Movie #1: Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail

Summary from IMDb: King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Grail, encountering many very silly obstacles.

Before-
I was very happy that Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail won the poll for culturally influential movie. What other movie has their freakin’ CREDITS quoted? Plus, it was one of the movies I had originally seen, so I knew what I was getting into.

Coconuts, swallows, French, black knights, shrubberies, witches, virgins, Tim, k-nig-ghits, and rabbits with sharp pointy teeth, I think most of us know what to expect from this movie.

After-
How the hell do you write about the cultural influence of Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail? This movie is so incredibly ingrained on our culture that it’s hard to know where to start. Practically the entire movie is, and has been, quoted in social engagements and referenced in other movies. Writing a review seems redundant at best.

While I try to get over my writer’s block, let me pause to tell you a quick story about my brilliant son. My little boy has a bunch on Playmobile ™ knights and castles. When I am feeling particularly sick, he will put on a show for me with these toys. One of the first shows he put on with these knights had them singing and dancing. The song that stuck in my mind was about the poor knight’s lack of transportation… the lyrics being “I don’t know how I’ll get there/ my horse is dead/ and cars haven’t been invented yet.”

After that, I borrowed a copy of Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail from a friend of mine so my son could watch it (we had to skip a few scenes- he was barely 6 at the time, and I was not ready to answer questions about castle Anthrax or sooth limbless knights and killer rabbit nightmares). He loved it, of course. I thought my boy would get a kick out of the singing and dancing knights at Camelot, but his favorite part was actually the knights who say “Ni!” He will go back and forth with me, quoting the following:

My son: NI.
Me: NOU.
My son: No, NI.
Me: NOU.
My son: No No, NI... NI.
Me: No,No,No,No... NI.

And maybe that’s why this movie IS so ingrained in our society. It has nothing to do with deeper meaning. There is nothing about this movie that makes you question your life, nothing that changes your fundamental beliefs or defines an unknown. It is just so damned simple and silly that anyone, even a 6 year old, can quote it. It plays to the lowest denominator, and in doing so, makes everyone feel included in the joke.

Obviously, much, much more could be written about Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail and where it’s been referenced in our culture or quoted in our society, but I’m really lazy. IMDb has done a phenomenal job in collecting the relevant information, and I see no need to reinvent the wheel:

IMDb links-
Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail quotes.
Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail movie connections.

'Tis but a scratch.