Incredibly quotable, deeply irreverent, and absolutely hilarious, Monty Python and the Holy Grail was the first original film from the Monty Python troupe after several successful seasons of their Flying Circus show. Come on, you know the movie, and can probably quote parts of it on your own. The Pythons are capable of getting a laugh out of everything – including subtitles for opening credits. Famously, the production was so low budget, they were unable to rent horses for the characters to ride and so imitated the act of horseback riding while their patsies follow behind, banging coconuts together, which has since become one of the go-to gags to reference or discuss among lovers of the film. It also prevented them from coming up with an actual ending to the film, which is funny because abrupt, nonsensical endings are the epitome of what is considered “Pythonesque”. Because no studio wanted to finance the film for some reason, it meant that the members of Monty Python would have to find a way to secure financing on their own. Because of this, the majority of the film was financed by members of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Elton John.

The film plays out like a series of sketches from their tv show, just with the tying theme of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. First, King Arthur and his squire, Patsy, arrive at a castle and debate with the guards whether or not swallows are capable of carrying coconuts. Then, they pass a town where the plague runs rampant, though not everyone in town is dead and some even feel happy. Then, Arthur tries to justify his right to rule to a couple of peasants by explaining how he received Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, but the peasants want to argue politics. He defeats the Black Knight, though the knight proclaims to be “invincible”. And he helps a town prove a woman with a fake nose and the power to turn people into newts is a witch. This is also where he meets Sir Bedevere the Wise and successfully recruits him to his circle of knights. Off screen, Arthur also recruits Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Galahad the Pure, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot, and Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film. Arthur leads them to Camelot only to decide against it after a brief musical number. God then speaks to them and tells them to search for the Holy Grail. The next castle they ride to is owned by French people who claim they have a grail already. To sneak into their castle, Sir Bedevere suggests they build a Trojan Rabbit, however, he forgets to tell the knights to hide in it, and it gets flung back to them via catapult. Randomly, a modern-day historian who is recounting the events of the story is killed by an unknown knight, which starts a police investigation. The Knights decide to split up in order to search for the Grail. Arthur and Bedevere attempt to gain information from the Knights Who Say “Ni!”, but “it” proves difficult. Sir Robin bravely runs away from a three-headed giant. Sir Galahad is misled to Castle Anthrax, which is filled solely with young women who demand punishment for their misbehavior. Sir Lancelot answers the letter of who he thinks is a distressed young maiden who is being forced into a marriage she does not want, only to find that the letter is from an effeminate prince who just wants to sing, despite his father’s protests. The Knights regroup and find Tim the Enchanter, who tells them of a cave where the location of the Grail is written. However, upon arriving at the cave, they learn it is guarded by the most vicious creature imaginable: the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog. Arthur is only able to successfully destroy the Rabbit by using the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. They enter the cave only to face a horrific animated monster. Luckily, they escape the cave when the monster’s animated dies of a heart attack. They attempt to cross the Bridge of Death, but must first answer three questions each in order to not be flung into the Gorge of Eternal Peril. Lancelot makes it through without any trouble. However, Robin and Galahad are thrown into the Gorge. Arthur causes the bridge-keeper to be thrown in when he questions whether the bridge-keeper’s question about the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow is an African or European swallow. After a brief intermission, Arthur and Bedevere successfully cross the bridge and reach Castle Aarrgh, but cannot find Lancelot. They discover that Castle Aarrgh is maintained by the Frenchmen from earlier in the film. Arthur summons an army of knights to charge the castle, but they are stopped mid-charge by the police, who arrest Arthur and Bedevere for the murder of the historian.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is bad on purpose. That’s part of the joke. It flaunts its lack of budget, and uses canned music for scenes in order to give it that cheap feel. But even though some of these gags feel stupid and silly, they are actually smart and well-versed in Arthurian legend. Subtle nods to the religious backdrops of the Arthurian stories, like the reference to Joseph of Arimathea, make a movie that is so purposely low-budget feel so rich and full. It adds another layer to the humor. And it’s that devotion to the source material that makes the movie such a good parody. The same could be said for the films of Mel Brooks. The concept of parody is only successful when it’s in love with its subject. That’s why political humor in recent years has faltered so drastically. It doesn’t help that the actual state of our political climate is beyond parody already, but it’s the attempt to parody with a mean spirit that makes it forgettable and lackluster. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is more than it’s visual gags, quotable dialogue, and killer bunnies. It’s timeless.

Bonus Review: Airplane!

Only five years after Monty Python and the Holy Grail made its debut on the big screen, another parody came along to take the crown. Airplane! is a love letter to the disaster film genre and specifically pulls from the Airport franchise, but even more so, steals the entire plot of a long-forgotten movie from the 50s called Zero Hour! The comedy team of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker were no strangers to parody from their years performing skits in the comedy troupe, Kentucky Fried Theatre, which they founded. After accidentally recording and watching Zero Hour! one evening, ZAZ (as the trio is collectively known) were inspired to take the unintentionally hilarious movie and repeat it with a knowing wink. This included one of the aspects that make Airplane! so funny, which is making serious actors say these ridiculous lines as the punchline. Actors such as Lloyd Bridges (a 40s-50s era leading man and the star of Sea Hunt), Peter Graves (star of the television series, Mission Impossible), Robert Stack (Eliot Ness in The Untouchables), and Leslie Nielsen (Forbidden Planet, The Poseidon Adventure) used the weight of their star status to turn random lines of dialogue into the quotes you repeat today.

Ted Striker, a fighter pilot in the war who now suffers from PTSD runs into his ex-girlfriend, Elaine Dickinson, at the airport where she is preparing to board a flight as a stewardess. In an attempt to win her back, Ted gets a ticket for the same flight, but Elaine continues to reject him, prompting him to recount his memories of the two of them together to the people sits next to, causing them to commit suicide. Some time after the in-flight meal, passengers, as well as staff begin to get sick. Dr. Rumack deduces that the fish is giving people food poisoning. Eventually, the entire flight crew succumbs to the food poisoning, leaving no one to fly the plane. Elaine and Dr. Rumack convince Ted to take control, but his lack of confidence and PTSD interferes. The control tower gets his former commanding officer, Rex Kramer, to come and talk Ted through landing the plane. Ted successfully lands and his heroism helps him rekindle his relationship with Elaine.

Now, based on that summary, Airplane! feels like a normal action film, does it not? All I’ve left out are the visual gags (which are numerous, but do not interfere with the plot) and specific quotes. That’s the beauty of Airplane!. The story is surprisingly endearing, coming from a madcap comedy, but the real gems of the film are the inclusion of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as one of the co-pilots (including a reference to his basketball career), and Leslie Nielsen. Nielsen’s turn in Airplane! into comedy is so drastic and complete that it is nearly forgotten now that he was previously solely a dramatic actor and occasional leading man. Now, he is known for Airplane! and The Naked Gun films (and the underrated, and honestly funnier, television precursor, Police Squad!). Very rarely does a dramatic actor make a total career change into comedy that actually works, but apparently Nielsen referred to himself before his turn in Airplane! as a “closet comedian”, who constantly pranked his costars on other films he worked on. I wonder how many other serious actors are closet comedians, just waiting for the right role to come along?