GeneChing
08-01-2018, 09:09 AM
This is one of my all-time favorite films and it deserves a thread here for the Black Knight scene alone. Who here hasn't quoted that scene at some point in practice?
I'm posting this now because of this:
Monty Python Archive Unveils Unused 'Holy Grail' Sketches (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/monty-python-archive-unveils-unused-holy-grail-sketches-1131305)
3:21 AM PDT 8/1/2018 by Alex Ritman
https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/landscape_928x523/2015/08/holy-grail.jpg
'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'
A "Pink Knight" who demands that King Arthur give him a kiss and an entirely different, and more expensive, ending have been unearthed in Michael Palin's script notes that are part of his archive.
More than 40 years after Monty Python and the Holy Grail was released, a treasure trove of material has been uncovered that features sketches, characters and even an entire ending that never made it into the final scene.
Michael Palin’s private archive, deposited at the British Library in London, is set to go on display to the public later this month, but The Times reports that its contents includes several major unseen scenes written by Palin and Terry Jones, his writing partner in the Monty Python group, whose other members included Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, John Cleese and Graham Chapman.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail famously ends abruptly when King Arthur is arrested by police just minutes before a final climactic battle. However, according to The Times, Palin’s draft scripts show that this decision was only made to cut costs, and that a mighty fight was due to take place between the knights of Camelot, the French and also the killer rabbit of Caerbannog (a much-loved character from a previous scene).
Palin’s scripts also show that a key character from the film, the Black Knight (of the often-quoted "just a flesh-wound" fame), may also have been joined by the Pink Knight, standing in a “slightly camp pose” and demanding that King Arthur may only cross a bridge after he gives him a “kiss on the lips.”
According to the minutes of the script meeting, the sketch would highlight Arthur’s “very old-fashioned and defensive attitude” towards ****sexuality.
However, Palin said he didn’t think the sketch would be written today, telling The Times that “the establishment attitude has changed quite a lot.”
He added: “When we were writing Python in 1973, there was much more ****phobia — or rather not ****phobia exactly, but awkwardness of dealing with the whole subject of ****sexuality.”
In the end, the Pink Knight was scrapped because he was too similar to the Black Knight, and in doing so film history was made.
In another, entirely unused, scene — one that reads more like a Monty Python sketch than anything to do with the Holy Grail — a parched man enters a Wild West saloon, which unfortunately for him has been turned into a bookshop (“the last bookshop before you get to Mexico.”).
When he insists that he needs a drink, he’s urged to try the local Native American trading post, but is then told it too is dry, having specialized in modern European literature. Finally, a group of bandits arrives, demanding a copy of Black Beauty before getting rowdy when it arrives in a poor state and riding off singing the praises of various publishing houses.
True pythonites are familiar with Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Book): Monty Python's Second Film: A First Draft which included several skits that were cut from the film, or just never shot until some were released later as part of the final season. The original draft was more sketch-oriented, more like the TV show, not as cohesive. One of my favorite sketches that was cut was Terry Gilliam reprising the guard at the Bridge of Death just before the Lake surrounding the Castle Aarrgh. He had the line "He who crosses the Sea of Fate must answer me these questions 28" and Arthur & Bedevere react by tossing him in the lake.
I'm posting this now because of this:
Monty Python Archive Unveils Unused 'Holy Grail' Sketches (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/monty-python-archive-unveils-unused-holy-grail-sketches-1131305)
3:21 AM PDT 8/1/2018 by Alex Ritman
https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/landscape_928x523/2015/08/holy-grail.jpg
'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'
A "Pink Knight" who demands that King Arthur give him a kiss and an entirely different, and more expensive, ending have been unearthed in Michael Palin's script notes that are part of his archive.
More than 40 years after Monty Python and the Holy Grail was released, a treasure trove of material has been uncovered that features sketches, characters and even an entire ending that never made it into the final scene.
Michael Palin’s private archive, deposited at the British Library in London, is set to go on display to the public later this month, but The Times reports that its contents includes several major unseen scenes written by Palin and Terry Jones, his writing partner in the Monty Python group, whose other members included Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, John Cleese and Graham Chapman.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail famously ends abruptly when King Arthur is arrested by police just minutes before a final climactic battle. However, according to The Times, Palin’s draft scripts show that this decision was only made to cut costs, and that a mighty fight was due to take place between the knights of Camelot, the French and also the killer rabbit of Caerbannog (a much-loved character from a previous scene).
Palin’s scripts also show that a key character from the film, the Black Knight (of the often-quoted "just a flesh-wound" fame), may also have been joined by the Pink Knight, standing in a “slightly camp pose” and demanding that King Arthur may only cross a bridge after he gives him a “kiss on the lips.”
According to the minutes of the script meeting, the sketch would highlight Arthur’s “very old-fashioned and defensive attitude” towards ****sexuality.
However, Palin said he didn’t think the sketch would be written today, telling The Times that “the establishment attitude has changed quite a lot.”
He added: “When we were writing Python in 1973, there was much more ****phobia — or rather not ****phobia exactly, but awkwardness of dealing with the whole subject of ****sexuality.”
In the end, the Pink Knight was scrapped because he was too similar to the Black Knight, and in doing so film history was made.
In another, entirely unused, scene — one that reads more like a Monty Python sketch than anything to do with the Holy Grail — a parched man enters a Wild West saloon, which unfortunately for him has been turned into a bookshop (“the last bookshop before you get to Mexico.”).
When he insists that he needs a drink, he’s urged to try the local Native American trading post, but is then told it too is dry, having specialized in modern European literature. Finally, a group of bandits arrives, demanding a copy of Black Beauty before getting rowdy when it arrives in a poor state and riding off singing the praises of various publishing houses.
True pythonites are familiar with Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Book): Monty Python's Second Film: A First Draft which included several skits that were cut from the film, or just never shot until some were released later as part of the final season. The original draft was more sketch-oriented, more like the TV show, not as cohesive. One of my favorite sketches that was cut was Terry Gilliam reprising the guard at the Bridge of Death just before the Lake surrounding the Castle Aarrgh. He had the line "He who crosses the Sea of Fate must answer me these questions 28" and Arthur & Bedevere react by tossing him in the lake.