Monty Python and the Holy Grail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_python_and_the_holy_grail

-British made comedy made in 1974

Plot
This story is a parody of the story of King Arthur

-Follows the legend of King Arthur(Graham Chapman), his squire Patsy(Terry Gilliam) recruits his Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Bedevere the Wise(Terry Jones), Sir Lancelot(John Cleese), Sir Robin the Not Quite So Brave(Eric Idle), Sir Galahad(Michael Palin). On the way, Arthur battles the Black Knight (John Cleese) and even though all limbs are gone, the Black Knight keeps fighting.  They reach Camelot, but Arthur decides not to enter, as he thinks it's a silly place. They are instructed by God(represented by an animated photo of cricket player W.G. Grace) to seek out the Holy Grail

-Their first stop is a French-controlled castle where they think the Grail is. After being insulted in bad French language by the guard, they try to sneak in a Trojan Rabbit, but this plan goes wrong when they forget to hide in it and it gets shot back at them via catapult. Arthur then decides they should split up and search for the Grail.

-A modern day historian is telling the story of Arthur for a TV program when he is suddenly killed by a knight on horseback, triggering a police investigation

-Each of the knights come upon danger in their quest. Arthur and Bedevere attempt to satisfy the odd requests of the dreaded Knights who say Ni. Sir Robin narrowly avoids a fight with a 3 headed giant by running away while they argue with each other, Sir Lancelot accidentally assaults a wedding party at Swamp Castle thinking they are holding a woman hostage, Galahad is led by a Grail-shaped beacon to Castle Anthrax, populated by sex crazed women who want him for sexual attention, but is rescued by Lancelot. The Knights regroup and travel to see Tim the Enchanter (Cleese), who points out that the location of the Grail is written on the walls. To enter the caves, they are forced to fight the Rabbit of Caerbannog using the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. They enter the cave and are attacked by the Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh, which devours Brother Maynard. Arthur and his knights flee and barely escape due to the beast suffering a heart attack

-With their final destination known, the group travels to the Bridge of Death, where each knight is forced to answer 3 questions by the bridge-keeper(Gilliam), before they can cross the Gorge of Eternal Peril; Sirs Robin and Galahad fail and are thrown into a chasm below. Lancelot becomes separated from Arthur and Bedevere, and is later shown being arrested by the police for the murder of the historian. Arthur and Bedevere travel to the Grail castle which turns out to be the same French-occupied castle who drove them off earlier. They unleash a large army to prepare to storm the castle, but as they begin to charge, the police arrive on scene. Arthur and Bedevere are arrested, and one of the officers knocks the film out of the camera, putting a brief stop to the movie. There are no credits, only music played over a black screen.

-Some of the castles used in the movie include Bodiham Castle in east Sussex, Doune Castle in Scotland, Castle Stalker in Ireland, Kidwelly Castle in Wales

Did You Know?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071853/trivia
-The scene where Arthur is approaching the 1st castle and Lancelot's running to Swamp Castle were filmed on Hampstead Heath, a London park beside one of the city's busiest roads
-The gorilla hand that turns the pages is none other than Terry Gilliam's hand. The hand turning the pages before belongs to Gilliam's wife
-The Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Film is Michael Palin's infant son Tom
-Michael Palin plays the most characters, 12
-Funds earned by Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album went towards this movie. The band Pink Floyd were such fans they halted recording sessions to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus
-Graham Chapman's alcoholism caused repeated problems throughout the movie, from him forgetting lines, to a double having to do the scene where he is supposed to cross the Bridge of Death because he was shaking, sweating, moving slowly and obviously stressed from the alcohol DT's
-Chapman was the only one to wear real chain mail, which weighed 25 pounds. The rest of the cast wore knitted wool painted to look like metal
-In the scene where the villagers are trying to decide if a woman is a witch, Eric Idle is seen biting down on the blade of his scimitar. This is because he was about to burst out laughing and he didn't want to ruin the scene. If you look closely, he is seen shaking slightly, trying to keep his laughs under control

Cast

Actor	Main Role	Other roles
Graham Chapman	King Arthur	Voice of God, Hiccoughing Guard, Middle Head of Three-Headed Knight
John Cleese	SirLancelot	Second soldier in opening scene, Man in plague scene with body, Black Knight, Third Villager, French Taunter, Tim the Enchanter
Terry Gilliam	Patsy	Old Man (Soothsayer) in Scene 24/Bridgekeeper, Green Knight, Sir Bors (First to be killed by rabbit), Weak-hearted animator (Himself), Gorilla Hand
Eric Idle	Sir Robin	The Dead Collector, First Villager, Confused Guard at Swamp Castle, Concorde (squire of Sir Lancelot), Roger the Shrubber, Brother Maynard
Terry Jones	Sir Bedevere	Dennis's Mother, Left Head of Three-Headed Knight, Prince Herbert, Voice of the Cartoon Scribe, French Knight
Michael Palin	SirGalahad	First soldier in opening scene, Dennis, Second Villager, Right Head of Three-Headed Knight, King of Swamp Castle, Monk (Maynard's assistant), Main Knight who says "Ni", Narrator, French Knight, Guest at Swamp Castle, Mud-Eater
Neil Innes	Sir Robin's Minstrel	Head of chanting monks, Page crushed by wooden rabbit, Fourth Villager
Connie Booth	The Witch
Carol Cleveland	Zoot	Dingo (Zoot's twin)
Bee Duffell	Old crone
John Young	Historian	Dead body (who claims to be not dead)
Rita Davies	Historian's Wife
Sally Kinghorn	Winston
Avril Stewart	Piglet