# Monty Python and the Holy Grail - 40th Anniversary **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2015, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981 "2015-03-14T12:43:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/21 "2015-03-14T17:40:57Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > That’s right, RT. I saw it that summer, too. > > Of course, I was EIGHT and my mom took me. But who’s counting, really? King Arthur…but rather badly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/22 "2015-03-14T17:54:58Z")
Oh, there you go bringing class into it again. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/23 "2015-03-14T18:55:12Z")
“What, the curtains?” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/24 "2015-03-14T19:37:06Z")
What…is your favorite colour? ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/25 "2015-03-14T19:47:48Z")
I saw it for the first time when I was 11-12 so about ten years after it was released. At the time, I was already familiar with French comedies and to a slightly lesser extent American comedies. This was completely different from what I’d seen before and I didn’t know what to make of it… except laugh my ass off. The next day, I saw one of my uncles who had always been, and remains, way hipper than my parents. He was visibly glad I’d enjoyed it and informed me that there were a couple of other films by the same guys. It took me about 5 years to see them all and the BBC series (back in the 80s, you pretty much had to wait until they were on TV which was not often) and a fascination was born. **Monty Python and the Holy Grail** is still my favourite, though. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/26 "2015-03-14T20:41:34Z")
The first time I saw it was at a cheap Saturday matinee in Minneapolis in '75. I had only the vaguest notion of who the Pythons were and what their humor was like; one of my housemates at the time had told me the movie was the closest thing he’d ever seen to a real-life Dungeon [D&D] descent. There were maybe a half-dozen people in the cinema altogether, and the silence was deafening. I swear, the only time I laughed was when Lancelot kicked Princess Lucky in the chest.\* The rest of the time, I was going “This isn’t funny; this is just dumb!” A week later, I went to see it with my housemates and a bunch of other people from the Society for Creative Anachronism (of which I was a member at the time). The cinema was packed, and this time I laughed my ass off. Having other people around to share the experience with made all the difference. This must have been sometime in August, because a few weeks later they started showing _ **Monty Python’s Flying Circus** _ on the local PBS station. \*OK, I have a sick sense of humor. So sue me! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/27 "2015-03-14T20:56:51Z")
All of the kings said I was daft to post a thread in the swamp, but I posted it just the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/28 "2015-03-14T22:03:55Z")
Can’t I have just a _little_ peril? ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/29 "2015-03-14T23:40:31Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Can’t I have just a _little_ peril? No, it’s too perilous. I was 7 when it was originally released so I didn’t get a chance to see it in the theater then, but we did catch it at the historic Crest Theater in Sacramento when it was re-released for the 25th anniversary. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/30 "2015-03-15T00:06:35Z")
for death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/31 "2015-03-15T00:09:58Z")
I saw this in a theater in Corvallis, Oregon in 1975 and I was completely baked. I laughed until I could hardly breathe and tears rolled down my cheeks. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/32 "2015-03-15T00:18:38Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > No, it’s too perilous. I’ll bet you’re gay! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/33 "2015-03-15T02:59:52Z")
I have to push the pram a lot. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/34 "2015-03-15T03:42:45Z")
All right, sonny, that’s enough, just take off. ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/35 "2015-03-15T04:25:02Z")
Sir Not-Appearing-In-This Thread well crap ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/36 "2015-03-15T04:38:50Z")
> [@KCB615](#): > > All of the kings said I was daft to post a thread in the swamp, but I posted it just the same, just to show 'em. > > It sank into the swamp. I quoted this line (well, the original) in a book I wrote on medieval castles. My editor removed it. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/37 "2015-03-15T04:39:32Z")
I’ve noticed one scene in MP&HG has become iconic of late as a reference on Youtube. It is a scene with no dialogue however, and so cannot be quoted. This is the scene where Sir Lancelot (John Cleese attacks the castle and is seen by the gate guards charging across a field to the sound of a loud kettle drum. They cut back to the guards several times looking on and back to Lancelot, who seems to get no closer, until he is suddenly there. Anyway, several youtube reviews of movies have been using the drums to make fun of various movies scenes that seem to be similar. The first I noticed was when CinemaSins did [their take on Underworld](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Barr1s6orOM), making fun of the protagonist having all day and tons of ammunition to shoot through the floor rather than shoot the werewolves charging down the hallway towards her. I think the Nostalgia Critic and a few others have also done a similar thing with other films. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/38 "2015-03-15T04:43:32Z")
40th anniversary! Finally interwebbers have a reason to quote Monty Python whenever possible! ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/39 "2015-03-15T06:49:11Z")
I saw it on regular broadcast TV years after it had been in theaters. I was _totally unaware_ of the movie or of Monty Python generally. I was home alone at the time and it was nearly 2:00 in the morning. I was flipping channels and pause when I saw “England 932 A.D.” on the screen – I didn’t even know the title of the movie, having missed that part. “Oh good, something historical,” I thought, settling in. The knight and his page clop-clopped into view over the crest of the hill…and the page was banging two coconut shells together. What a moment! The next hour and a half, although ahistorical, was educational indeed. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981/40 "2015-03-15T08:03:53Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead… “I’m not dead yet.” I love to quote from the witch scene. “She turned me into a newt!” “A newt?” “I got better.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-40th-anniversary/714981.md?page=3)