Narrowly beats Life of Brian as the finest British comedy

Rating: 10/10 (9 October 2003)

There are faults with this film, the cinematography is far from ideal, in parts it is poorly lit, the camera angles are poor and the sound is not great. However, the Pythons' were given peanuts or should that be coconuts to make Holy Grail so this can be forgiven. And the ending is week, but again they had university students working for 4 pounds a day and they simply ran out of cash to film the intended battle sequence.
Despite its shortcomings, in my humble opinion, this is an almost perfect comedy. The Python team - John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin were some of the finest writer/performers of their generation. Each of them went on to be a success in their own right.
Cleese is widely regarded as the best writer of his era; Gilliam has made a series of weird and wonderful films; Jones a writer, director and TV historian; Palin an award winning actor, and numerous TV travelogues; Idle did the Rutles and many other films; Chapman was less successful after Python but continued to act and write before his death from cancer. So for such people to be together in a project is unusual, much like the Beatles in that regard.
I digress. Holy Grail has many wonderful moments: The Black Knight, the Witch, the French Taunter, Sir Galahad, the Bridge of Death. Holy Grail is less a plot-driven film more a series of sketches on a Medieval theme but purely brilliant nonetheless.
Many cite Life of Brian as the best Python film but for me it seems too clean, too polished for a Python production. As a keen fan of the original TV series, Holy Grail is more true to the Python experience of the BBC - crude, imperfect genius. All the obvious pennypinching only makes it funnier - the use of coconuts in place of horses for one.
If you are thinking of seeing/renting/buying this film, let me assure you it will be one of the finest cinematic purchases you will ever make.