# Monty Python and the Holy Grail is 50 today. Also a Moose bit my Sister **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [April 28, 2025, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632 "2025-04-28T22:48:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/21 "2025-04-29T14:56:32Z")
I saw it at the Exeter Street Theater in Boston, which had newly been cleaned so that its stones shone in their original hues – an appropriate place to watch it. To advertise the film, they had a troop of guys dressed as King Arthur and the knights walking through the streets of Boston, dragging a rabbit “Trojan Horse” after them on wheels. It was tiny – no like the one in the film. I later saw a similar advertising bunch in New Yotk City, also dragging the Trojan Rabbit. They gave out flyers advertising the film “Makes Ben Hur Look like an Epic”, and so on. Great flick, although I never did like the ending. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/22 "2025-04-29T14:57:56Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Simple vandalism, I think. Wow, she likes to live dangerously! If someone asked me for a list of the top five animals I would not want to piss off, a moose would definitely be on it. ---
**Author:** ![Nyvaak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nyvaak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nyvaak)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/23 "2025-04-29T15:04:43Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > If someone asked me for a list of the top five animals I would not want to piss off, a moose would definitely be on it. What about Ralph the Wonder Llama ? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/24 "2025-04-29T15:07:26Z")
> [@Nyvaak](#): > > What about Ralph the Wonder Llama ? Nah. We’re friends. I met him hiking the mountainous region of Peru and, since I love hiking, I walked instead of riding him. He really appreciated it. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/25 "2025-04-29T15:10:02Z")
I think the first time I saw it was on TV a few years after it was released. Likely edited by the broadcasters within an inch of its life it paled beside any episode of _Flying Circus_ which I was already versed in. A few years later (c1980) I saw it several times at midnight on a screen next door to one showing _The Song Remains the Same_. Wafts of weed smoke poured out of the Zeppelin auditorium but it was the Python fans who seemed the most stoned. I never figured out what (if anything) they were using. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/26 "2025-04-29T15:15:07Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > There are no indications of any emotional content to the initial-carving, just boredom. She must have died of boredom while carving it! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/27 "2025-04-29T17:04:36Z")
Anther vote for “didn’t like the ending”. There’s clever meta-commentary\*, and there’s lazy. I think MP&tHG is the latter. \*I didn’t think it worked in Blazing Saddles either. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/28 "2025-04-29T17:06:31Z")
To be fair, they had run out of money. John Cleese doesn’t and didn’t like their ending either, but reality struck. As it was, the film was partially funded by Led Zep, George Harrison, Pink Floyd and I think The Who. Not your normal funding method. ETA: Not The Who, but Jethro Tull. > **[Monty Python and the Holy Grail | Financing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python_and_the_Holy_Grail#Financing)** > > According to Gilliam, the Pythons turned to rock stars like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin for financing because no studio would fund the film, and the rock stars saw it as "a good tax write-off" because the top rate of UK income tax was "as high as 90%" at the time. Idle and Gilliam had previously mentioned that Elton John also contributed to the financing of the film. A 2021 tweet by Eric Idle revealed that the entire original budget of £175,350 (about $410,000 in 1974) was provid ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/29 "2025-04-29T17:26:50Z")
We have tickets to the Fandango theater showing for next week. Dates are today, 4/29, and next week on 5/4 and 5/7. Can’t wait to see it in a theater. We’re trying to convince the 13-year-old granddaughter in going; she probably won’t go. TCM had a Monty Python mini-marathon a while ago, broadcasting Holy Grail and Life of Brian for the first time for TCM, along with some of the live concert shows and interviews. It helped to turn on captioning! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/30 "2025-04-29T17:32:56Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > John Cleese doesn’t and didn’t like their ending either, but reality struck. To be fair, the list of things John Cleese doesn’t and didn’t like is pretty long. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/31 "2025-04-29T17:35:11Z")
This is true. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/32 "2025-04-29T18:07:44Z")
> A Moose bit my Sister Only once in 50 years is statistically none. My family would watch Monty Python’s Flying Circus together, so I had some sense of what the film would be like. I saw it with friends in maybe 1977 or 1978. I was really into the many versions of the Arthur legend, so I’d have loved it for that alone. Swamp Castle is still my favorite scene, and I love the way the film’s action ends. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/33 "2025-04-29T19:00:40Z")
No whoosh. The issue was I’d apparently loaded the thread before you’d completed posting the link. I sure see it now. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/34 "2025-04-29T19:03:35Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I didn’t think it worked in Blazing Saddles either. If you don’t think the ending of _Blazing Saddles_ worked, I don’t know what to tell you, man. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/35 "2025-04-29T19:58:03Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > To be fair, they had run out of money. John Cleese doesn’t and didn’t like their ending either, but reality struck. It wasn’t the best ending, but it worked for them. Many of their sketches just ended. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/36 "2025-04-29T21:11:27Z")
Not putting any care into the end of sketches is kinda Python’s thing. Not surprising that the habit carried over into the films. The glorious ending of _The Life of Brian_ was just a happy afterthought. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/37 "2025-05-02T19:48:51Z")
That is completely true. To my mind, _The Life of Brian_ is the only Monty Python movie with an actual ending. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/38 "2025-05-04T20:17:06Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Showing on Prime and Peacock if you don’t have the DVD or the book of the movie. > > I just witnessed some taunting in an outrageous French accent. [Arrow lands on servant] “Message for you, Sir!” [It is available now for free (with ads) on YouTube.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9B7fBPhWzU) ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/39 "2025-05-05T23:35:29Z")
Saw it in theaters today. Very funny, they had a 5 minute intro by the surviving cast which was pretty entertaining talking about things deleted from the movie. John Cleese however now sounded awful, though I already knew that because I watched a film with him in it 10 years ago and he sounded awful then too. My only complaint with the movie is that the part with castle anthrax is the most unnecessary part of the movie, this entire 5 minute scene seems to be entirely a setup for the joke about oral sex. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632/40 "2025-05-06T00:13:38Z")
I saw it in theater in HS. Then at college a couple of years later, I saw it at least 15x at cheapo fri/sat night movies. I’m sure more than I’ve seen any other movie. Yesterday my wife wanted to watch it. Yeah, the funniest bits still hold up - my fave is the “Old woman” bit early on. “Just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me!” But, as I feared, I started getting bored about 1/2 way through. It really bums me out the way no film/TV I used to think hilarious still gets me today. We are taking a trip to Europe soon, so tonight we are going to watch a fave from my youth, “If it’s Tuesday, It Must be Belgium.” I’m sure I’ll be disappointed! ;( [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-is-50-today-also-a-moose-bit-my-sister/1017632.md?page=3)