# What is the best film by Terry Gilliam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 18, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028 "2011-10-18T12:48:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/21 "2011-10-18T15:55:51Z")
_Holy Grail_ has some great moments, but it’s more like a series of sketches than a coherent film. I voted for _12 Monkeys_. On re-watching it the other day I was struck by what a well-constructed film it is. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/22 "2011-10-18T16:07:53Z")
> [@cordylus](#): > > I hope you all filed a B32/6 before voting. What? Here? This is bat country! ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/23 "2011-10-18T16:26:27Z")
And that was only one of the many occasions on which I met my death, an experience which I don’t hesitate strongly to recommend. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/24 "2011-10-18T17:41:31Z")
Hmm no love for the _Fisher King_ (I am biased towards happy endings with redemption involved, which in this case involved not one but two individuals). ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/25 "2011-10-18T18:01:00Z")
I rate them: 1. _Brazil_ 2. _12 Monkeys_ 3. (_Holy Grail_) 4. _Fisher King_ It was tough to choose between _Brazil_ and _12 Monkeys_, but I finally picked the former. I think I was influenced by a recent Brad Pitt interview in which he lamented that he went a little over the top in that movie, and looking back, I think that’s accurate. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/26 "2011-10-18T18:06:09Z")
No option for _The Crimson Permanent Assurance_? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/27 "2011-10-18T18:22:31Z")
**12 Monkeys** was great, but **Brazil** was mind-blowing (it probably helped that I saw it in the theater at age 15). I also don’t understand the hate for **Fear and Loathing** - it would easily be my #3 pick. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/28 "2011-10-18T18:23:15Z")
I voted for [1]12 Monkeys\* over _Brazil_ by just a hair, because I think it is a more sophisticated film, combining a traditional thriller aspect with Gilliam’s accomplished quirkiness. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/29 "2011-10-18T18:25:49Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Hmm no love for the _Fisher King_ (I am biased towards happy endings with redemption involved, which in this case involved not one but two individuals). It’s a good movie, but I find it somehow annoying. There are some fantastic scenes in it, though. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/30 "2011-10-18T18:26:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > No option for _The Crimson Permanent Assurance_? It’s fun to charter an accountant And sail the wild accountancy…😃 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/31 "2011-10-18T18:47:25Z")
Brazil, by far. When I saw it in the theater, I was so gobsmacked that when the lights came up I had a hard time standing up out of my seat. It impacted me more deeply than any other film I’ve ever seen. It is literally a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/32 "2011-10-18T19:20:37Z")
Tough call for me. I voted Fisher King, my favorite TG film because it somehow just really works for me. But my second fave of his, Twelve Monkeys, is actually his “best” movie. . ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/33 "2011-10-18T19:27:00Z")
**12 Monkeys** - one of my top five favorite films I haven’t seen his last couple of movies, but I love all the rest (except Brothers Grimm, that was awful). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/34 "2011-10-18T20:08:37Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Brazil, by far. When I saw it in the theater, I was so gobsmacked that when the lights came up I had a hard time standing up out of my seat. It impacted me more deeply than any other film I’ve ever seen. It is literally a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. Yeah, that’s me, too. I was another who saw it as a teenager, and that might well have helped. The protagonist is a hopeless romantic trying to figure out his world while trapped in a stultifying bureaucracy where he has no control over his life, and if there’s a better description of high school I haven’t heard it. At any rate, I found it hilarious, profound, and depressing, and on repeated watchings it’s held up well. In general, I don’t think Gilliam is a tight director. Other directors I love create intricate puzzle-boxes of movies where everything fits together perfectly. The closest Gilliam has done to that is 12 Monkeys, which didn’t do that much for me. Most of the time he just slops the movie all over the screen. And plenty of those movies do nothing for me: I hated Time Bandits and don’t like Munchausen nearly as much as I want to. But when he gets it right– **Brazil** and **Parnassus** –he’s one of my favorite artists. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/35 "2011-10-18T20:29:17Z")
There’s one little part of _Brazil_ that I disagree with. It showed people eating goo in a restaurant, and there were little signs showing what the goo was supposed to be. This implies that in the future food will be tasteless and formless, but still have nutritional content. The exact opposite is what’s really happening. ---
**Author:** ![Snowcarpet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowcarpet/32/257_2.png) [@Snowcarpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowcarpet)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/36 "2011-10-18T20:42:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Mom! Dad! It’s evil! Don’t touch it! LMAO every time I see it. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/37 "2011-10-18T20:49:17Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Hmm no love for the _Fisher King_ (I am biased towards happy endings with redemption involved, which in this case involved not one but two individuals). Robin Williams’ sporadically bombastic performance (“You are MY woman”) and the overload of plot threads & film styles really did it in. Good in spots (the dance sequence is especially memorable), but overall too much of a hodgepodge. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/38 "2011-10-18T20:54:36Z")
I like all of the fims in the Trilogy of Imagination. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/39 "2011-10-18T21:52:43Z")
I voted for \*Brazil \*because I do think it’s his best, but my favorite is _The Fisher King_. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028/40 "2011-10-18T21:56:52Z")
I voted for _12 Monkeys_ because of the ones I’ve seen, it’s the one I think is the best film. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-film-by-terry-gilliam/600028.md?page=3)