GRAHAM CHAPMAN JOHN CLEESE TERRY GILLIAM
ERIC IDLE TERRY JONES and MICHAEL PALIN
are
MONTY PYTHON
A Film by Terry Jones
MONTY PYTHON'S THE MEANING OF LIFE
What it is,
Where it is,
and how to avoid treading in it.
VHS - PAL - NEW - NEVER PLAYED!! - VERY RARE!! - M-rated - 111-minutes - Colour - Comedy, Musical - 1983-release - Small Sell-Through Box
Why are we here, what's it all about?
The Monty Python-team is trying to sort out the most important question on Earth: what is the meaning of life?
They do so by exploring the various stages of life, starting with birth.
A doctor seems more interested in his equipment than in delivering the baby or caring for the mother, a Roman Catholic couple have quite a lot of children because 'every sperm is sacred'.
In the growing and learning part of life, catholic schoolboys attend a rather strange church service and ditto sex education lesson.
Onto war, where an officer's plan to attack is thwarted by his underlings wanting to celebrate his birthday and an officer's leg is bitten off by presumably an African tiger.
At middle age a couple orders 'philosophy' at a restaurant, after which the film continues with live organ transplants.
The autumn years are played in a restaurant, which, after being treated to the song 'Isn't It Awfully Nice to Have a Penis?' by an entertainer, sees the arrival ...
I never really thought this was anywhere near the best work of the Pythons... but, the more I see this movie, the more I like it.
People not in tune with the Python sense of humour will find this film unbearable I'm sure. (When I saw it in the theatre when it first came out there were an incredible numbers of walkouts... even *before* the infamous "Mr. Creosote" scene.)
Not an actual movie so much as an extended (and expensively-produced) episode of the classic BBC TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus"... depicting several stages in the lives of human beings, from birth to death.
There are some hilarious bits (the sex education class, Death crashing a dinner party), some clever bits (the opening fish skit, the show-stopping dance number "Every Sperm is Sacred") and some just plain gross, disgusting bits (Mr. Creosote, organ donations).
Plus, the movie has its own special short subject "The Crimson Permanent Assurance"... where an accounting office staffed by aging workerbees suddenly metamorphosizes into a pirate ship!
Most people find this bit incredibly boring and pointless... but, dang, its cleverly done!