Pythons sank fans into the big screen
Forty years ago this month Monty Python made the jump from small screen to cinemas. Despite a tiny budget and creative differences Monty Python And The Holy Grail was a huge hit.
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Their bizarre, surreal form of humour began life on university revue stages and found a bigger audience on television with their series Monty Python’s Flying Circus which ran from 1969-74.
Then 40 years ago this month Monty Python’s first original film, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, opened in cinemas around the word. Since then the Pythons have appeared in, written, directed and acted in dozens of films.
Later this year fans will be treated to another one, Absolutely Anything, directed by Terry Jones and including the voice talents of the other surviving members of the Python team — John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Michael Palin.
Pythonic humour lends itself particularly well to the big screen, although their first attempt, And Now For Something Completely Different released in 1971, was not their finest or most original hour and a half.
It featured some of the most memorable skits from their first season on TV, reshot on film with a low budget. Financed by UK Playboy Enterprises it was created to sell the Americans on the TV series. It failed to make them stars in the US, but did well at the box office elsewhere. This generated interest, mostly among the Pythons, in doing another film.
The team then collaborated on a script about King Arthur and his quest for the Holy Grail. Knocked back by the major studios they raised the funding from less conventional sources, approaching some of their biggest fans, rock bands Led Zeppelin, Genesis and Pink Floyd.
This left the Pythons with a paltry budget of £200,000 but that spurred them to get creative. They all played multiple roles and, lacking money for mounts, their knights pretended to ride horses while squires followed them clopping coconut shells together.
Jones and Gilliam’s directorial styles differed somewhat, causing some tensions. There were also near disasters. They were refused permission to film at one castle just before shooting began, Chapman was suffering alcoholic withdrawal and a camera broke on the first day of filming. But Monty Python And The Holy Grail was completed and premiered in May 1975. It made more than £2.5 million ($US 5 million) at the box office.
By then the TV series was over and the team were involved in other projects, some live, some on TV (Cleese’s Fawlty Towers), but also in film. Gilliam directed a reimagining of Lewis Carroll’s poem in the film Jabberwocky in 1977, starring Palin and with a cameo from Jones.
With the success of The Holy Grail people began asking if there would be another Python film. Eric Idle quipped to journalists that their next film would be called Jesus Christ — Lust for Glory.
It inspired the concept of a story with Jesus as central character. Eventually they decided not to send up Jesus, but the people who misinterpreted his message, coming up with a plot about a man mistaken for the Messiah.
After a scriptwriting session in Barbados the group was set to start filming when their major backer pulled out. They again turned to a rock star fan, George Harrison, who set up the production company Handmade Films.
With a bigger budget Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, released in 1979, was more polished and epic. Filmed on locations in Tunisia and Israel, it was an even bigger success. But it was also not without controversy. It was banned in some countries because of its “blasphemous” content.
When the Pythons finally reconvened to brainstorm ideas for another film, they wrote a lot of material, but couldn’t come up with a simple, single narrative idea. They decided to use the material to make a series of sketches much like their TV series. The vignettes would be loosely related to a theme, reflected in the title The Meaning Of Life.
While filming parts of the movie in the US they also did live performances, which ended up in the film Live At the Hollywood Bowl released in 1982. The Meaning Of Life was finally released in 1983. It was another big success, but it would be the last canonical Python film.
Also released in 1983 was Yellowbeard, a send-up of pirate films starring Chapman as the eponymous hero.
Chapman’s death in 1989 ended the possibility of another film with all five but there were many memorable collaborations between two or more of the remaining members.
PARTNERS IN MIRTH
Post-Python films include:
Time Bandits (1981): A group of renegade dwarfs steal God’s map of the universe. Directed and written by Gilliam it featured Cleese as Robin Hood.
Brazil (1985): Dystopian vision of the future directed by Gilliam, featuring Palin.
A Fish Called Wanda (1988): Heist romp starring Cleese and Palin, its box office success spawned another collaboration Fierce Creatures (1997).
Erik The Viking (1989): A Viking with a conscience embarks on a quest. Directed by Jones with an appearance by Cleese.
Originally published as Pythons sank fans into the big screen
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