YMMV / Monty Python and the Holy Grail

• Adaptation Displacement: There are fans of Monty Python and the Holy Grail who have no idea there was a TV series before it.
• Adorkable: Michael Palin plays Galahad as a preppy Upper-Class Twit, but you can't deny he has a certain awkward charm. The ladies of Castle Anthrax certainly think so!
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Rob Ager theorizes that the "anachronisms" aren't actually anachronisms at all. They tell the audience point-blank the film is set in contemporary England, and that it's a sort-of Spiritual Successor to the "Upper Class Twit of the Year" sketch. It's about a bunch of delusional, up-their-own-arse 1970s aristocrats who, faced with the decline of the British class system, force all of England to abandon modernity and play along with their medieval LARP power fantasy to reclaim their old prestige and glory. At the end, the forces of modernity finally catch up to them and arrest the lot of them for thinking they can do whatever they want to England. Similarly, there's people who argue that the documentary portion is actually literal and everyone is a historical re-enactor participating in a recreation of Arthur's search for the Holy Grail only to become Lost in Character.
• Aluminium Christmas Trees:
  • Launching/dropping dead animals and other nasty things was a real tactic in siege warfare.^note There are some hints—though by no means conclusive evidence—that The Black Death of the 1340s spread that way during a siege of the Crimean city of Caffa (now Feodosia) when besiegers threw cadavers at the besieged Terry Jones, who happened to be a historian, pointed this out when he was refused permission to film at castles owned by the National Trust because the events in the film were "inconsistent with the dignity of the castles" they asked to film at.
  • Because Reality Is Unrealistic, there are real medieval and pre-modern tales of soldiers losing one limb after another and still insisting to do battle, presumably on sheer adrenaline. One of the Spanish standardbearers in the Battle of the Garigliano, Hernando de Illescas, apparently lost one arm to cannonfire, then the other arm, and ended up charging while holding the standard with his stumps (Diego García de Paredes himself witnessed it and later said how crazy it was).
  • Those guys in the monks' robes who walk around chanting in Latin and hitting themselves in the face with boards? They were called flagellants, and compared to what some of the historical flagellant sects did to themselves, their behaviour is extremely mild. That's also a real Latin chant, dated to at least the 13th century, albeit truncated down to just the last couple of lines.
  • A stone model of a castle, done in medieval times? There is one◊ at the Ubeda Archeological Museum in Spain.
  • There really were French-speaking people in England during most of the Middle Ages (after the Norman conquest), though not in King Arthur's time.
  • Anarcho-syndicalism is a real political philosophy, and though this particular variant only applies to capitalist society, the basic ideas had older precursors: actual ancient Germans lived in a society closely resembling anarchist ideals. In fact, a lot of historical monarchies were elective to some degree, so people did vote for kings - although only rarely by the ordinary populace, generally more like nobility or military leaders - although Arthur and the peasant woman arguing about it fits that historical tension anyway.
  • The "Killer Rabbit" is inspired by real medieval religious art, which often illustrated the sin of cowardice by depicting a knight fleeing from a rabbit. There are also plenty of illustrations in 14th century texts of rabbits violently killing humans with swords.
  • The Holy Hand Grenade: an anachronistic gag? According to the opening credits, the movie's set in 932 AD, at which point hand grenades had already existed for the better part of two centuries, just in a different part of Europe (and of course the triggering pin hadn't been invented yet).
  • In medieval times, the word "knight" actually was pronounced more like "kuniggit", similar to the German word knecht.
  • An animated sequence shows naked men blowing trumpets with their anuses by farting into them. This is actually something seen in quite a few medieval manuscripts for some weird reason.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • The Black Knight getting dismembered. John Cleese admitted as much in his commentary track. He explained that some viewers in America found the sequence horrifying because of Vietnam War footage on the news; however, he noted that they began to laugh when BK's first leg got hacked off and he was still raring to go.
  • Lancelot's "rescue" in which he charges into the castle and slaughters half of the townspeople under the belief that they're kidnappers. The heroic music and the fact that he turns his wrath on not only guards and peasants but the bridesmaids, the wedding band, and a torch on the wall make something that should by all rights be horrifying absolutely hilarious.
• Discredited Meme: The constant use of quotations from it has caused it to become popular to mock people for quoting it so much. For example, DM of the Rings once got the players spamming Holy Grail references, with The Rant remarking:
  "My own suggestion for the 4.0 edition rules: Anyone who quotes Holy Grail during a session should be made to eat their own character sheet."
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The Black Knight and Killer Rabbit, despite only being in one scene each, are arguably the most famous characters in the film.
• Genius Bonus:
  • The Killer Rabbit scene is particularly funny if you consider the, er, interesting role rabbits had in Mediæval art (no. 2).
  • Yes, the original pronunciation of "knight" was from the Old English word "cniht", pronounced "cuh-nit". It's not quite the way the French Taunter says it ("cuh-niggit"), but it's close.
  • The chant by the monks is from a real hymn - "Dies Irae" ("Day of Wrath" in Latin) is a poem of the era describing the Last Judgment, appropriate for a bunch of self-flagellating monks to focus upon. For simplicity's sake, the monks only chant the last two lines. It is still sometimes used at a Requiem Mass to this day.
  • Terry Jones, an actual historian, often threw in stuff that seems like it'd be a joke. For instance, Dennis the Peasant's description of their system of government is pretty accurate to how some actual medieval communities functioned (though the "anarcho-syndicalist commune" is indeed anachronistic), and the film is one of the few Arthurian adaptations to correctly have Arthur's men wearing mail armor rather than the more recent plate armor.
  • The antics of the Black Knight, staking out a little bridge and attacking anybody who tried to pass by, are based on a real practice called the pas d'armes. Yes, knights back then were a little too enthusiastic sometimes.
  • Sir Lancelot saving Sir Galahad from 'great peril' at Castle Anthrax could be a nod to the fact that in a lot of stories Lancelot was the father of Galahad. Which changes the ending of the scene to that of a father dragging his son out of a Wild Teen Party where he was about to lose his virginity.
  • Lancelot just suddenly going on massive killing sprees was something that happened in some Arthurian stories. However he would be wracked with shame and guilt, not just offer up a Terribly sorry.
  • The sudden ending? While that was mostly because the Pythons ran out of budget and patience, a few Arthurian Legends end with them suddenly being wiped out before they could actually find the Grail.
  • "What is the capital of Assyria?" is a trick question. Assyria had seven capitals over its nearly 2,000-year history.^note Interestingly, this means that this question, like Arthur's "airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow", also has a loophole for the knight to escape the tricky question. Had Sir Robin known this fact, he could have simply thrown back "What means thou? There have been seven capitals of Assyria, which one?", which the gatekeeper probably wouldn't have known, with predictable results
  • The line "your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries" draws from genuine insults. Hamsters, like other rodents, are Explosive Breeders, while elderberries can be used to make wine. Thus, the jab translates as a convoluted way of saying "your mom's a whore and your dad's a wino."
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • A few years after the film came out, Jimmy Carter was attacked by a rabbit.
  • In Monty Python's Life of Brian, Brian uses his (Chapman's) prominent Roman nose as proof that he is part Roman. Arthur, also portrayed by Chapman, is historically said to have been Romano-British. Incidentally, Chapman also played Raymond Luxury Yacht (It's pronounced Throat Warbler Mangrove!) in the series, who appears on set with a huge fake nose.
  • It has been suggested with complete seriousness that coconuts really did migrate naturally. The claim is heavily disputed, the coconuts obviously never ended up in England, but just being plausible is hilarious even if it's not true.
  • As he's being "saved" from the beautiful women of Castle Anthrax, Galahad mutters that he thinks Lancelot is Gay, which Lancelot quickly denies. In the musical adaptation, he has an entire musical number dedicated to his realization that he is.
    • Minorly later on a similar subject, Chinese video game developer Moonton created a character for their Mobile Legends: Bang Bang named Lancelot and he's designed to be very-very effeminate, that he's often called 'gay' despite being actually a Camp Straight, so in a sense this could make the Galahad-Lancelot exchange resonance again: MLBB Lancelot denying the accusation that he's gay (only this time, he's not)
  • Robin's minstrels sing about him getting his liver removed. In Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, someone does have his liver removed.
  • The sword duel between King Arthur and the Black Knight may have mirrored the lightsaber duel between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith. A rare Star Wars prediction from a film that came out a little before the Star Wars franchise could begin.
  • Sir Galahad became a Knight for real in 2018, when Michael Palin was created a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.
  • The "Knights of the Round Table" song contains the line "We eat ham and jam and spam a lot". The digital age has introduced a pretty amusing Ambiguous Syntax.
  • The Knights who say "Ni" panic after King Arthur says "It", as it's among their forbidden words. In the original production of Spamalot, Tim Curry starred as King Arthur, having previously played Pennywise aka It.
  • Tim the Enchanter's eccentric hamminess and way of speaking can be seen as prefiguring the portrayal of Merlin in Excalibur a few years later, like a parody of him in advance.
• Hype Backlash: A huge dose of Discredited Meme has resulted in quite a bit of the humor to lose a lot of its impact. And even before that, there were more than a few people who felt that Life of Brian was the Pythons' true masterpiece, thanks to its higher production quality and more sophisticated satire, and that this film tends to unfairly overshadow it.
• Just Here for Godzilla: It is not uncommon for viewers (both new and old) to fast-forward through much of the film just to see its most iconic skits (admittedly, the film is a series of skits with the barest of plot to hold it together; you could excise almost any sequence except God starting them on the quest and not change the overall story).
• Memetic Mutation: Nearly every scene or line in the film has been memed to death, so much so that many consider them Discredited Memes.
  • The Black Knight ^ExplanationThe scene where Arthur fights the Black Knight has been the subject of numerous memes due to its over-the-top violence and the knight continuing to fight despite being dismembered.
    • "Tis but a scratch"
    • "Just a flesh wound"
    • Alright, We'll Call It A Draw
  • Killer Rabbit ^ExplanationThe scene featuring the Rabbit of Caerbannog killing Arthur's men is one of the most parodied moments in the film.
    • "RUN AWAY!"
    • Holy Hand Grenade
  • The Knights Who Say "Ni!"
  • "Who are You, Who are so Wise in the Ways of Science?"
  • "I fart in your general direction!"
  • God ^ExplanationThe depiction of God in the movie has been parodied many times.
  • "'Tis A Silly Place"
  • "Help! Help! I'm Being Repressed"
  • "A Blessing From The Lord!"
• Misaimed Fandom: Dennis the Peasant is popular with actual anarchists despite his pretentiousness.
• Nausea Fuel: First-time viewers or the very squeamish may find the Black Knight scene to be more off-putting than intended, due to the copious amounts of blood and Body Horror.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Jim Morrison had been crying out "bring out your dead" at concerts nearly a decade prior to this film's release.
  • Amusingly, this actually isn't even the first time Monty Python has ended a story by having the police abruptly show up and arrest everybody. Their Argument Clinic Sketch basically ended the same way albeit on a much smaller scale.
• One-Scene Wonder: The Black Knight and the Killer Rabbit are well known and well quoted despite having little screen time.
• Parody Displacement:
  • It can be very hard to take Arthurian legend seriously after seeing this movie. There have also been reports of audiences bursting into laughter during violent sequences in movies like Excalibur.
  • Quoting The Holy Grail has become such a tradition among Dungeons & Dragons tabletop due to its close association with Medieval Fantasy, that most newcomers become well immersed in the film's jokes before they've even seen it, and are likely introduced to it through tabletop.
  • The humorous on-again, off-again Running Gag of characters shouting "RUN AWAAAAY!!" is well-known to fans of Ed, Edd n Eddy, but younger fans aren't as likely to recognize it as being a homage to this film, where it's repeatedly yelled with the exact same inflection as Arthur and his knights flee from danger.
• Retroactive Recognition: Good luck spotting him, but one of the many extras who make up Arthur's army at the conclusion of the film is a young Iain Banks.
• Signature Scene: While the entire movie is seen as quotable, the fight between Arthur and the Black Knight is the most well-known and widely-quoted scene in the entire film. It's the first time the movie shows its colors as a farce with how the Black Knight seems so unfazed by being dismembered, making for an immense first impression.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • The rapid cutting featured during the attack of the Killer Rabbit doesn't quite hide the fact that the Rabbit itself is a hand puppet, but it's no great loss, since this isn't the kind of film where immersion is terribly important.
  • It's revealed in the DVD commentary that the dye used on the Rabbit's fur didn't wash out, causing the cast to be quite embarrassed when the owner showed up (having been promised this wouldn't happen).
• Tear Jerker: While it's humorous to see that Lancelot is gone because he's being detained by the police, you can't help but feel bad for Arthur and Bedevere as they call for Lancelot, having no idea what happened to him.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: While most fans still think the purposely anticlimactic ending is hilarious, many of the same fans also wish the film had more of a proper ending.
• Values Dissonance: The fact that the temptresses of Castle Anthrax are described as being "between 16 and 19 and a half" can be a bit disconcerting to viewers from places where the age of consent is above 16, as it is in the UK - or places where people believe the age of consent is above 16, thanks to Hollywood Provincialism. Also, while Carol Cleveland as Zoot & Dingo is clearly a case of Dawson Casting in action, the two girls who describe themselves as doctors appear to be played by actual teenagers - or at least, women who could pass as teenagers - making watching them come on to the thirty-something Michael Palin... uncomfortable.
  • That being said, the scene is also uncomfortable in the inverse way. Sir Galahad is very aggressively seduced by the women of the castle, who make it very clear that they won't let him leave until they've had their way with him, even though he is visibly uncomfortable, protests multiple times, and points out that he's sworn an oath of chastity.
• Woolseyism:
  • The Italian dub of the movie is an example of this backfiring. As the original movie's humour was considered "too weird" for Italian audiences, almost every dialogue was rewritten with new jokes, making half of the movie's humour being either sex jokes or political satire about taxes (for example, half of the Black Knight's dialogue was replaced with him making homophobic remarks towards Arthur, Tim the Enchanter says he's training to become a fiscalist and the Knights who say Ni became the Knights who say Fuck You). Because of this, the Italian dub of the movie is deeply hated by fans. To add salt to the wound, in the early 2000 all the Monty Python movies were redubbed with more faithful dialogues... except for The Holy Grail, the only one that seriously needed a redub.
  • The Hungarian dub had dialogue changes of its own, some that worked and some that didn't. Comedian and Python-expert Miklós Galla counted no less than 47 standout examples of these.
    • The dub reinterpreted the coconuts used throughout the movie as dried-out pumpkins or gourds. Since the Hungarian word for pumpkin (tök) is also slang for testicles, the gags about the "airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow" consequently became "airspeed velocity of a ball-less swallow."
    • Most of the French guard's insults are fancifully rewritten. The line "I wave my private parts at your aunties. You cheesy lot of second-hand electric donkey-bottom biters!" became "At best we might let you crawl inside out butts if you ask us kindly! You fags, you light-fingered used car salesmen!"
    • Some changes are seemingly random. Instead of shrubbery, the Knights of Ni ask for a moorland swamp. The bridge keeper asks to know the capital of Sri Lanka rather than Assyria. In the same scene, Galahad's choice of favorite color "Blue. No! Yellow!" is changed to "Brown. No! Blu—"
    • The exchange between Galahad and Lancelot ("I bet you're gay." "No, I'm not!") was changed to Lancelot basically admitting he's gay by saying "Come, come... I'm nice and warm!" (warm is a synonym of gay in several languages, including Hungarian).
    • Certain rewrites are probably just mistranslations. The gag where Dingo compliments her own scene, prompting other characters to compare their scenes to hers, was changed to Dingo being happy about finding a handsome man, after which the others start boasting about their own good looks. Galla thinks the translator simply didn't understand the original dialogue and came up with a less satisfying joke instead.
• The Woobie: Prince Herbert. A pathetically wimpy and effeminate young man who constantly endures abuse from his father, and is forced into an arranged marriage he wants no part of, because he wants to Marry for Love. His father finds him so annoying that he even tries to kill him!
  • Arguably, all of the Knights of the Round Table by the end of the film.

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