What an utterly stupid movie this is! And I mean that as a compliment! Five Englishmen and one American (John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam), calling themselves Monty Python's Flying Circus , after a name they pulled from the London phone directory, gained international fame through a television show they did in the early seventies for the British Broadcasting Company in England. The shows became a phenom in the states largely through public television stations. The troupe did one film, based on reworkings of their television sketches, called And Now For Something Completely Different , which was not released in the U.S. until later. Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1974), was their first film comprised of original material, and the first released in the states, cementing their reputation. Deservedly so. The script, an irreverent and very silly reworking of the King Arthur legends, was the work of all of the Pythons. It was directed by Jones and the American Gilliam, who also did the animation, as he had for the television show. The humor is absurd in the extreme. King Arthur is recruiting knights for his court at Camelot (a very musical, silly place! where armoured knights dance on tables , kicking off plates and cups). After he has gathered a few of the more famous names, the sky opens, and a cartoon God, looking very stern, charges Arthur and his knights to Seek the Holy Grail! When Arthur responds that this is a Good idea, oh Lord! , the Deity rolls it's eyes and thunders Course it's a good idea! And so begin the adventures of Arthur and his small band of knights.And what adventures they are! Everything from a large, wooden Trojan Rabbit that they build to infiltrate a castle (unfortunately, they forget to climb inside), through an encounter with the mysterious, shrubbery-loving Knights Who Say 'Nee'! , who by the mere repetition of the syllable Nee can cause pain, or worse. Then, too, there is the fluffy little white rabbit that guards the cave of Kyre Bannor, and can...well, you wouldn't believe it if I told you, so you'll have to check it out for yourself. If all this sounds completely off the wall here, let me assure you, it's even more so on film. From the opening credits (read them carefully. They're part of the fun!), to the end, when a contemporary (for 1974, anyhow)English policeman puts his hand over the camera lens and says: That's enough, son! (I'm not kidding!), the film is pure craziness! The roles are all played by the Pythons themselves, except for a few minor women's parts, and it is a tour de force unlike anything else you will ever see. Might be the only film ever to attempt an answer to the question: What is the flight velocity of a laden swallow?