Shoot The Flick

Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

This week to start the Holiday Season we cover on of the earliest controversial biblical comedies with Monty Python's Life of Brian! What will we think of this 70s comedy will we roll down the aisles of the Coliseum laughing or should this have been left in the past? Does it hold up to Holy Grail? Tune in to find out as we SHOOT THE FLICK!!!

Duration:: 54m
Broadcast on:: 04 Dec 2024
Audio Format:: other

It's Christmas in Heaven, as great films on TV. The sound of music twice an hour, and Jaws one, two, and three. Hey there, welcome to Shoot the Flick. I'm Frankie Spive, and I'm Scott Eisenberg. And we are a married couple who like to shoot the shit about movies. That we do that we do. It's Christmas time guys, it's December so it's Christmas time. It is, and we are starting with a weird one. Listen guys, the premise of our show, right, is to show each other movies that the other one hasn't seen. Now we are children of the 90s. We are. There are a lot of really good Christmas movies in the 90s, okay? There are. The problem is we've seen most, if not all of them, don't worry, we are going to have a Christmas special later in the month with a Christmas-ish movie that we've both seen. But for now, okay, our pickings are a little more slim. Not every movie we talk about in December is going to have Sandy Claus, or Rudy, with his glowing red schnaz. Nope. We, you know, we're working with what we got here, okay? But I think we got a good movie coming at you. Yes. So, giving you a little backstory of Shoot the Flick. Oh god. When we first started this podcast, a long time ago, in, what, 2019 and 2019? Somewhere around there, Frankie and I made lists of movies we wanted to show each other. Each of our lists was over a hundred movies? Probably, yeah. Something to that nature. And they're still generally over a hundred movies because we add and take off as we go. And this movie has been on that list for pretty much that whole time. Yeah. If you don't know what Monty Python is, or if you're not a fan of just British humor in general, you might not be entertained by this. And that's okay. Listen. It's okay. We're not judging you, but if you're not into Monty Python and you're curious, I suggest you, like, get into it, man. This might be a good stepping stone for you to check out the Monty Python trilogy. Yeah. This is one of, I think, three movies they have? Yes. There's Monty Python and the Holy Grail, of course, which I would guess is the most infamous of the series that I've seen. Then there's the meaning of life, which came out in the 80s, which I've never seen. It is okay. I've heard just through the great vine that it's like the one that everyone puts last on their lips. And then there's this one, which is Scott, Life of Brian, released in 1979. And we've covered a couple of British movies on the show. One of the last ones was Notting Hill. Oh, yes. That was a British film. That was fun. And we had the same introduction about how, hey, British humor isn't really everybody's humor, but if you enjoy it, you'll enjoy this movie. Yeah. British humor in general, you know, and there are parts of this movie that are just plain old silly. We're going to talk about it. But generally speaking, British humor is considered very dry, very intellectual. By the way, if you've also listened to the show before and you're annoyed by my British accent that I do sometimes, better off just skipping this one because I'm going to do it a lot probably. But yeah, British humor has its Genes Echois. Its vibe. Yes. I usually drive with it pretty well, so I was excited to watch this. And Monty Python is, I guess, the most famous British comedians? Oh, I mean, yeah, they're considered like the Beatles of comedy in general, I think, British comedy specifically, yeah. They are a British comedy troupe that were formed in 1969 and came into prominence with their show Monty Python's Flying Circus, which went on for about like five years, I think late '60s to early '70s. And then they have their film trilogy. And the cast is pretty stacked. There's some recognizable faces in here from more commonplace like household name American films. Like, for example, Jean Cleese, of course, was in like Harry Potter and a fish called Wanda. And... He's probably the most famous of the group. Yeah, like in American audiences, sure. There's also like Terry Gilliam, of course, who's a huge director. Yes. He's in a writer as well. And I actually had the movie Time Bandits on my To Watch List for a long time and never have watched it. But he's also wrote and/or directed other films like he did 12 Monkeys, which I'm not a big fan of 12 Monkeys. I know people like 12 Monkeys. Fear and loathing, I love. And also The Fisher King, which is, I feel like a lesser known movie with Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams, which is really good. But yeah. And then we got like Eric Idle, who has done a lot of comedic roles. He was in the castor movie in the 90s. Oh, God. He was one of the dragons in Quest for Camelot, you know the two-headed dragon. Oh, God. Listen, Quest for Camelot is a classic and I will hear no different. I haven't watched the movie in a long time. The soundtrack to Quest for Camelot cannot be beat, okay? I don't want to fucking hear it, okay? The animation is not great, but the soundtrack is dope. There's also a chicken with an axe on his face. Yeah. Tell me that's not cool. Anyway, we're getting off topic. The point is, Monty Python is the shit. Actually seeing as how I compared Monty Python to the Beatles, this movie was executive produced by George Harrison. The reason that he kind of signed on to the movie is because they're usual backers. Monty Python. They weren't going to do this movie, they weren't going to give them money because it's connotations to biblical stuff and Jesus and all that stuff. I would say a biblical comedy, a la dogma, which we'll definitely talk about. He basically created this film company with some other guy in order to finance this film and then ended up doing other projects, like he produced Time Bandits for Terry Gilliam. He also produced Lockstalk and Smoking Barrels, which I know you've seen. I've always wanted to see that too. It's not around anymore, a handmade film since it was called, but yeah, I just think that's really cool. Yeah. Because they got a lot of shit for this movie when it came out. Holy Grail is the most well known, it's probably the most quoted, generally among general moviegoers, it's got a lot of great little bits and moments in there. Well, you got things like the Black Knight, the Coconuts. Right, oh my god. Your mother was a hamster when you found this. You found this, found out about it. Yes. There's tons of stuff in that movie, but this movie has its charm too. Yeah, I think the pythons themselves at one point were like, this was us at our peak, which makes sense because there are obviously the silly, normal, Monty Python bits, right? But then you look at certain moments where they're clearly saying something about just the concept of religion. They're not talking specifically about Christianity, I don't think. No. I mean, obviously like the opening bit of the movie is, there's this guy named Brian and he was born the same day as Jesus and the three wise men got confused and thought that Brian was Jesus, but then, you know, it was a whole kerfuffle and it was like a funny bit to start the movie. But after that, there's one scene with Jesus talking on the mound and then he's never mentioned again or talked about. Yeah. So, you know, the shit they got for the movie, I guess it was obvious that that was going to happen because I know Kevin Smith got a similar reaction to dogma. No dogma, it is more like directly, it's making fun of religion as a whole, but it is more directly making fun of Catholicism, like, specifically. Yeah. I think Python definitely is talking about the formation of religion and how religion can be misconstrued and all that good stuff just to suit your narrative. Yeah, exactly. But when the movie came out, it did make a big splash with a budget of $4 million, it made $20 million, but they did get some backlash, not that long after the movie was released. There's a pretty well known interview that was done on some BBC talk show with John Cleese and Michael Palin, two members of Monty Python, that they went on this talk show to talk to, I think, a cardinal and some famous broadcaster at the time who converted to Christianity and they were arguing back and forth about the merits of the movie and John Cleese basically had a sort of a checkmate moment in that interview where he was like, "We're not really making fun of anybody, we're just saying you should figure it out for yourself. You shouldn't follow any one person," which is funny because there's a point in the movie where the main character basically says that to a group of people that are worshipping him like, "No, no, no, no, don't follow me, don't follow anyone, just figure out your own shit, you are all individuals," and that's basically what the movie is saying. Well, yeah, and it's just a nice concept, like you don't have to follow one group blindly, take the best things from that group, the best things from another group, and just go your own fucking way. Sure. And I think that Monty Python definitely ran with the fact that this movie was controversial. It definitely helped it, I think, as far as getting the message out there and getting people to want to see it. I mean, the tagline of the movie made me laugh, so I wrote it down. It says, "A motion picture destined to offend nearly two thirds of the civilized world and severely annoy the other third." So they're leaning into it, which I think is the way to go. I think with any comedian, really, it's like, I mean, I feel like comedians now sort of take it to the extreme where it's like anything even remotely controversial, they're just like leaning into the extreme just to get clicks and whatnot. But in this instance, I feel like they did it with a purpose. They were actually saying something very clearly and passionately, and they put it out there and, you know, people took it as they took it, I guess, as they do with anything. Well, yeah, you start with the outrage and then, over time, people go, "No, that's kind of funny," and then they let it go because that's just how it goes. Yeah, but another reason why I thought of dogma when I was doing research for this, and watching it too, sometimes, but apparently an early idea for the script was revolving around Brian being the 13th apostle, always missing out on the important moments of Jesus' timeline. So I just thought that was really funny because it reminded me of Chris Rock and dogma. I think I'm going to church my whole life, and I've never heard of the 13th apostle named Rufus. Yeah, but you heard of the other 12 apostles, yeah, old white boys, I might add, but no mention of me, Rufus. Then what was that? Because I'm a black man. I think because people are so afraid to touch religion, at times, and it's either, oh, we're going to get backlash from, like, the religious people, and most commonly seem to get backlash from somebody religious. Yeah. And they probably just aren't what they used to be, you know, like in the old end. I mean, we could probably try to pick apart forever like why that is, but even more dramatic movies that focus on religion, they do get backlash as far from, like, the religious community, I'm sure, but they definitely have the people making the movies and leaning into that for a certain amount of praise. Like, you think of every so often, there's a sort of religious oscary movie in the conversation during awards season, like not that long ago was the two posts with Anthony Hopkins, and now they got another pop movie coming out, Conclave with, um, Ray Fines, that's getting a lot of buzz. They had that one silence with the monks. Oh, I think that was Scorsese, right? Yeah. Yeah. You know, and then what, uh, Passion of the Christ, of course, was like a big one when it came out. But it's a double edged sword, but it gets controversy, but then it also gets people more intrigued by it and gets people watching it. So, I mean, it worked out for Monty Pie, I thought I think I think it worked out just fine. Yeah. If you haven't seen this or Holy Grail, their skits are also very funny from, uh, Flying Circus. Yeah. Oh God. Oh, it's so fun. Oh my God. In the interview with the, the Cardinal and the guy, like at one point, I don't remember if it was, I think it was John Cleese. I think one of the guys was saying like, oh, you know, God and Jesus, they, they've done all these wonderful things for society and da, da, da, da, they've inspired people. And then John Cleese was like, yeah, they've inspired some pretty fucked up things too. Like, you know, the Spanish Inquisition and I fucking died. I was like, the Spanish Inquisition. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Oh God. Oh, it was really funny, but anyway, yeah, if you don't, I mean, if you've been living under a, a Monty Pie-Thon-sized rock, that's okay. But you should check them out because they're fun and they're cool. Another great thing about the Monty Pie-Thon films, I don't know about meaning of life, but I know with Holy Grail and with Life of Ryan, they have our, I think it's like just six of them. Yeah. Playing multiple roles throughout the movie and also they are behind the scenes as well. So the movie was directed and co-written by Terry Jones, who plays articular character Brian's mother in the movie. It is a man. So that's fun. Terry, Terry is a unisex name, so I feel like I have to clarify. But then it was also written by Graham Chapman, who plays Brian. I didn't realize that Graham Chapman also plays King Arthur and Holy Grail because I feel like they look so different. They do. Like in Holy Grail, he was very bloated because he was drinking a lot. And then in Life of Ryan, they're like, "Okay, you can be Brian, but you got to fucking sober up so we lost some weight." But yeah, other writers include our other guys here. We got John Kleece, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Michael Palin. So the whole gang is here, kids. Yeah, I'm just, I'm excited to talk about the many bits. I wasn't sure if this movie was just going to be like, because the plot in Holy Grail is not really, it's very thin. Yes. It's a very thin plot peppered through various bits. So this is basically the same thing. It is. I think this has technically more of a plot than Holy Grail. Um, not really, not really Holy Grail, they're trying to get somewhere and find something. What is Brian trying to do in, well, I think it's just in, in Life of Brian. He just like, "I don't like the Romans. Oh, I'm going to have sex with this lady. Oh, I'm going to be the dude, Messiah." Taking the comedy out of it, if Brian was a real person, this is our following of Brian's life. Okay. Sure. Sure. Sure. So this is our Bob Dylan of this. Oh, no. Let's say, what are you, what are you trying to do? By the way, right now as we're recording this, the, the general Oscar buzz is either Adrian Brody's going to win for Best Actor this year, or Timmy Chalamet for playing Bob Dylan, which I haven't seen the movie yet, but I don't, and I liked him with you, Chalamet. I don't really think I want that. I don't want it. And I'm, I liked him with the Chalamet. I don't want it. Stop. Anyway. I can't wait to hear him try to the Dylan accent. He's singing. I mean, he's, he's singing in it, he hopes so we're doing it live, you know, we're, we're going to Cynthia Rivo, this thing and do it live and half away, this thing. Do it live. We're going to Russell Crow, this thing. Oh, no. Do it live. Anyway. Sorry. Um, how did we get on that? Oh, because you mentioned Bob Dylan for no reason. Anyway, um, I'm trying to remember how Holy Grail ended with them getting arrested by the cops. Oh, yeah. I was going to say, because this movie doesn't exactly end, Monty Python has a thing when they're ending, I guess. I don't know. Well, they used to, it used to be a joke, I think, in their show that they used to end every sketch with a cop coming in and the wrestling people. Oh, yeah. That's kind of funny. Well, that doesn't happen here, but we'll talk about that when we get there. Um, okay. So I'm, I'm ready to go. Shall we get into the nitty gritty now? Yes. Let's just get into the life of Ryan. Uh, so we start back in Judea where the wise men are traveling across the sands to visit who they think is their Messiah, Brian. Yeah. Hey, offer gold, frankincense and mer. Merde. Sorry. I had to mention the vine. I'm, I'm milling a whole lot of you. Yeah. Well, that's fine. We get our whole joke of, we think, Brian's the Messiah and then they realize whoopsie. He's not. Yeah. So we get a very bond esque song over the opening. Oh, yes, we do. The life of Brian, which is kind of funny because the opening song, life of Brian is performed by Sonya Jones, who is often mistaken for Shirley Bassey, who did the gold finger song. I feel like that was done purpose. Oh, yes. Because, you know, so now we cut. We cut forward in Brian's life to 33 AD in Judea on Saturday afternoon about tea time. That's what them Brits do. They drink tea. They do. Jesus is speaking to the people, but we don't really care about that. We fast over to the back of the crowd where like, what's he saying? Which makes sense because let's face it. If there's a crowd of right, yeah, it's funny. Blessed are the cheese makers. Why? The cheese makers. I think it's symbolic of anyone who deals in dairy products. So and then he just punches a woman in full in the base, which is great. Oh God. It's so. There are treatment of women in this movie like we're going to talk about it at one point them the no, it's fine. It's fine. It's not bad. It's funny. At one point the, um, because Brian's there played by Graham Chapman, as we said, with his mother played by Terry Jones and Terry Jones is like, let's go to a stoning. I'm bored of this Jesus man. Let's go, go to the stoning down the way. So they go to a stoning where they're, they're stoning this guy to death for blasphemy or whatever. Yep. He's a blasphemer. And for whatever reason, like this whole crowd of stone throwers are women in beards in fake beards. Because the joke is like women aren't allowed to go to the stoning, but they want to go to watch and participate. So, eating the shit out of an asshole man, which I'm like, Oh, I love that. Love that for you. The only way they can do that is to wear fake beards and go to the stoning. It was a great bit to really like start off and get in the vibe because at one point John Cleese is there and he's sort of like the, the arbiter of the stoning for lack of a better term. And at one point, the, all the women are screeching, you know, as, as women tend to do. And Charlie just goes like, Oh, there are many women out there. No, no, no, no, no, well, the best part is they start with like a higher register to be like, yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, yeah, it was good. It was funny. John Cleese is great getting stoned because he ends up getting killed. Oh, yeah, because he says Jehovah and he gets down to death by a big rock. I feel like my first exposure to John Cleese, because I didn't know of Monty Python until I was older, I feel like my first exposure introduction to John Cleese was probably rat race. Yeah, which if you don't know is the comedy, like a 2000 Z comedy, it was on Comedy Central all the time had like a pretty fucking stacked cast thinking about John Cleese. Well, John. Yeah, whoopi Goldberg. John love it. It's just a bean. Oh God, Rowan Atkinson. Yeah. It was fucking crazy that I never remember his actual name Rowan Atkinson. Yeah. I only know him as Mr. Bean, but yeah, it's weird because like when you get those actors that span across generations, like what young kids know them for what older people know them for is the difference is weird. It's like now I'm trying to think of a comparison nowadays. Well, you get like Eddie Murphy, where people know him from as donkey or they know him as actually Foley. Yeah, exactly. Like, you know, when you talk about like the people that, yeah, that just do like mainly void like Julie Andrews, for example, I was looking up her recently because they're doing Princess Diaries too. And no, Princess Diaries three, excuse me, they already did a Princess Diaries. That's true. What am I talking about? But anyway, us millennial ladies, you know, we know Julie Andrews, I feel like she she breathed new life into pop culture with Princess Diaries, but like, you know, the OGs, especially the musical theater OGs know her from, of course, like Mary Poppins and sound of music and stuff. Indeed. So it's just interesting. But anyway, again, I have sidetracked, I apologize. So Brian sees a girl, of course, an actual girl. Oh, yes, she is a rebel because there's obviously, okay, so in this world, right, there's many much Jews as there are in Judea and the Romans have taken over this land and they are roaming it up with their feather hats, things and armor and all that stuff. And there are rebels out there who hate the Romans and want to overthrow them. And there's this little gang of rebels and one of the people in this group is a woman named Judith. And she's played by Sue Jones Davis. And I think she's the only woman in this movie. I don't know because there's also at one point in like one of the mob scenes where they're following Brian because they think he's the Messiah. Oh, there's that one American woman. Yeah, okay. Sorry. You're right. I don't know if she's British speaking in American accent. I don't know why you would like if you're in a British movie with all British people, why you would fake an American accent. So I'm pretty sure she's just one American lady who was in there and was like, Oh, look, it's a gourd. It's the court of Brian, look, it's Brian, look, his shoe is on the floor. Let's get like literally talking like me, I'm like, bitch, you don't belong here. Oh, God. But I think she just plays Judith, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, I pretty sure she's only Judith. She is there to be love interests to Brian. That is true. Brian basically falls in love for her instantly. Brian wants to join their group because he hates the Romans, even though his mom boinked Roman and he is half Roman because his father is a Roman. So in order to behave basically to enter this rebel group, the head rebel who's also played by Jean Cleese, his name is Reg. Yes. And Reg says, you better get out there, Brian and deface the palace about fuck the Romans or whatever. Well, he wants it. Go home Romans. Oh, yes. And there's a whole bit where he gets caught by a Roman general or whatever, who's also played by Jean Cleese. It is funny at one point because like there are multiple scenes where like the Romans are trying to infiltrate or capture these rebels. And in one scene, Jean Cleese is playing Reg and then like you go right outside to another part of the same scene and it's Jean Cleese as the Romans. It's funny. Anyway, we were working our asses off playing multiple roles here. So Brian gets away from the Romans here after defacing the palace. And he gets to join the people's front of Judea. Yay. They have this bit here where it's like, this is what I was talking about where it's like silly bits, you know, oh, you don't know how to write in Roman. Okay, cool. It's like silly things. And then you go into a bit like this where it's it's still pretty topical like, oh, fuck the government. Fuck the Romans. What have they ever given us? And then you get like the one guy in the back's like, uh, the aqueducts. Okay. Sanitation. Sanitation. Okay. Other than aqueducts and sanitation medicine, the roads, education, and they're like, okay, other than all that piece, fuck piece. Oh, God. So yeah, later on in the movie after Brian joins the rebel group, he does end up getting chased by the Romans at some point again. And he gets arrested and brought before Caesar, who it's funny. We just talked about gladiator. That's true. We did just talk about gladiator. And Caesar's got a speech impediment. Oh, yeah, that's my God, a list is always funny. Like I'm so if you have a list, it's not a knock to you at all. It's just, it's just funny to watch people talk funny. That's all. Yeah. Like around this point where they were doing this first scene with Caesar, who's played by Michael Palin, once we got into the list scene and biggest dickace and all that stuff, that's probably one of the most famous bits from this movie's biggest dickace. Once we got to that part, I was like, Oh, this is truly a movie written by 12 year old little boys. That's like Jesus Christ. What is the shit? The biggest dickace is great. Explain the biggest dickace, so Brian is brought before Caesar and Brian now realizing he's in trouble goes, I'm not a Jew, I'm a Roman. My father's name was Nordius Maximus. And this causes a couple of people to laugh and they go, why are you laughing? And John Cleese, who is our head general, is like, it's obviously a fake name like biggest dickace. And Caesar looks at him and goes, but I have a friend named biggest dickace. And then he's just the whole rest of the scene is just him going around to his subordinates Caesar and being like, do you think that name is funny and him just saying it over and over again. And these grown men like, anybody else feel like a little tickle when I mentioned my friend Dickace. Biggest dickace. So stupid and then later on, I think biggest dickace shows up in the movie played by Graham Chapman, which is even funnier. But biggest dickace also has a speech impediment where he's like, oh yeah, because again, a lisp is always funny kids. Never forget. Every time they were talking, I just kept wanting to go marriage, I would have loved the scene. Mel Brooks and the pythons come together on something. Just do acid together. Well, do a movie together, acid sure, that'd be fun too. But Brian escapes because we're too distracted by biggest dickace and he is running around Rome trying to get away. He runs up a flight of stairs. Oh my god, okay, go do it. Just do it Scott. Rip the bandit off. He falls off the roof and somehow lands in a flying spacecraft. Excuse me? Like, I, listen, I usually don't have like verbal reactions to movies, at least like, yeah, I just, I verbally sitting there in my living room was like, what? What the fuck? So it was like a cartoon spaceship that just came out of the side of the screen and picked them up. And then it was like two fucking muppets, just aliens, aliens, aliens, aliens, and then they drop his ass, they crash in the middle of Judea and no one bats an eye. And then Brian just gets out and runs along and like, okay, back to the movie. It's like, huh, excuse me? So as Brian's still being chased by, I feel like we're just glossing over that. It's such an insignificant, I like, I didn't remember it. Yeah, it was, we can't, I mean, I understand the movie just glosses over it. But I feel like, what, huh, I don't think we're gonna come back at some point. Nope. Nope. Nope. Never comes back. Nope. I thought they were gonna save him from being crucified at the end. Well, no one saves him. No one. Always look, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Okay. So Brian runs away and eventually ends up trying to buy a beard to the skies himself. Right. And he gets into a whole scene about haggling. Oh, haggling. That was funny. You have to haggle. Eric Idle was his, like, very distinct voice, like, you have to know how to haggle. Come on. All right. I'll give you 10. That's more like it. 10. Are you trying to insult me? Me? With a poor dying grandmother? 10? All right. I'll give you 11. Now you're getting it. 11. When you're going through this movie, I feel like the same thing sort of happens in Holy Grail, but no, I feel like this is more severe in the idea of, like, you just kind of forget what we're supposed to be doing at some point, like, you just, like, we're just hanging out with this guy now. Like, we don't even know, like, there's a goal, like, it's just, like, get away from the Romans. It's a goal, basically, the movie. Fuck the Romans. And then everything else is just, like, we're hanging out with this guy, Brian, just doing random shit. Basically, again, it's Brian's life. It's the life of Brian. Right. I get it. It's just, we never really, it doesn't feel like we have a really, at least an attainable achievable goal. He's just, like, I hate the Romans anyway off to, well, off to fuck my girlfriend. Well, I hate the Romans. So let me try to get rid of the Romans. That fails. Let me run away from the Romans. And then he runs back to the people's front of Judea. Oh, yeah. And then the Romans find him there and they're like, oh, you led them to our fucking hideout. Great. Thanks, man. And then we have this bit that goes on, like, just a tiny bit too long, I think, where it's like the Romans come in, search the little hideout. Don't find anybody. Then they leave. Five seconds later, they knock on the door again, go in, search, leave with nothing. They go in a third time. I'm like, Jesus Christ. The only, like, solid joke that came out of that whole bit was, there's like this old man that's sort of like their cover, their bouncer or something, you know, like there, he's standing at the door and he's there to, like, stall the Romans, essentially. And John Cleese is the head Roman guard. He's talking to him and he's like, you know, if you're harboring any fugitives, the consequences, crucifixion, and the old guy's like, well, that's not so bad. At least you get out in the open air, and John Cleese is just like, you're weird, fucking weirdo. Well, it's also great because he comes out, he's like, oh, my back, my shoulders, my legs. My eyes are crooked, my legs are bent. I was like, me, girl, me, but eventually Brian runs away again. And he, somehow in avoiding the Romans, he ends up on, like, I don't know how to explain it, like this pulpit of sorts, where many much different wannabe messiahs are standing atop some, like, hilly perch of sorts, sermonizing to assorted crowds and whatnot. So Brian falls on one of these guys and knocks him down, but in order to avoid getting caught by the Romans, he, like, pretends to be one of these prophets talking and, you know, spewing out all this mumbo jumbo. And it works to the great, like, people start, like, listening to him, and Brian's just, like, clearly making this up on the spot. Right. At one point, he, like, is watching as the Romans leave, and he's like, oh, yes, the secret of life is, and he's, like, watching them go. And the people listening to him are like, wait, what's the secret of life? What are you doing? And then he eventually, Brian just runs off and is like, get the fuck away from me, you freaks. Well, yeah, he heads one person, the gourd. Oh, yes. He had a gourd in his hand. He's like, here, take it. I don't want it. And then they're, like, worshiping the gourd at one point, this crowd. And then at one point, Brian drops his shoe, like a good old-fashioned Cinderella as he's running away. And they're like, ah, the shoe. And this is one of the points where I was like, ah, I see what you're doing. You think you want us to think you're just doing, like, 12-year-old dick jokes? But no, you're trying to say something, because, like, some people in the crowd are like, ah, he left his shoe behind. This means we should gather all the shoes in his honor, and it's like, whoa. And then one of them's like, no, we should follow the path and doodle doodle doodle. We should follow the path of the gourd. Yeah, it's like everybody can interpret something differently based on what they think or what they want to believe or whatever, and I thought that was very clever, very clever. It's a clever bit hidden in joking format. Yeah, but the story kind of gets away from Brian after this point, because he unwittingly becomes a messiah of sorts. He's running away from these people, trying to tell them to get away. He jumps into a pit and accidentally steps on this man's foot, who has been silenced for 18 years, causing him to break his silence, because Brian, he screams out when Brian steps on his foot. Was that Michael Palin, the guy? Yes, I believe so. Okay, because at one point, okay, this is a great scene, we're going to talk about it, but at one point, the crowd comes and finds Brian with this creepy old guy with a long fucking beard, right? And he's buck naked, but he's got a really long beard to cover the front. So I was like, oh, okay, that makes sense, but you see his ass, which you don't want to see, but it's there, and you're like, okay, hi, at one point, at one point, the crowd is like, we are hungry or something like that. What should we do, my lord? And he's like, well, you can just take berries out of that bush over there. And the crowd's like, ah, he gave us a bus, a juniper bush, and the naked guy's like, that's my juniper bush, and he gets out of the pit, and the way that he like runs over to the, it's chilling, the way he runs over to the bush, and he's like, get away from my juniper bush, it was a lot for me to withstand, and little did I know, there was more ass and then some to be had when we're on to the movie, but we'll get there, okay, I wasn't prepared. Anyway, it's fine. But yeah, so the juniper bush is a miracle. Yeah, apparently it's a miracle. So it gives very much, I'm not the Messiah, but you're so humble, of course you would say you're not the Messiah, but I'm really not. Well, then it is like, only the Messiah would deny his lordship, he goes, okay, fine, I'm the Messiah. He's the Messiah. I see what you're doing there, Monty. So John Please is the head of this group too, of people who are now worshiping Brian. Oh yeah, he's like, I know what a Messiah looks like, I followed a few, and I'm like, wait a minute. I think the reason John Please has become the most famous Python, arguably, he is so good at keeping a straight face in all these comedies. He just gives very much like, I'm a businessman, and I am priming proper. He's definitely a great straight man. Oh yeah, he was in that whole biggest, thickest thing, and he doesn't grin once. Mm-mm. Well, all the other guards around him are like giggling, he's straight face, man. Ah, so good. But so Brian's love interest shows up. He's like, come on, let's go have sex. And they do, and it's fine, like whatever. But then like, he goes to the, I don't know why we needed this, and it shocked me, I was like, whoa, I don't lie, he goes to his window and like opens the window, and there's like a crowd of people. Oh, Brian, and like that I get, but like, I don't need to see your dick, sir. I don't need to see your dick. I don't need nor do I want, I can't express this enough, to see your dick. It's like, why, I don't, why, put it away? He was just going to air it out, dear, open the window and air it out a little bit. That's 70s ass, because there was like a fucking dust bunny hairball around his dick, and I'm like, bro, I can't even see your balls, like, not that I want to, but like, let's just cover it and just hair, just a tufts of hair, and just a little lady, and I'm like, whoa, I want to see that, and then Judith goes full frontal too, and I'm like, girl, listen, you do what you want, free the nipple, but like, we don't need to do that. Hey, fair is fair. I mean, just the 70s bush on both of them was quite egregious. Fair is fair. I mean, Jesus, literally Jesus, like, what are we doing? Brian. But Brian's mother is like, you can't see Brian today to the people. You can't see Brian today. Please go. He's been a naughty boy, and they're like, but you're the mother of the Messiah. At one point, they do ask his mother, like, are you a virgin? If there's not a personal question, if it's not a personal question, like that, excuse me, and then they close the door and they're like, oh, yeah, she definitely is, like, how dare you? So Brian comes out and speaks to the people, and he basically, he gives us the theme of the movie, which is basically like, listen, guys, you don't need to do this. You don't have to follow me or anybody else. You just figure out your own shit for yourself and think what you want to think, and you're all individuals, and the crowd, the best part of this whole stuff, this whole bit is that all the crowd talks is one. So as Brian is saying, you're all individuals, the crowd in harmony goes, yes, we're all individuals. And it's like, it's like a great way to make the theme very well known. It was good. It was funny. Oh, it's so good. Isn't this make you want to light up your Christmas tree kids and sing jingle bells? Sing the life of Brian. Oh, no. Well, no, we're going to get to the song at the end, but you should really be singing. Oh, yes, indeed. So Brian, now as the Messiah for these people, is being like escorted around by the people's front of Judea. Yeah, but then he immediately gets arrested again by the Romans, and Judith, the love of interest goes into the headquarters, and it's like, Brian, just got arrested. We got to go. And they're like, oh, we must discuss this as a as a committee and figure out what we're going to do. And she's like, he's getting arrested right now. We have to go. Let's go. Yes, because their whole bit is the people's front of Judea as like a rebel group. They just like to talk a lot and not do. Oh, we should talk about the trans bit. Oh, yeah. So in the committee, okay, Reg is the head of the team, basically, and then there's Judith. There's another guy. I forget who plays him. And then there's Eric Idle, who plays a man named Stan. And they're talking about like they're basically their manifesto of like what they want to accomplish in their rebel group, right? And at one point, Stan, he keeps making it known that like he thinks that men and women should both be allowed to be part of their little outfit. And Jean Cleese is like, why do you keep bringing up women, Stan? And he's like, because I want to be a woman and I want you to call me Loretta from here on out. And the rest of them are like, huh, like why do you want to be a woman, Stan? And he's like, cause I want to have babies. Now, what I, okay, so this bit is still considered, I would say, probably controversial today, just because of the issues around trans people in the LGBTQ community, like it's obviously still talked about is a hot button issue. What I like about this is the fact that while they do very obviously acknowledge the fact that like, even if you want to be a woman, just biologically speaking, you can't have babies. They're like, where are you going to gestate the faces in a box? Which like, yeah, obviously, but what I also like about this a lot is that they treat the idea of Stan wanting to transition into a woman and being called Loretta completely straight. Like, they take it seriously, like they'd seriously call her Loretta for the rest of the movie in complete sincerity. They use the correct pronouns. They call her Loretta and it's not played as a joke at all. They're just like, oh, okay. Well, and even like, cause at one point, they're like, even though you count have babies, you could have babies, you should be allowed to have them. And it's like, okay, that's obviously like played for a joke because it's like a silly sentence. It's like, you know, the convolution of that one part of it is silly. But just the idea that they're like, just very easily accepting of the idea that like, well, yeah, person that they're friends with is a woman. And I just like that they treat that very seriously and don't even make a big thing out of it at all. So yeah, so at the end of the movie, as they're having their discussion about Brian being arrested. Oh, yeah, Judith runs out of the room. And John Cleese is like, ah, these feminists, am I right? And Loretta's like, hey, he's like, oh, sorry, Loretta, like, it's just totally serious. And I'm like, okay, and even before that, they're calling Eric Eitel's character Loretta. And it's, I just like, like, I know people clip that part of the movie out today. Sometimes and be like, ah, they, they saw it coming, you know, these, these men wanting to pretend to be women. And like, that's not what the, that's not what the bit is like, yeah, they accepted Loretta. The bit is you can do whatever the fuck you want, but just like, you know, let's have some common sense and common decency about it. At least that's what I took from it. Yeah. And I like that. Yeah. So that that's what I got out of it. Exactly. And you know what, who cares if people just want to be happy, just let them fucking be happy. If your friend is in their heart, a Loretta, let them be a Loretta and just treat them as such. If they want to be share, let them be share. Oh, yeah. Cascher and Moonstruck was called Loretta that it's kind of funny and that was an unintended little connection. Yeah, we have the Loretta connection and then the gladiator connection. Yeah. And also there's, to the movie we're doing next week, there's also a kind of a connection to Moonstruck in a weird way. It's, it's everything's connected. Pepe Silvia. So while Brian is getting ready to be crucified. Oh God. There's a whole bit where he's like, I'm not supposed to be here. Oh God. Very, very Dante from Clerks. I'm not supposed to be here today. They're like, yeah, then I just go on, move on. Brian gets pardoned like the last minute. Yeah. But then some other guy claims to be Brian. So he gets, he brought the real Brian gets stuck up there while some other guy gets that free. Yeah. And then the rebels come up and they're like, ah, we appreciate your sacrifice for the cause. And Brian's like, what the fuck are you talking about? Like you guys let me down and even Jewess like, ah, I respect you so much. I'll never forget you. And he's like, this bitch. Are you fucking kidding me? And Brian is left on the cross to die. To languish. Although I feel like, I feel like the mind you, I'm not a very religious person. Right. But didn't they nail Jesus to the cross? Yes. I feel like they purposely tied them all to their crosses for like, you know, MPAA reasons. I don't even know if the MPAA was a thing in 1979. Even if it wasn't, I'm sure not nailing their hands to the cross. Yeah. A little much. A little much. It would have saved an X rating. Yeah. A little much. The pythons are probably like, listen, we're already pushing it by making this guy, you know, Jesus's counterpart, essentially, that Jesus never gets putting him on the cross. Like, let's just not push any more than we have to. But then we cut to Eric Idol. Oh, yes. Who's playing another guy who's being crucified at the same time. And he's like, cheer up, buddy. Everything's fine. And then we go, I feel like this is the most famous part of the movie. Oh, yeah. I feel like even if you don't know this movie, you know this song. Look on the bright side of life. It's really good. Oh, wait, let's go on the bright side of life. I can't whistle. Yeah, that's Scott's department. I can't whistle. But yeah, they had an interview on Conan O'Brien. I think it was Eric Idol who was like, your songs, the most requested song in funerals. He goes on second and he goes my way. I'm like, oh, but this is just, let's just like bright uplifting like little song. And it's dark too because they're being crucified. Yeah, and all these people being crucified or whistling and like singing a happy little ditty as they're rotting up there. It's clear. Also, I feel like that as the camera like pans across to all the guys up there and like some of them are laughing and like it almost looks like they caught them like between takes. And we're just like filming them because it just seems like they're just hanging out up there. So yeah, it's dark but funny. Yeah, which I enjoy personally. I like dark humor and I feel like that kind of, it sums everything up in a good way. Indeed. At the end of the movie. Yeah, and that's life of Brian. It certainly is. Would you say you like this more or holy grail? Oh, I like holy grail more. I think I do too. I think holy grail is their masterpiece. But life of Brian is, I still think very good. Yeah, I feel like this is more of a comedy in the sense of like it's really, it's saying something while also making you laugh at both silly and like more intellectual humor, which is great. I feel like holy grail is mostly just like silly bits, which is great also. It's just a different animal. It is. I think this has more of a message than holy grail. Right. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, exactly. So I agree with you. This touches on like religion and like the formation of religions and you know what we should be as a human society, but in a funny way as a society, but again, holy grail is infinitely more quotable occasionally when we hang out with my family somewhere, someone will go. We are going to say me. Yeah, your step that does that a lot and you would like a shrubbery. It's good shit. That is good shit. Yeah, I think just because I have more of a connection with that movie, I like it better. But I do also very much like this movie. I gave this the same score that I have for holy grail, which is a four out of five stars. Yeah, I gave this a four out of five to I think I have holy grail as a five out of five or four and a half of the five either way. I think these are both extremely well done movies and well done comedies that have lasted throughout time, meaning a life is from what I remember, okay, I don't remember a whole lot. Yeah, I guess just for completion is sake. I might as well watch that at some point, but I don't know. But after we watched Life of Brian, you then went to YouTube on the TV and just put on some Monty Python sketches and it's two people who have both participated in and wrote comedy sketches in the past. It was just fun to watch and they're so good. They're like from like the seventies, but they still hold up a lot of them, but they're so simple to yeah, the ministry of silly walks, I was just going to say the silly walk one is always funny. Of course we brought up the Spanish Inquisition earlier. Yes. Oh, well, I guess I'll have to put that in again. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. They were probably like the inspiration of what would eventually become like Saturday Night Live and TV and all those other in living color and it probably started with Monty. I would say you could go watch any of those, watch these two movies and you'll have a good time. I agree. Yeah. It was fun. It was a nice way to sort of dip our toe into the holiday season and shoot the flick, even though it's not it's there's no mention of a Christmas tree. The most Christmassy thing about it is the nativity scene in the first five minutes and then it's just, you know, they mention Passover. I don't remember that. Well, that's why they go the part in Brian because of Passover. Oh, okay. Well, say lovey. Anyway, you know, the common Jewish saying, say lovey, but yeah, it was fun. Next week we're definitely going to be. I would say the movie we're going to talk about next week that I'm going to show Scott is another movie that I've had on my list for Scott since the very beginning of Shoot the flick that is one of my favorite movies ever. And then I watched as a kid growing up and I loved so much and I'm so excited to watch it again for like the five hundredth time. I think you're going to like it. I think it's a little more it's not Christmassy. It's more a wintery vibe, a more feel good wintery vibe, which is nice again, not it's like Christmassy adjacent, but that's okay. Like very Christmassy adjacent, like adjacent adjacent adjacent. You know what I mean? Ah, yes, yes, yes. But until then this has been, this is going to be one of my most anticipated episodes of Shoot the flick. By the way, next week's I'm really excited. But until then this has been Shoot the flick. I'm Frankie Spikes and I'm Scott Eisenberg. Make sure you check us out on Instagram and Twitter at Shoot the flick and check out all of our episodes on iTunes, Spotify, and I have radio and pretty much anywhere else you can find a podcast and make sure you come back next week for our musical, not fucking Disney-fied, but kind of, it's complicated, movie adventure. Now remember, I can't listen, but let's do it here. ♪ Always look on the right side of life ♪ [MUSIC PLAYING]