Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) on Netflix
PG19751h 31mAdventureComedyFantasy
In AD 932, Arthur crosses Britain with squire Patsy, who bangs coconuts while Arthur mimes riding, to gather the Knights of the Round Table. God orders him to find the Holy Grail.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb8.1/10608,036 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
Arthur, King of the Britons, travels his realm in AD 932 with his squire Patsy, who clangs coconut shells to imitate hooves while Arthur mimes riding. He debates whether coconuts could grow in a cold land, crosses a plague-stricken town, and tells two peasants how the Lady of the Lake gave him Excalibur, then fights the Black Knight. Sir Bedevere the Wise joins him after a witch trial, followed by Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Galahad the Pure and Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot. At Camelot the resident knights perform a musical number, and Arthur decides against entering. God then commands him to find the Holy Grail. The knights reach a castle held by French soldiers who claim to hold the Grail.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Avril Stewartas Dr. Piglet
- Sally Kinghornas Dr. Winston
- Mark Zyconas Prisoner
- Elspeth Cameronas Girl in Castle Anthrax
- Mitsuko Forstateras Girl in Castle Anthrax
- Sandy Roseas Girl in Castle Anthrax
- Romilly Squireas Musician at Wedding / Villager at Witch Burning
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- With no studio willing to fund the film, the Pythons turned to rock musicians for money: Eric Idle later revealed the entire original £175,350 budget came from eight investors, including Led Zeppelin (£31,500), Pink Floyd (£21,000), and Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson (£6,300), who saw it partly as a tax write-off given Britain's income tax rate of up to 90 percent.
- The famous coconut gag came from necessity: the knights were originally going to ride real horses, but the small budget ruled them out apart from a lone horse, so the Pythons had their characters mime horse-riding while their porters trotted behind banging coconut shells together.
- The killer rabbit scene used a real rabbit, which Gilliam said was covered with red liquid to simulate blood while its owner, who did not want the animal dirty, was kept unaware; the liquid was difficult to remove from the fur, though the rabbit was unharmed.
- Graham Chapman suffered from acrophobia, trembling and bouts of forgetfulness during filming due to his alcoholism, which prompted him to refrain from drinking while production continued in order to remain “on an even keel”; he achieved sobriety in December 1977.
SPOILER
Scripts and notebooks from Michael Palin's archive, donated to the British Library in 2017, document an alternative ending the troupe considered: a battle between the knights of Camelot, the French and the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, dropped as a much pricier option in favour of King Arthur getting arrested.- In 2013 the Pythons lost a legal case to Mark Forstater, the film's producer, owing a combined £800,000 in legal fees and back royalties for the derivative work of Spamalot; to help cover it they staged the show Monty Python Live (Mostly) at the O2 Arena in London in July 2014.
- One shot is actually a still photograph of the gorge at Mount Buffalo National Park in Victoria, Australia; Doyle said in a 2000 Hotdog magazine interview that the still was filmed with candles underneath the frame to give a heat haze, a low-cost method of achieving a convincing location effect.
