This is a movie in the same spirit as the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup: essentially a string of crazy anarchic skits held together weakly by some central theme. The story isn’t strong, but it doesn’t pretend to be and it really doesn’t need to be. It’s just there as a sort of skeleton to hang all the skits on.

As a movie, this feels to me to be strangely out of place in the top 100 movies, maybe because it’s such a low budget production. But being low budget is also part of its charm and humor. It fits easily into the top 100 comedy movies of all time however.

I remember getting introduced to the movie by my high school philosophy teacher, who described Monty Python as funny, but sometimes too silly. And the humor sometimes inpenetrably British.

The movie follows the adventures of King Arthur (Graham Chapman) in his quest for the Holy Grail.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail title card, with gratuitous Swedish subtitles
Special Møøse credits
King Arthur (Graham Chapman, right) and his companion Patsy (Terry Gilliam, left)
Dennis and his mother - mud farmers having a serious discussion about political philosophy, and whether King Arthur has a right to rule
"None shall pass" - The famous Black Knight
"Running away, eh? You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to ya! I'll bite your legs off!"
Strange monastic head-banging tradition
The French taunter
Birds-eye view of King Arthur's group
A Famous Historian - a modern-day historian killed by a knight seconds later, which prompts a police investigation. The police follow Arthur's trail through the progression of the movie.
Three-Headed Knight
Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot (Eric Idle, right) and his minstrels (lead by Neil Innes of Rutles fame, left)
Surrounded by sexy women at Castle Anthrax
"Do you think this scene should have been cut?"
"Get on with it!" (Three-Headed Knight)
"Get on with it!" (Dennis and his mother)
"Get on with it!" (Old Man in Scene 24)
"Get on with it!" (Tim the Enchanter)
"Get on with it!" (Crowd)
"Get on with it!" (God)
Knight Who Says Ni
It wouldn't be Monty Python without a few animations
Tim the Enchanter's introduction in a nice cinematic shot
Rabbit of Caerbannog, the Killer Rabbit
Rabbit of Caerbannog, the Killer Rabbit
The British police finally track down suspects of the killing of the Famous Historian
The British police arresting King Arthur
The British police arresting King Arthur, putting a sack over his head