Monty Python's Meaning of Life, 1983

Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones

Written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin
Starring the same

John Cleese apparently felt that it was a loss to do a series of sketches, but, personally, I'm OK with it. Yes, like most sketch bits, it's uneven, but it's friggin' Monty Python, so even the worst stuff is pretty good. 

And the best stuff? Let's just say this: I literally (and I mean literally, not figuratively) fell out of a chair laughing at this movie -- and it wasn't the first time I'd seen it. It was the scene when the doors open for Michael Palin and Eric Idle, as the middle-aged American couple, to go into the dungeon-themed Hawaiian restaurant.

And, speaking of Eric Idle, I always assume that the songs are his, and this movie has, arguably, the best songs. I'm particularly fond of the opening number (along with its top notch Gilliam animation) and Every Sperm Is Sacred, but the Universe Song, Christmas in Heaven, and that little faux Cole Porter-ish number in the restaurant that precedes Mr. Creosote's arrival are all pretty swell, too.

While it's easy to lose sight of the short bits, some of them are so stunningly over the top that they merit noting. I'm thinking of Michael Palin's marching up and down the square; Graham Chapman's military man being struck dead by God; John Cleese's supercilious school teacher giving unbearably complex instructions (prior to sex ed); Chapman and Terry Jones in The Middle of the Film; Terry Gilliam's inexplicably Little Bo Peep hostess; and, perhaps most hilariously, Palin and Idle lying terribly about why they're in a tiger suit.

And there's more. Of course, there's more. It's Monty Python. That's why, when Michael Palin introduced one of their movies at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge a number of years ago, we gave him a standing ovation -- because they're so amazing.

Actually promoting Tiger Brand Coffee?

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A Fish Called Wanda, 1988

Directed by Charles Crichton
Written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton
Starring John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis,  Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin

This is one of the great ones. 

Kevin Kline's performance completely merits the Oscar that he won for it. In fact, his stream of curses at John Cleese may alone merit it, or maybe the scene where he and Jamie Lee Curtis have sex, or the scene near the end with him, Michael Palin, and the fish and chips, or probably any individual scene, actually. His performance is like a series of comedy arias.

But this movie is John Cleese's. It's the Ealing Comedies for its own time; it's Python in the regular -- non-surreal, non-Terry-Gilliam-infused -- world; it's everything hilariously frantic about Fawlty Towers. Cleese brings together everything he does well as an actor, puts it into the tight story that he wrote, and even gives us some emotional reality to ground all the farce. He's why this movie is what it is.

Not to take away anything -- anything -- from Jamie Lee Curtis or Michael Palin. She is over the top in her scheming, her utter willingness to use anything or anyone to accomplish her ends (one example: the moment when she meets John Cleese and says, perkily, "I'm American"). And yet we still, somehow, keep rooting for her. 

And Michael Palin? The first time (of the many times) that I saw this movie, I found his character grating. As I've watched it over and over, I find his performance funnier and funnier. Not only is his Ken a completely formed person, but his task in the story almost threatens to become a Sisyphean tragedy. But, to quote Otto (Kevin Kline's character), "Almost."

It's so good. All the other characters are wonderful. The movie isn't calling attention to itself as a movie -- it's invisible in just the right way. 

Of course it's in the Pantheon. Along with the other brilliant 1988 British vs. Americans comedy caper classic, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, it practically created the Pantheon. (By the way, for theaters such as the Brattle in Cambridge, MA, A Fish Called Wanda and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels would be a fantastic double bill.)

Archie and Wendy Leach (John Cleese and Maria Aitken)
hear Otto (Kevin Kline) tell "terrible lies"

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Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975

Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
Written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin
Starring the same

This is a movie that I cannot think of without smiling. From the first of bit of overly serious music under the Swedish-themed credits to the intentionally and unbelievably successfully irritating ending, it is relentless. This is the kind of movie for which it is hard to pick only a few things to praise. Given that, here are more than a few:

• Guido Le Whopper and "I told him we've already got one"
• Sir Robin's minstrels' song about what he does not fear
• "Huge tracts of land" and "What, the curtains?"
• "That's easy!"
• "You're foolin' yourself. We're living in a dictatorship."

and of course the utter absurdity and aggressive iconoclasm of King Arthur repeatedly crying "Jesus Christ!" in moments of panic.

Yes, we've all heard "I'm not dead yet," "Tis but a scratch," "She turned me into a newt," "Ni!," and "The airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow" over and over, but they're still really funny.

Of course it's in The Pantheon. And there's also this.

Oh, those credits.

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The places to hear from me:
Food - josh lubarr food stuff
Geekiness - geekiness(josh lubarr)
Movies - Old Movies and New with Josh Lubarr
Politics - Progressive Politics (per Josh Lubarr)
Silliness and comedy - Le Repository du Silliness, avec Josh Lubarr
Favorite movies - The Pantheon
Places - Good Things around Boston, and Elsewhere
Me generally - Josh Lubarr's web site extraordinaire
Also also - Josh's Part of lubarr.com