h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I found thison the top 5 news stories on the BBC today -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3482029.stm

"Monty Python and The Holy Grail has been named by film fans as the best British picture of all time.
It comfortably beat Stanley Kubrick's controversial film A Clockwork Orange into second place.

The survey, by the UK arm of Amazon and the Internet Movie Database, was a mix of classics and more recent releases like 1998's Shakespeare In Love.

Monty Python's other well-loved comedy film, the Life of Brian (1979), came seventh in the list."

Sum mishtake, surely? The Grail, whilst having some good skits in it, is disjointed and has a pretty crap ending, whereas Life of Brian has a more complete storyline and a toe-tapping, memorable ending.

Any other Brian supporters out there, or are you all Grail heretics?

I'm with you on this one.

I fart in your general direction

Meaning of Life tends to take it for me. It's closer to the style of the TV originals. But I would choose Brian in second place.

My favourite British film wouldn't be Monty Python in any case. That would be The Commitments, with Gregory's Girl in second. I'm pretty sure that Kind Hearts & Coronets, Day Of The Jackal and Goldfinger would keep Python out of the top 5.

B

Dr Strangelove would have to be up there for me

I actually find Holy Grail and Life of Brian equally funny. The poor sets, dodgy ending and general low budget of Grail actually add to the effect for me.
I'm surprised that the Holy Grail was higher up mind.

"Dr Strangelove would have to be up there for me"

The entire movie can be viewed here:
http://impiousdigest.com/index.php?option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink&Itemid=218&id=356 - scroll down to find.

Enjoy!



PS The Python movies are pretty silly really - nowhere near as witty as, for example, the Live at Drury Lane stuff.

Aye...I'd somehow forgotten about Dr. Strangelove.

B

As long as it´s not anything featuring Hugh Grant.

I have to admit I've never seen the Meaning of Life or the Holy Grail. One was reported to me as "the most disgusting film they'd ever seen" and the other as "so boring that I fell asleep", so I didn't bother with either.

The Life of Brian was great, though.

i once got to see half of "meaning of life" but my mum had to come in and change the channel, cue my dad and i crying "oy i was watching that" she didnt care and i have yet to see the reat of that film! but brain and grail are both fantastic.

mini

Oh you should. At least if you like the series anyway.

Holy Grail is *very* low budget and has some dodgy bits but also some classic Python moments.

Meaning of Life is a sketch film so as Mu Beta said it's more like the series. Some sketches are great, some are disgusting (I suspect this is the one your friend meant) and some are pretty crap. SO yeah, a bit like the series really. It's bit inconsistent for my tastes.

i will say tha my mum changed the channel halfway through the "sperm" song! sadly i have never seen the DVD for sale or i would have aquired it by now! i also want to see their other film "and now for something completely different" which was apparently a flop.

mini

That's a compilation of sketches from their first two series made for the US iirc. So if you've seen them, you've pretty much seen it anyway. It wasn't a flop in the US I don't think - it's what made them there I think.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monty-Pythons-Meaning-Graham-Chapman/dp/B0006IGPSW/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1226915384&sr=1-12

Well, I think all three Python films are great, but as I've written 18 EG Entries on Python, that probably shouldn't come as a surprise... For me, 'Grail' just shades it over 'Brian', although in objective terms (pace, plotting, cinematography etc, etc) Brian is probably the 'better' film. 'Meaning of Life' has some of my favourite and least favourite Python moments in it.

'And Now For Something Completely Different' was a flop when it was released, although it was designed to introduce the group to American audiences. The Pythons only really made it in the States when 'Grail' was released at roughly the same time as the original episodes were being shown over there. ANFSCD then became a bit of a cult hit in Universities etc, but was never a commercial success.

Fairy nuff

Seeing as I've been reading Michael Palin's Diaries "the Python years" for a while, I really should have known that!

'Grail' for me, every time.

'Brian' is a brilliantly funny script, but it was a little over-produced.