Monty Python and the Holy Grail

In AD 932, King Arthur and his squire, Patsy, travel Britain searching for men to join the Knights of the Round Table. Along the way, Arthur debates whether swallows could carry coconuts, passes through a town infected with the Black Death, recounts receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake to two anarcho-syndicalist peasants, defeats the Black Knight, and observes an impromptu witch trial. He recruits Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Galahad the Pure, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot, and the aptly named Sir Not-Appearing-in-this-Film, along with their squires and Robin's minstrels. Arthur leads the knights to Camelot, but, after a musical number, changes his mind, deeming it "a silly place". As they turn away, God appears and orders Arthur to find the Holy Grail.

Arthur and his knights arrive at a castle occupied by French soldiers, who claim to have the Grail and taunt the Britons, driving them back with a barrage of barnyard animals. Bedevere concocts a plan to sneak in using a Trojan Rabbit, but no one hides inside it, and the Britons are forced to flee when it is flung back at them. Arthur decides the knights should go their separate ways to search for the Grail.

A modern-day historian filming a documentary on the Arthurian legends is killed by an unknown knight on horseback, triggering a police investigation.

Arthur and Bedevere are given directions by an old man and attempt to satisfy the strange requests of the dreaded Knights Who Say "Ni!" Sir Robin avoids a fight with a Three-Headed Knight by running away while the heads are arguing amongst themselves. Sir Galahad is led by a grail-shaped beacon to Castle Anthrax, which is occupied exclusively by young women, who wish to be punished for misleading him, but he is unwillingly "rescued" by Lancelot. Lancelot receives an arrow-shot note from Swamp Castle. Believing the note is from a lady being forced to marry against her will, he storms the castle and slaughters several members of the wedding party, only to discover the note is from an effeminate prince.

Arthur and his knights regroup and are joined by Brother Maynard, his monk brethren, and three new knights: Bors, Gawain and Ector. They meet Tim the Enchanter, who directs them to a cave where the location of the Grail is said to be written. The entrance to the cave is guarded by the Rabbit of Caerbannog. Underestimating it, the knights attack, but the Rabbit easily kills Bors, Gawain and Ector. Arthur uses the "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch", provided by Brother Maynard, to destroy the creature. Inside the cave, they find an inscription from Joseph of Arimathea, directing them to Castle Aarrgh.

A cave monster devours Brother Maynard, but Arthur and the knights escape after the animator unexpectedly suffers a fatal heart attack. The knights approach the Bridge of Death, where the bridge-keeper demands they answer three questions in order to pass or else be cast into the Gorge of Eternal Peril. Lancelot easily answers simple questions and crosses. An overly cocky Robin is defeated by an unexpectedly difficult question, and an indecisive Galahad fails an easy one; both are magically flung into the gorge. When Arthur asks for clarification on a question regarding the airspeed of an unladen swallow, the bridge-keeper cannot answer and is himself thrown into the gorge.

Arthur and Bedevere cannot find Lancelot, unaware that he has been arrested by police investigating the historian's death. The pair reach Castle Aarrgh, but find it occupied by the French soldiers from earlier in the film. After being repelled by showers of manure, they summon an army of knights and prepare to assault the castle. As the army charges, the police arrive, arrest Arthur and Bedevere for the murder of the historian and break the camera, abruptly ending the film.

Arthur, King of the Britons, the hiccuping guard, and the middle head of the Three-Headed Giant, as well as the voice of God

Sir Lancelot the Brave, the Black Knight, French Taunter, and Tim the Enchanter, among other roles

Patsy (Arthur's servant), the Soothsaying Bridgekeeper, the Green Knight, Sir Bors, and himself as the Weak-Hearted Animator, among other roles

Sir Robin the-not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot, Lancelot's squire Concorde, the collector of the dead, Roger the Shrubber, and Brother Maynard, among other roles

Sir Bedevere the Wise, Prince Herbert, Dennis' mother, and the left head of the Three-Headed Giant, among other roles

Sir Galahad the Pure, Leader of the Knights Who Say Ni, Lord of Swamp Castle, Dennis, and the right head of the Three-Headed Giant, among other roles, and the film's narrator

In January 1973 the Monty Python troupe wrote the first draft of the screenplay.[5][6] Half of the material was set in the Middle Ages and half was set in the present day. The group decided to focus on the Middle Ages, focusing on the legend of the Holy Grail. By the fourth or fifth draft, the story was complete, and the cast joked that the fact that the Grail was never retrieved would be "a big let-down ... a great anti-climax". Graham Chapman said a challenge was incorporating scenes that did not fit the Holy Grail motif.

Neither Terry Gilliam nor Terry Jones had directed a film before, and described it as a learning experience in which they would learn to make a film by making an entire full-length film. The cast humorously described the novice directing style as employing the level of mutual disrespect always found in Monty Python's work.

A 2021 tweet by Eric Idle revealed that the film was financed by eight investors: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Holy Grail's co-producer Michael White, Heartaches (a cricket team founded by lyricist Tim Rice), and three record companies including Charisma Records, the record label that released Python's early comedy albums.[10] Idle and Terry Gilliam had previously mentioned that Elton John also contributed to the financing of the film.[11][12] The investors contributed the entire original budget of £175,350 (about $410,000 in 1974) and also received a percentage of the proceeds from the 2005 musical Spamalot.

According to Gilliam, the Pythons turned to rock stars like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin for finance as the studios refused to fund the film and rock stars saw it as "a good tax write-off" because the top rate of UK income tax was "as high as 90%" at the time.[11]

Monty Python and the Holy Grail had its theatrical debut in the United Kingdom on 3 April 1975,[33] followed by a United States release on 27 April 1975. It was re-released on 14 October 2015 in the United Kingdom.

It earned rentals in the US and Canada of $5.17 million.

The film had its television premiere 25 February 1977 on the CBS Late Movie.[37] Reportedly, the Pythons were displeased to discover a number of edits were done by the network to reduce use of profanity and the showing of blood. The troupe pulled back the rights and thereafter had it broadcast in the United States only on PBS and later other channels such as Comedy Central and IFC, where it runs uncut.

According to records of the NFFC, as of 31 December 1978 the distributor earned receipts of £2,358,229.