MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL
YOUR NOVEMBER 2005 RANDOM MOVIE CLUB RESULTS ARE IN!
Tagline: Makes Ben Hur look like an Epic.
The Preshow Entertainment was a myriad of gems from the 1980s including two pieces on '80s cutie/Razzie winner Pia Zadora (on Entertainment Tonight and 2 on the Town). We learn about her marriage to bazillionaire (he owned The Riviera, Dubonnet, and a film company, among other things) Meshulam Riklis. She looks 13 and he looks 70, but in actuality she's 25 and he's 52. Or so they said. Pia made the same disclaimers in both pieces; "Because I'm married to a wealthy man I have to work twice as hard as the next guy," and "I'm an entertainer. I can't imagine doing anything else." Well, she was right about that. She's done nothing else.
FYI, this is Pia's third visit at RMC. She was the lead in LONELY LADY, and played herself in the NAKED GUN movie screened earlier this year. Oh, if only RMC would pick the best worst movie ever made- BUTTERFLY.
Also on the bill, Elton John on SNL. This was in his drug phase, when he decided not to get lyrics from Bernie Taupin. He's often said he remembers little from this time in his life. He performed a nothing of a song called "Ball & Chain," along with the sorriest "put my leg up on the piano" move in history. It looked like he changed his mind and decided against it as it was going up. It did give us a laugh, though.
The Charlie Daniels Band on SNL, doing "The Devil Went Down To Georgia." I love this band. Southern Rock was so big in the mid-seventies, and CDB was red hot. And being on TV, we got to see Charlie's face under the cowboy hat. They had to shoot him like Orson Welles for that.
The Police doing a pre-MTV video (film, really) of DEMOLITION MAN from GHOST IN THE MACHINE.
Elvis Costello and the Attractions performing WATCHING THE DETECTIVES in 1977. A perfect piece of pop culture. We just thought he was an angry young man, but it's clear he was just acting.
Hot Gossip- This was a dance troupe that performed on the English import THE KENNY EVERETT VIDEO SHOW, which ran late night, maybe 1am? The dancers were Solid Gold-like, performing as if they were at a San Francisco bathhouse circa 1980.
Storytelling Giant- This was a video release of Talking Heads videos, with wraparounds of people telling stories. Not sure if there was a connection between stories and songs, or if David Byrne was just being weird, again. But you have to admit, the songs and videos were great- "Wild Life," "And She Was," "Stay Up Late," etc.
The movie selected was a DVD, which is somewhere near a 1 out of 30 chance. And just how does one talk about MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL in ways that have not been talked about before? What the hell am I supposed to say about a movie that after 30 years still gets quoted on a daily basis, often by people who have not seen it. A movie that is barely an hour and a half, yet has more laughs than 100 comedies combined? Where can I begin? And when do I end? A laundry list of gags and dialogue can't do it justice, and even if it came close, damned if we haven't all seen this. So am I wasting my time? You bet I am. Yet since I feel compelled to review it, I shall. So here is my review- "You know."
Tags: random movie club, pia zadora, monty python, the holy grail
