The ‘Monty Python’ movie John Cleese calls “the best structured”
Given the troupe’s signature irreverent and anarchic style, it was almost an inevitability that getting the Monty Python gang together for a feature film would never be a straightforward exercise, although John Cleese did at least commend the structural integrity of one above the rest.
Between 1971 and 1983, the iconic and massively influential collective delivered five features that showcased them at their best, although there were plenty of behind the scenes obstacles, hurdles, and roadblocks to leapt over along the way.
And Now for Something Completely Different put the Pythons at odds with the overbearing presence of producer Victor Lownes. The camera breaking during the very first shot on the very first day of Holy Grail was indicative of the issues the rest of the production would face, and Life of Brian was plagued by the simmering bad blood between Terry Jones and Gilliam.
Regardless, they’re all pivotal moments in the evolution of Monty Python and established classics of comedy cinema, although Cleese speaks of one higher than he’s regularly done the rest. In fact, beyond his approval of its structure, the Fawlty Towers star views Life of Brian as a near-magical experience.
In addition to calling it “the best structured absolutely,” Cleese liked that it had merit. “It’s also about something,” he said. “You could say it’s an examination, making fun of the way some people follow religious ideas or religious leaders. You can’t say something like that about Holy Grail.”
Furthering his point, Cleese suggested to Consequence that “Life of Brian had fallen into place almost magically.” Despite his belief the Pythons “wouldn’t have agreed on what religion was,” they were at least in agreement over “what religion ought not to be”. That put them on the same page during the writing process, “which we wouldn’t have done if we had to write it from the point of view of, ‘What is religion supposed to be?’, as opposed to, ‘What is it not supposed to be?”
The “harmonious atmosphere” Cleese enjoyed so much during development and pre-production was one that would become increasingly scarce the longer the Monty Python members remained in close proximity to each other, which in turn has established Life of Brian as a particularly memorable experience for one of its key players.
The content may have ruffled more than a few feathers and dredged up plenty of controversy during its initial release, but it’s been a long time since Life of Brian was viewed as anything other than one of the greatest comedy movies ever made. The pythons were firing on all cylinders, and for Cleese, much of its success can be put down to the simple fact that – to use an apt term – everyone was singing from the same hymnbook.
