25 replies to this topic

[Forever Xena]

Svårt att välga

[Kermit]

Riktigt svårt. The Holy Grail får det mest bli av sentimentala skäl.
Lysande hela bunten, ju.

[Forever Xena]

Det blev Something Completely Different

[Georgia]

Det blev Life of Brian

[Marie Morot]

Egentligen går det inte att välja, men jag valde MP at Hollywood Bowl för några av de mest briljanta sketcher som de öht framfört. Tänker bl a på den där de sitter och jämför vem som hade den fattigaste och eländigaste uppväxten ...

[StarBld]

Holy Grail, bara för scenen med den "söta" kaninen

[Walker]

Life of Brian räknar jag som "pythons" filmiska höjdpunkt. Finns många klassiska scener, t ex när Judeiska befrielsefrontens ledare ska hålla ett tal till sina medlemmar och frågar - Vad har romarna gett oss? Renhållning, Akvedukter, ordning osv...Inte riktigt det svar John Cleese var ute efter..

[Jazzdevil]

life of brian är bra, live in holy wood fungerar bra som en sorts greatest hits....

[Walker]

The Crimson Permanent Assurance - Någon som känner till den filmen? Jag har aldrig hört talas om den, måste varit något dom gjorde i början av sin karriär för 1000 år sedan

[Groundsplitter]

The Crimson Permanent Assurance - Någon som känner till den filmen? Jag har aldrig hört talas om den, måste varit något dom gjorde i början av sin karriär för 1000 år sedan

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Inte alls. Det är den fantastiska kortfilmen som inleder Meaning of Life - historien om några gamla trotjänare på en nyligen övertagen bokföringsfirma som gör myteri mot de yngre, effektivitetsinriktade bolagshajarna, sätter segel på byggnaden, kastar loss och sedan seglar iväg för att föra krig mot alla moderna aktiebolag i Amerika.

Terry Gilliam spelade in kortfilmen parallellt med den egentliga filmen; från början var det inte meningen att den skulle bli längre än 5-6 minuter, men den svällde upp till uppemot en halvtimme (innan den klipptes ned till 16 minuter) och kostade nästan lika mycket som resten av filmen. Sekvensen blev så stor att den inte längre passade in där den egentligen skulle ha varit med, utan man beslöt sig för att lägga med den som en inledande kortfilm i stället. Det är den absolut bästa delen i hela Meaning of Life; resten av filmen kom inte alls upp i samma underhållande nivå.

Jag skulle sätta The Crimson Permanent Assurance som tvåa på min lista, efter mitt förstaval Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Edited by Groundsplitter, 11 January 2005 - 13:08.

[GaterGirl]

tror jag bara sett 1 film men kommer inte på vilken. kanske inte såg hela heller.

[Mindphazer]

Håller med Marie Morot! Skrattade mig fördärvad när jag såg den första gången! På andra plats kommer Holy Grail, i konkurrens med Life of Brian.

[Way of the Dragon]

-Every sperm is sacred

-Cleeses sex-undervisning

-Mannen som eksploderer

-Cleese som The Grim Reaper

Edited by Way of the Dragon, 20 January 2005 - 14:25.

[Marie Morot]

Nytt på MP-fronten:

Monty Python brings "Spamalot" to Broadway
Mon Mar 14, 2005 01:46 PM GMT

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By Mark Porter

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After years of lavish spectacles reigning on Broadway, a musical based on a film made up of comedy sketches about medieval Europe might seem like a hard sell. But "Spamalot" is proving naysayers wrong.

Turning the 1974 classic comedy "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" into "Spamalot" took Python member Eric Idle three years of work. And it looks like that hard work is paying off, with the show proving a critical darling in its pre-Broadway run and a box-office smash before it even opens.

The current Broadway season has seen several new musicals disappoint, including "Good Vibrations" and "Brooklyn." Both are hovering near 60 percent capacity at their theatres.

But "Spamalot," which is scheduled to open on the Great White Way on Thursday, could be the saviour. The show has been filling more than 90 percent of the seats at the Shubert Theatre in previews and taking a weekly gross of more than $750,000, rivalling such smash hits as "The Lion King," "Wicked" and "Mamma Mia!" And advance ticket sales have been spectacular, approaching $18 million.

Along with the Python draw, the musical features a top-notch cast of stellar comedians led by Tim Curry, best known for his cult role in garters and black leather in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," as King Arthur.

Emmy winners Hank Azaria ("The Simpsons") and David Hyde-Pierce, coming off his 11-year run as Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom "Frasier," take on multiple roles in the show. Sara Ramirez plays The Lady of the Lake.

BROADWAY PARODY

"Spamalot" follows the travails of King Arthur as he gathers knights to join him on his quest for the Holy Grail. Suddenly the men realize that where they belong is on Broadway. Hilarity reigns as spoofs of past stage triumphs such as "The Phantom of the Opera," "Les Miserables," "The Boy From Oz" and "Fiddler on the Roof" are thrown at the audience.

"Spamalot" opened in Chicago in January and the critics were enthusiastic. The Daily Herald called it "very, very silly and entertaining," while The Chicago Sun-Times lauded its "very funny" script, "delicious lyrics" and "impeccably cast actors" under the direction of Oscar winner Mike Nichols, who has won six Tonys for his stage work.

Python work "is very 'sketchy' writing" which leads into songs quite naturally, Idle told Reuters.

"It was a perfect property. At any point in the movie you could put in a song," he said. The script lends itself to song, according to Idle, with lines like, "Run away," or, "I'm not dead yet," screaming out to be musical cues.

Before Idle could embark on making a musical of the tale of King Arthur and his knights, he had to get permission from the other four surviving members of the comedy troupe. Graham Chapman died in 1989.

"I did an adaptation of the book," Idle said. "When John Du Prez (who co-wrote the music and lyrics) and I recorded about 10 or 12 songs, we sent them a CD. That's what got them. They laughed very much. ... They saw that it was possible. It gave them enough to see that it could work. They said, 'Off you go. You can do this with our blessing.'"

FROM SILVER SCREEN TO STAGE

"Spamalot" is the latest in a rash of films being adapted for the Broadway stage. One of the biggest hits in the genre has been Mel Brooks' adaptation of his comedy masterpiece "The Producers." The success of this venture made it easier for "Spamalot" to get financing, Idle said.

"Actually I went to Brooks in the late 1980s and asked him if we could do 'The Producers.' He could play Bialystock and I could play Bloom -- I was young enough in those days," he chuckled. "It was something I thought would make a good musical."

According to Idle, "There are potentials in some things to become musicals. It's spotting them and getting it right that's half the battle. And finding things that people want to see."

When Idle sat down to work on "Spamalot," he decided to base the show on the portion of the film dealing with the rounding up of the knights.

He said the film "is not very cinematic. There are moments in it. But all the comedy is very simple writing, so it easily transfers."

Many of the gags from "Holy Grail" pop up in "Spamalot" -- the banging of the coconuts for horses' hooves, the strolling minstrels and the French taunter, to name a few. But fans will also see onstage some bits that might have seemed impossible to recreate. The creators of "Spamalot" have come up with inventive ways to include such classic bits as the Black Knight and the Killer Rabbit too. 

Källa: Reuters

Jag skulle gärna gå och se den!

[Sir-L]

Röstade naturligtvis på The Holy Grail. Absolut den bästa de gjort. Kan se den hur många gånger som helst.

[Marie Morot]

Critics laud "Spamalot" as Holy Grail


By Claudia Parsons

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Monty Python's Spamalot," the most eagerly awaited new musical of the season, has been greeted with almost universal guffaws and applause after an opening night of absurdity and nostalgia.

But while The New York Times dubbed it "resplendently silly," many critics noted its warm reception owed much to the audience's affection for the 30-year-old film on which it is based, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

"It's an evening of rapturous insanity -- featuring killer rabbits, hurled cows, outed knights, dancing corpses, horseless horsemen, God, Coconut shells and holy grails," Daily News movie critic Jack Mathews wrote. But he also said around 90 percent of the pleasure of the show was in the anticipation.

The New York Times agreed: "The uninitiated may be bewildered when laughs arrive even before a scene gets under way," it said.

Written by original Python member Eric Idle and directed by Mike Nichols, the show stars Tim Curry, best known for his cult role in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

Emmy winners Hank Azaria, the voice of several characters on "The Simpsons," and David Hyde-Pierce, coming off his 11-year run as Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom "Frasier," play a host of roles.

Idle was joined at the opening night by the four other surviving members of the group, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones.

Together with the late Graham Chapman, the five men revolutionized comedy with the television series "Monty Python's Flying Circus" that started in 1969 with a blend of surrealism and crazy sketches.

Generations of students learned the scripts by heart -- a double-edged sword for the producers of "Spamalot."

The Wall Street Journal's critic Terry Teachout said that despite "near-hysterical audience response" and huge advance ticket sales driven by every Monty Python buff in the greater New York area, "It's a bore."

"My guess is they were really applauding their lost youth, which makes me wonder whether anyone under the age of 50 will find "Spamalot" anything other than puzzling," he wrote.

The New York Post, however, had no such misgivings.

"Only the very dead could hold back their laughter and even they would probably rattle a few appreciative bones," wrote critic Clive Barnes, praising Idle's glorious parody of Broadway musicals.

"It will hereafter delight lovers of Python's immortal Flying Circus, devotees of Spam and even those who've never heard of either," Barnes wrote. "Steal a ticket, even if you have to get a killer rabbit to help."

Källa: Reuters

[Supertreck]

Äntligen har jag hittat filmen som jag letat efter.

En Monty Python som heter Time Bandits

Dvärgar har stulit guds tidskarta som reser kors och tvärs genom tider.

[Ned Flandiddelianders]

Holy Grail för min del.


Time Bandits är ju av Terry Gilliam, som jag ofta tycker gör ojämna filmer. Stundtals briljant, och stundtals faller det platt. Men visst gjorde han roliga animationer till Montys serier...

[Mjolnir]

Röstade Holy Grail. Såg den första gången som liten och blev mäkta upprörd över det urflippade slutet. Med några år till på nacken insåg jag att grejen med Monty Python är just att den slutar som den gör.

[Rick Hunter]

Life of Brian, för att det är den enda av alternativen jag sett

[Wylie Times]

And now for something Completely Different och Monty Python live at Hollywood Bowl innehåller ju egentligen bara sketcher från TV-serien, och precis som nån ovan påpekade passar det bra som greatest hits men jag har personligen svårt att räkna dom till riktigt Phyton filmer där Quest for the Holy Grail och Life of Brian är dom bästa. Holy Grail ligger mig lite varmare om hjärtat.

Jag var för övrigt och såg Spamalot i New York för ett år sen. Riktigt roligt det också. Tyvärr var dock Tim Curry sjuk.

[SavedByZero]

Hur kunde jag missa denna poll, men så såg jag startdatumet
Live at Hollywood Bowl, en kavalkad av briljanta sketcher

[Erika]

Life of Brian, troligtvis den MP-film jag sett flest gånger.

[Robban]

Jag gillar mest The Holy Grail. Så fruktansvärt rolig.

[Catholic Block]

Ingen!