Medieval Comedy Double Feature: The Princess Bride / Monty Python and the Holy Grail

This is a fake double-feature because I actually watched them separately, but I don't feel like making two posts, and they're kind of related.

The Princess Bride
1987
Directed by Rob Reiner

This is a really well-liked movie, apparently. Lots of people love it and it's even rated within the top 250 on IMDB. It's written by William Goldman, who wrote the screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and directed by Reiner, the writer of This is Spinal Tap. Andre the Giant is in it. Clearly, The Princess Bride has a lot going for it. Mostly everybody is familiar with it, but my girlfriend and I hadn't seen it, so I picked it up and we gave it a spin.


My first impression was that it wasn't as funny as I had been led to believe. Sure, it had its moments, but it's more of a charming fairytale with amusing moments than a straight spoof or a comedy. After I got over that, I found that there was a lot to like about The Princess Bride. To begin with, the cast is stellar and extremely well-chosen. Cary Elwes plays Westley, a poor farm-hand who falls in love with Buttercup, charmingly played by Robin Wright. In spite of their economic differences, they plan to marry; but Westley is said to be killed by pirates and Buttercup is selected to marry the pompous Prince Humperdinck (a detestable Chris Sarandon.) But Westley is not dead; in fact, he's taken on the job of the Dread Pirate Roberts, and he returns to reclaim his lost love. This is made difficult, as Buttercup is kidnapped by three mercenaries (the excellent trio of Andre the Giant as the soft-spoken Fezzik, a swashbuckling Mandy Patinkin as gentleman Spaniard Inigo Montoya, and a hilarious Wallace Shawn as the nefarious mastermind Vizzini.) Westley battles through a plethora of dangers, ranging from torture and fencing to partial paralysis and "rodents of unusual size."

Elwes is perfect as the daring Westley, and he has real chemistry with Wright. Patinkin is a standout as Inigo, a gentleman swordfighter trying to find his father's murderer; he adds some real pathos to the film, and his final confrontation with his sworn enemy (a dastardly Christopher Guest) has unexpected results. Patinkin and Andre the Giant make a surprisingly good comic duo - their rhyming scenes are awesome. Shawn steals a few scenes, especially one where he has to guess which cup Westley has poisoned in a contest of wits. The only weird thing is that the whole film is narrated as a fairytale novel by a grandfather (Peter Falk) to his grandson (Fred Savage.) Savage's interjections are sometimes off-putting and disrupt the flow of the story.




The movie chugs along amiably, tongue in cheek. There aren't a lot of surprises, as it is a fairly simple story; it would actually be rather dull if it weren't for the humorous tone and likeable characters. The Princess Bride is a typical happy-ending story, almost like an old Disney animated film brought to life. But Westley, Inigo, and Fezzik are all so gentlemanly and polite, even in the heat of battle, the movie takes on a refined quality.

For a straightforward fairytale film with relatively few complications, The Princess Bride is probably better than any other that springs to mind. Does this make it a great movie? I would say no. It's likeable and surely has a lot of character, but it could be funnier. I said earlier that it is amiable, but I'm almost tempted to say "merely amiable." It's hard to ask of anything more from The Princess Bride, but while it may be classy, it falls a little bit short of classic.

7.6


Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1975
Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones

After years of pioneering absurd and nonsensical humour in their show "Monty Python's Flying Circus", the Python gang (John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle and animator Terry Gilliam) took on the medieval fantasy genre with what is surely one of the funniest films ever made. But will you enjoy this anglo humour if you aren't white? I have no idea. Mostly every non-white person I know who has seen anything Monty Python uniformly detests it. Why is that? And while I'm at it, what's with white people and cheese?

Cheese and racial considerations aside, the Pythons really outdid themselves with The Holy Grail. Irreverent, witty, metatheatrical, extremely silly, baffling and sometimes just plain stupid, it's truly a work of inspired lunacy. From the faux opening credits with ridiculous fake Norwegian subtitles focusing mainly on moose-training, to its abrupt and preposterous ending and exit music, there is hardly a single moment when you should not be laughing your ass off. You know you're off to a good start when, instead of riding a real horse, King Arthur (Chapman) pantomimes by skipping along while his servant follows behind, banging two halves of a coconut together. They find themselves accosted by two castle-dwellers who proceed to have a debate about how likely it would be for a coconut to be brought to England by a migratory swallow.

The rest of the film follows in a similar manner, sending up many of the legendary figures of Arthurian legend, as well as spoofing a great deal of medieval material. From anachronistically politically autonomous peasants to the fearsome Knights Who Say NI!, a sorceror named Tim to a song-and-dance number featuring preposterous Camelot rhymes (my favourite is "I have to push the pram a lot," sung in lovely baritone), and of course the greatest barrage of insults ever heard from a Frenchman, The Holy Grail is completely insane. Who would expect any less?

The Python crew clearly saw an incredibly low budget as not an obstacle, but an opportunity for more humour. The coconuts, to begin with - genius. And Gilliam's fantastic animated interludes standing in for potentially expensive action scenes are not only funny in and of themselves, but also for the fact that they are supposed to stand in for what would be a climactic scene in any blockbuster. In fact, there's only one scene that is painfully unfunny, featuring a bevy of amorous damsels and a reluctant Sir Galahad; the scene even features dialogue about how crappy it is - I think the Pythons just left if in there to fuck with you.

I don't know what else I can say about The Holy Grail and the Monty Python gang in general to win over the unimpressed; to this day my dad can't stand them, he just doesn't get the humour. My mom and I practically piss ourselves every time we watch them, on the other hand. Just watch it if you haven't seen it yet, I guess. There's never been a better medieval comedy; in fact, not many comedies at all can rival it. The Holy Grail, like the Pythons, was way ahead of its time. It also features my favourite summation of medieval life, both hilarious and surprisingly erudite: "He must be the King," says one peasant, watching Arthur go by. "How do you know?" asks the other one. "He's not covered in shit!" May you be covered in shit if you don't like this movie.

9.7