**Monty Python and the Holy Grail** FIRST TIME WATCHING | MOVIE REACTION (RE-UPLOAD)

[@Serai3]

Terry Jones, one of the directors (he also played Sir Bedevere of the awesome mustaches), was a scholar of medieval literature and history. Thus, many of the jokes in this film are historically accurate: 1) The flinging of animals happened during a siege at Carcasonne. They threw the animals over the edge in order to fool the besieging army into thinking there was plenty of food inside, and thus the siege would take much too long to be worth the trouble. They actually didn't have much food left; it was a desperation ploy. But it worked, and the army took off. 2) The insults are all appropriate. "Your mother was a hamster" - rodents were known to be prolific breeders, thus the meaning of "your mama was a ho". "Your father smelt of elderberries" - grape wine was a rich man's thing; poor people made hooch out of whatever they could get, thus the meaning of "your daddy was a drunk". "I fart in your general direction" - bodily functions were a very popular way of insulting AND threatening people. "I make castanets out of your testicles" - you do not want to know just how disgusting revenge could get back then; body parts were indeed cut off and paraded around or used in nauseating ways. 3) The illustrations may seem insane, but medieval art was extremely weird by our standards. The butt trumpets are straight out of Hieronymus Bosch. The killer rabbit also came out of medieval art, specifically out of what are called "marginalia". Books were handmade and hand-lettered mostly by monks, who would spend months on a single book. Like any human, they'd get bored and start doodling in the margins. The stuff that's found there is seriously bizarre, much of it featuring animals engaging in all manner of weirdness, including rabbits and hares running rampant fighting battles and murdering people. In short, it was a weird and wacky time, full of fabulous historical facts that most people are not aware of. Far from being a depressed, dark, and ignorant age, it was lively, imaginative, and full of shenanigans. (It's a common thing throughout history for the inhabitants of one era to put down the inhabitants of the era before them, thus the people of the Renaissance painting the medievals as ignorants and filthy.) :)

[@vandalfinnicus1507]

I love Terry Jones's history shows. I've watched them several times.

[@IDieHardForever]

@@vandalfinnicus1507 i thought it was Terry Gilliam? must be mixing shit up

[@martinbynion1589]

@@IDieHardForever Terry Gilliam was the animator who had the fake heart attack - Jones was the historian!

[@vandalfinnicus1507]

@@IDieHardForever Gilliam is the film director. He hasn't done history shows.

[@YN97WA]

I grew up in England in the 70s, so I grew up with Monty Python. Because I'd watched every episode, all four seasons of the TV series, the ending made perfect sense to me when I saw the movie in '75. It is classic Python. Very enjoyable reaction, young man. Monty Python and Mel Brooks are to comedy what the Beatles are to music.

[@CraigKostelecky]

The classic Monty Python idea that the punchline of a joke is sometimes the weakest part of it. So why not just get rid of the punchline :)

[@MrValentineReacts]

apt analogy!

[@BigGator5]

"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!" Fun Fact: The famous depiction of galloping horses by using coconut shells (a traditional radio-show sound effect) came about from the purely practical reason that the production simply could not afford real horses. Metal Funding Fact: Funds earned by Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973) went towards funding this movie. The band were such fans of the show, they would halt recording sessions just to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969). Led Zeppelin and Genesis contributed to this movie's budget as well. Swallow This Fact: The airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow is roughly eleven meters per second, or twenty-four miles per hour, beating its wings seven to nine times per second rather than forty-three. It's true: A five-ounce bird cannot carry a one pound coconut, but furthermore, no swallow weighs five ounces. The English barn swallow weighs only twenty grams (two-thirds of an ounce). Historical Fact: The French tactic of pelting Arthur (Graham Chapman) and his knights with livestock echoes the relatively modern legend of a medieval siege of the fortified southern French town of Carcassonne. Said to have been near starvation, the townspeople used the last of their food to pelt the besieging army to convince them, suffering likewise, that the town was well stocked with food and that the siege was hopeless. The tactic was successful, and the siege was lifted.

[@Serai3]

Correction: They could afford ONE horse. That's how you know none of Arthur's knights killed that historian - he was riding the horse. :)

[@Raven5150]

Damn it my favorite part of reactions to this is see how long the reactor sits through the final black screen with music, this is how 5 guys troll the entire world for an hour n half

[@johnking2740]

When it come to the story of Sir Lancelot - not many reactors get the "Hey".

[@josefgordon7712]

“Good idea oh Lord!” “OF COURSE ITS A GOOD IDEA!” 🤣

[@Serai3]

"It's like those miserable psalms, they're SO depressing."

[@iKvetch558]

"I'm invincible!" "You're a loony!" One of the funniest movies ever...but fewer and fewer people can appreciate it...I expect Mr. Val will love it!

[@MrValentineReacts]

'tis sheer brilliance!

[@iKvetch558]

@@MrValentineReacts "I feel HAPPY!" lol

[@RobONeill-b5e]

Life of Brian is somewhat more fluid plot-wise and very intelligent in ways you'll love. Definitely a must see

[@rg3388]

Good BLAZING SADDLES catch. This film echoes much of it: “Tell them I said . . . Ow!” becomes “the castle of . . . Aaargh.” “call me . . . Jim” becomes “call me . . . Tim.” “that man is a ni-” becomes “the knights who say . . . Ni.” A herring is mentioned in both films. Both films end with an anachronistic motor vehicle.

[@StephenLWilson]

I agree! This movie came out a year after Blazing Saddles, and the references/homages are plentiful. Nice catch as well, RG, because I don't think that this angle has been discussed in any YT reaction I have seen. Like yourself, I have made the comparison for other reactors. Fun reaction. Thanks.

[@rg3388]

@@StephenLWilson I love this sort of thing. There are at least half a dozen echoes of NORTH BY NORTHWEST in CHARADE and of FARGO in THE BIG LEBOWSKI. I also counted more than 30 echoes of LITTLE WOMEN in PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE. Tarantino and Coens are especially fond of linking their films.

[@g.iantamongtitans]

"Like a bat outta hell I'll be gone when the morning comes" is a lyric from a Meatloaf song (Bat Out of Hell).

[@allenruss2976]

Yes Meatloaf wrote a song featuring that phrase but it was popularized by the Raf in WW1. This was brought about by the introduction of planes into warfare

[@davidhart6291]

“You tiny-brained wipers of other people’s bottoms!” 😂😂😂

[@davidfleischmann3579]

The Grail is the textbook example of a McGuffin.

[@johankaewberg8162]

I admire his vocabulary. He’s eloquent.

[@celiashen5490]

Loquacious, verbose, chatty even. ;}

[@johnmaxwell1238]

King Arthur and his knights were framed. The knight who murdered Famous Historian Frank had a horse.

[@pamelalee1508]

🤣🤣🤣 Absolutely !...great catch..few folks do... 🌿🌿🌿

[@hadz8671]

Frank also didn't want to go on the cart and had a piece of halibut that was good enough for Jehovah.

[@bwilliams463]

But is was clearly Lancelot's (John Cleese) triumphant cry echoing out of that helmet. I don't know where where he found the horse, though; maybe it was carried in by an enormous flock of African swallows.

[@emcsquared8681]

The life of Brian and The meaning of life are two other Python must sees.

[@parliamentlite]

Iwatched this mutliple times in High School and loved it, then went to college and majored in History and the jokes became even better. Lots of jokes in this movie are layered like onions, from the historical references to the meta modern interaction with the script. Pure genius on a tiny budget.

[@parliamentlite]

@@moon-moth1 Late 90s was when the cable channel Comedy Central started playing this movie regularly and was the only reason I was ever exposed to it and Monty Python in general. I'd imagine the expansion of cable tv probably had a lot to do with this movie having a resurgence in the late 90s early 00s.

[@Zeno_Evil]

I've watched several reactions to this movie and you are the first one to correctly identify self-flaggulation (which was an actual thing often using cat-o-nine tails).

[@IggyStardust1967]

Oh! The scene at 4:50 between Arthur and the Black Knight, was homage 'ed in the game Battle Chess, when two Knights "battle" for the same space on the chess board (normal chess rules apply, so basically, when one knight takes the space held by another knight). There are other movie related references in that game, as well. One of which, was reverse-homage 'ed in the movie Braveheart.

[@cultivatinggrace]

Aww, bless you for checking this out. It’s one of the best comedies in the history of movies.

[@martinbynion1589]

It's one of the best comedies in the history of anything!

[@darena55]

"The udder disrespect" lmao

[@ashleighmodglin]

My very first iPod, which happened to be the first generation iPod, had enough memory on it for me to put one movie. I don’t know how my dad got this movie, but I watched it every single night before I went to bed. I can quote probably about 80% of this movie from memory. It’s become a great party trick.

[@Raven5150]

Blazzing saddles 74 this 75 but Mel and the pythons were close friends and exchanged notes the enchanted Tim was strait up the Jim joke from blazzing saddles

[@Serai3]

The Jim joke was indeed similar, but in Blazing Saddles it had more context. It sounds like an offhand joke, but the next scene explains it. Jim was about to say "...the Waco Kid", but he realized that wasn't exactly the accolade it used to be, so he settled on his real name. The resulting awkwardness ends up funny, but it's really a bit sad when you think about it.

[@Raven5150]

It couldn't haven Lancelot that killed the famous historian who ever killed him was on a horse, but in all seriousness it was John cleese on the horse

[@billfinn7380]

The way you prognostigated "Temptress"!!!

[@vandalfinnicus1507]

Silent guy with cocnut halves is Terry Gilliam, director of awesome films Time Bandits, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen, Fisher King, 12 Monkeys and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. If you haven't seen them, highly recommended. EDIT: I forgot, the animator who drops dead was also Terry Gilliam.

[@philipstoddard1502]

All I can say after this is, Life of Brian and Time Bandits.

[@adampare8088]

I saw this in 7th grade. You can't un-see it once you've seen it. I had every gf watch, and yes they all loved it too.

[@BeeWhistler]

Gotta recommend watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus. They had an entire show before making movies.

[@eikthesheik]

Oh damn diggity. I thought you had watched this ages ago. Great surprise! My random thought for this one. The "sh*t!" uttered by Zoot at the end of the castle Anthrax scene is for me one of the best timed lines ever just behind "that you s*cked off a horse" in Ali-g Indahouse

[@Campkrew5]

This just made my Mother’s Day so much better 😂

[@MrValentineReacts]

❤

[@dionysiacosmos]

The original series is very worth checking out. This movie 's popularity led to PBS running the old show. It was hilarious because the local presenters were completely baffled by the whole thing.

[@stephencrawshaw8391]

You should definitely watch the life of Brian

[@seryph3140]

"He knows no limbit"

[@WithTwoFlakes]

Note that they never shout "retreat!", rather they use "run away". The word "retreat" derives from Old French retrait or retret and as the time period precedes the Norman Conquest, it would not be accurate for retreat to be used. I love this sort of occasional historical accuracy in this movie. Most of the Pythons attended Oxford or Cambridge reading Law, History, English, etc so would likely know that. Of course "run away" also sounds funnier 😃

[@Raven5150]

The green knight is who the black knight was fighting before author

[@CousinWhatIsIt]

You've seen the two Monty Python movies that have a structured story-line, but I would say they reached peak absurdity with The Meaning of Life.

[@MrValentineReacts]

🔜 coming

[@lethasatterfield9615]

The Monty Python crew were comedic geniuses, and completely NEW in their comedy approach at the time. They used coconuts as horses because they couldn't afford horses for this production. I'm glad you recognized the self-punishing behavior of the monks. They truly believed everything of the flesh was evil...so to torture the flesh was good. The Catholics, which sprung from the Roman Empire (I can joke as my family is very Catholic), liked punishment of the flesh and hated females. I wish you had been alive when you could witness Monty Python performing at places like the Rose Bowl (if I'm remembering correctly...could have been the Hollywood Bowl), live....improvisation. They were awesome. And the freedom of the audience, drinking, passing joints, et al. It was just a different time of freedom and completely inappropriate laughter. Unfortunately, we've lost this in today's society as nothing is allowed to be funny anymore. I didn't realize how great it was, and I'm probably overly nostalgic...but you youngsters have a crap time of it now. I'm sorry for it. Next, you should watch The Life of Brian. It will demonstrate the interesting ways in which religions are created all over the world. It's funny, but absolutely true...Plus they had more money for that production. All the crew are/were Oxford and/or Cambridge educated men. They were not stupid and neither is their comedy. They're just hilarious in pointing out the ridiculousness of humankind.

[@lsbill27]

These guys made their reputation with their TV show of sketch humor which I think was just as good or better than their movies. Their humor is so clever and fresh it's addicting. Check out 'the argument clinic' and 'the dead parrot' sketches among so many others.

[@williamjones6031]

1. What about the moose? 2. Paying attention to the opening credits makes it better for everyone, including you. 3. The first time I saw this was in the back of a pickup at a drive-in (it's still here) with my siblings and a couple of friends. 4. Perfect Monty Python where you can just get sucked into something where you don't have to think about anything and just let yourself go. 5. "What ya gonna do? Bleed on me." "we'll call it a draw" 6. Quick bit: "Blow it out your ass"! 7. The ultimate cock block 😭 8. Robin's shield is a chicken. 9.The only horse in the film is ridden by the guy that killed the historian. 10.The ending sucked. It was a cop out. Literally They ran out of 🤑🤑

[@garylee3685]

I loved the ending. It would have been disappointing to have a normal resolution after all the absurdity.

[@EPShockley]

“Oh! The Udder disrespect” EXACTLY! Especially when criticizing the use of a cow-tapult, in this (& probably no other, ever… flick!) Another entertaining, & vocabulary enriching reaction! Apologies for not being able to supply you any more than this, but please know that I would, if I could! Thanks, man! Best to you, always! (BTW… Now, you’ve got to react to, “Excalibur”, from John Boorman (1981) Enjoy, good Sir! 😁

[@MrValentineReacts]

my man 🤙🏽

[@EPShockley]

@@MrValentineReacts❤😉😃

[@mikefoster6018]

This (rad) movie reminds me of a word I learnt for guitar playing - 'syncopated'. A cool way to play. (a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm.)

[@MrValentineReacts]

I;ve never encountered that word before. thanks!

[@timlois]

Can't beat The Tale of Sir Lancelot

[@martinl8574]

The killer rabbit gets everyone;!!!

[@MrValentineReacts]

🐇 🔪

[@pauloweise]

You seem like the kind of guy who will love their most underrated movie: The Meaning of Life. There are people who think I'm showing off intellectuality when I say it's my favorite, but it's true. It may be their movie that causes the least amount of laughs, but the intensity and depth of each laugh is worth entire movies.

[@MrValentineReacts]

You have me intrigued. Will do soon!

[@Raven5150]

One day ill have enough money to hire my own patsy to follow me around with coconuts ill pay well and offer benefits

[@MrValentineReacts]

the dream

[@dominicstevens5851]

FoR tHe AlGoRiThM

[@MrValentineReacts]

🙏🏾

[@whyukraine]

THEN: Time Bandits. A must.

[@whyukraine]

Kinda reminds of Princess Bride. But weirder.

[@philshorten3221]

The Monty Python TV show hand the byline "and now for something completely different". The most common gags were always poking fun at the perception of authority. Mixed with a healthy helping of dead parrots, cheese, and fish face slapping!

[@michaelcoffey1991]

Here to re like and re upload :)

[@MrValentineReacts]

💚

[@pirbird14]

No one ever finds the Holy Grail. The original Grail story was written by a man who didn't finish it before he died. All subsequent sequels are stories about the character development of the heroes who search for the Grail.

[@Raven5150]

They used a 1 legged man for the black knight so they only had to dig 1 hole

[@DaisyAzuras]

I have noticed that these young kids just now watching these movies are not able to relax and just enjoy them at face value. They are all so on guard and serious that they don’t allow themselves to enjoy silly comedy.

[@th.burggraf7814]

Now, that was a ton of fun ! 👍🏻

[@MrValentineReacts]

🤙🏽

[@Raven5150]

No that's a Trojan rabbit

[@CraigKostelecky]

I'm sad we didn't get to see their giant wooden badger.

[@timlois]

BTW, thanks for putting the word miscreant back into my vocabulary. I don't think I heard it on this react, but on previous posts. Anyway, I can't stop finding reasons to use it now.

[@MrValentineReacts]

I jump at the opportunity to inject it in any context really

[@Raven5150]

Well here we are finally

[@Raven5150]

The original red wedding

[@drchaos2000]

if you are interested in more background on the king arthur mythology... there is an excellent movie from 1980 called "Excalibur" which is one of the best fantasy movies of the pre lotr era

[@AbsoluteApril]

endlessly quotable, glad you checked it out!

[@Raven5150]

The black knight was truely invincible but Excalibur is the magic sword all other magic swords wish they were

[@charlescallen460]

Fantastic again. Now Life Of Brian is absolutely necessary and soon please 🙂💯

[@gregorywilson1960]

"TIS BUT A SCRATCH"

[@mannistef]

Thanks for the reaction and looking forward to Life of Brian :)

[@MrValentineReacts]

🙌🏽

[@whyukraine]

LIFE OF BRIAN next

[@whyukraine]

The production value is better, & you don't need to know Arthurian legend.

[@whyukraine]

Oh & both Brian & Time Bandits have interesting philosophy.

[@IDieHardForever]

Oh this is exciting You gonna like this one... ah crap its late.... i'll catch up tomorow.

[@Sageddegas]

Omg you gotta watch life of Brian next! Its not as good but its still pretty funny

[@robertpetre9378]

It is the rabbit 🐇 😅

[@PhantomHT1320]

check out Dragonslayer and/or Reign of Fire!

[@bwilliams463]

Aaw...you cut out my favorite animation sequences: The old scribe complaining about the 'Bloody weather...,' the abrupt passing of the seasons with the shepherd, and the death of the Black Beast (and the Animator).

[@Raven5150]

I'm guessing I don't have to explain authorian legend im at the beginning of the video I hope you get the subtle jokes with the Knights back storys

[@IggyStardust1967]

Given the videos of yours that I've seen, I have VERY little doubt that you will not only "get" the jokes in this movie, but also appreciate them, as well. Monty Python was one of the British shows I was exposed to as a child on the local PBS (Public Broadcasting Systems)... as this was before cable television... so we had 3 "Main" networks on the VHF frequencies, and maybe 5 (depending on distance and broadcast signal strength at the moment (they varied at different times of day)) UHF channels. PBS was usually (in my area) on two different UHF frequencies, but carrying the same content. Aside from Monty Python, there was the Benny Hill Show, Dr. Who, and later into the 80s, Red Dwarf (a series I really think you would enjoy). I didn't see this movie in theaters, as I was quite young when it came out. But when I did... I thought it was the most ridiculously funny movies I'd ever seen in my life (at that point)... and it still holds that place of honour today.

[@gregorywilcox5949]

THIS IS A LITTERAL COP OUT

[@rickycharlet3648]

Dalliance away....

[@alanwhetstone3922]

silly silly movie and we need more silly

[@Raven5150]

2 more python movies life of Brian you will love and the meaning of life it's different than the other 2 but way left turn even for Monty python

[@Raven5150]

I think Eric idol plays the most parts then John cleese thrn Michael palin and Terry Gilliam Graham Chapman only played author and the famous historian was the im not dead guy

[@Raven5150]

No not a micguffin the Holy grail is part of authorian legend but for the movie absolutely a mcguffin but the end of the movie is just a cop out

[@Raven5150]

Ok back storys bevedere is the wisest of all knights but makes nothing but horrible decisions the entire movie, galahad actually found the Holy grail and instantly ascended, Lancelot is galahad father so he litterally cockblocked his son Lancelot back story didn't come up cause he had an affair with authors wife and is the direct cause of the fall of camelot

[@lethasatterfield9615]

Dude, I appreciate your verboseness. One thing you may want to consider is....look up mischievous and do the "listen" to its pronunciation. You'll learn something and from then on get frustrated at people that continuously mispronounce it.

[@MrValentineReacts]

omg. Just did. mind. blown. lol. it makes the most sense though, phonetically