released.

The army at the end was a bunch of students from Stirling University who came out to be extras for a day.

The Holy Grail has some roots in Christian teaching (being claimed to be the cup that held Christ’s blood during the Last Supper), but otherwise it is purely an Arthurian addition. It’s originally from the story of The Fischer King, where a grail is presented before the impotent king to cure him. Then it is retconned into being THE grail of Christ and the knights/Arthur have to find it.

In the end, it's concluded that the airspeed velocity of a (European) unladen swallow is about 24 miles per hour or 11 meters per second

Monty Python were (one of?) the first postmodern comedians. Quite a few movie tropes were also invented by them - or at least made popular. So much, that they now appear mundane and "ah, well, seen it before..."

I used to do mediaeval re-enactment many years ago, and it became fashionable on the battlefield to shout "Run Away!"

I was fairly young the first time I saw this and I didn't realize that a huge number of the speaking roles where all the same people. These guys are all geniuses

God it amazes me how much this movie still resonates today. I still remember watching this for the first time with my friends at IU around 87. I had seen the tv show in the 70s, but had never seen their movies. It hasn’t aged a day in my mind and has never left my top 5 comedy’s of all time. But what would you expect from Oxford educated comedians.

“This is bananas” oh just wait, there’s so many more levels to this beautiful tower of chaos

The end of the movie is a literal "Cop Out". Took me years to catch that joke.

One of my favorite movies. I had this memorizes when i was in school and could still probably quote almost all of it. Every time you watch, you'll catch so much more in it, its layered in comedy.

All of the scenes in and outside of a castle were at one particular privately-owned castle in Scotland that they rented for production.

'Is it for kids?' and the Castle Anthrax scene just pops into my mind...'We are but three score virgins between the ages of...' Sure kids can face the Peril, just like the rest of us.

Monty Python can stake a solid claim to being the greatest comedy group in history. Every ounce of their legend is earned.

The backstory and behind the scenes of this movie is just as funny and crazy as the movie itself.

25:25 Their second movie is, in a sense, more of a prequel :). (well worth sticking 'Life of Brian' on your list - even funnier than 'Holy Grail' IMO. And certainly more banned)

The vast majority of castle scenes were shot at Doune Castle in Scotland. The castle Aaaaagh is Stalker Castle, also in Scotland. The set up shot of Swamp Castle is Bodiam Castle in Sussex.

The look on the faces of those who have been Monty Pythoned for the first time is priceless. They're taken completely by surprise by the infamous Python cop-out.

Their mission was to seek the Holy Grail - not necessarily obtain it.

First time I saw this movie, I was on the floor from laughing so hard.

Fun fact: In Germany, this movies title is :“The Knights of the Coconuts“. Playing on “The Knights of the roundtable“ Which is cool, because the title simultaneously fits the theme of the film, while playing on the original story

"I don't think we should think about it too much" Yup. That's applies to pretty much everything Monty Python has ever made.

In High School, my friends and I loved Monty Python and this movie so much, that we would act-out scenes from it; at parties! I actually could act-out the entire movie....literally! I used to drive my wife (ex) crazy when we watched it, because I would be doing the lines, all through the movie.

Simone, there is a 1979 movie called "Excalibur", which started the entire 1980s trend of Sword & Sorcery flicks. It stands head & shoulders above the others that came later. Actors like Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart, Gabriel Byrne and Ciaran Hinds had their very first movie roles in "Excalibur", as supporting characters. The main quest in "Excalibur" was to find the Holy Grail -- the blessed cup which Jesus gave to his disciples during the Last Supper, from which to drink of His blood, symbolically. "Holy Grail" was the first Dark-Ages-set movie that showed how dirty life could be, in the Dark Ages. People in this comedy lived covered in mud, feces and blood. Also in search of the Holy Grail was the great "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", in which Sean Connery plays Indie's father, also an archaeologist.

BTW, the coconut halves guy and the animator is Terry Gilliam, who later made Twelve Monkeys. His first job was to be MP's animator in the 60s and 70s.

“Ohhh SHIT!” is one of my favorite lines, and so easy to remember.

I have to echo what some people have said. Life of Brian is amazing and I'd go as far as to call it Monty Python's magnum opus. It has social commentary that still holds up after 40 years.