Life of Brian (1979) on Netflix
Brian Cohen is born in the stable next door to Jesus. He grows up in Judea under Roman rule, and a crowd of followers mistakes him for the Messiah.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb8.0/10435,948 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes96%
Trailer
Plot summary
Three wise men arrive at the wrong stable, find Mandy Cohen's newborn son, and take their gifts next door. Brian grows up in Judea under Roman occupation, listening to the Sermon on the Mount, where a young rebel named Judith Iscariot catches his eye. His mother tells him he is half-Roman, and his hatred of the Romans and his wanting Judith lead him to the People's Front of Judea, one of many independence movements that spend their meetings arguing with each other. Its leader, Reg, sends Brian to paint slogans on the palace of the governor, Pontius Pilate. A Roman officer catches him at the wall but cares more about his Latin grammar, and sets him to write the corrected line a hundred times.
Cast
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Life of Brian (1979)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- When EMI's head Bernard Delfont was scared off at the last minute by the subject matter and pulled the finance, former Beatle George Harrison set up HandMade Films with Denis O'Brien to fund the film at a cost of £3 million because he "wanted to see the movie" - what Terry Jones called the "world's most expensive cinema ticket".
- As a reward for his help, Harrison appears in a cameo as Mr. Papadopoulos, "owner of the Mount", briefly shaking hands with Brian in a crowd scene; his one word of dialogue, a cheery but out of place Scouse "'ullo", had to be dubbed in later by Michael Palin.
- Graham Chapman, suffering from alcoholism, was so determined to play the lead role - at one point coveted by Cleese - that he sobered up in time for filming, so much so that he also acted as the on-set doctor.
- "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was re-released with great success after British football fans took it up, and its popularity became truly evident in 1982 when sailors aboard the destroyer HMS Sheffield, severely damaged in an Argentinean Exocet missile attack on 4 May, started singing it while awaiting rescue.
- The most controversial cuts involved Otto, an extremist Zionist leader with a thin Adolf Hitler mustache and a German accent who shouted accusations of "racial impurity" and other Nazi phrases; Terry Gilliam designed his Judean People's Front logo as a Star of David altered to resemble a swastika.
