The classic Monty Python movie gags that were ALMOST cut: Famous scenes from Life of Brian and the Holy Grail including the Black Knight were nearly axed amid fears they were ‘too silly, dull or offensive’, editor reveals
- Monty Python scenes almost cut amid fears they were ‘too silly, dull or offensive’
Some of Monty Python’s most famous film scenes, including the Black Knight, were almost cut – because the stars thought they were ‘too silly, dull or offensive’, the movies’ editor has revealed.
Julian Doyle said several of Python’s iconic moments such as Biggus Dickus were nearly shelved over concerns they were not funny.
He worked on Life Of Brian, The Meaning Of Life and The Holy Grail, alongside Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.
He said some of the most memorable moments from the films almost never made the screen over concerns of taste, budget, pace and humour.
Doyle claimed there were fears the Judean People’s Front Crack Suicide Squad from Life Of Brian would upset Jewish viewers.
Some of Monty Python’s most famous film scenes, including the Black Knight (pictured), were almost cut – because the stars thought they were ‘too silly, dull or offensive’, the movies’ editor has revealed
Some of the most memorable moments from the films almost never made the screen over concerns of taste, budget, pace and humour.
Julian Doyle claimed there were fears the Judean People’s Front Crack Suicide Squad from Life Of Brian would upset Jewish viewers
A scene where a market trader barters over the cost of a fake beard was dubbed by the actors as ‘too slow’ – as was The Three-Headed Knight from The Holy Grail.
The Grail’s Black Knight battle – one of the most famous Python moments ever – was also almost left on the cutting room floor.
The skit shows the defiant Knight, played by Cleese, losing all four limbs during a duel with Chapman’s King Arthur – but still refusing to yield.
Cleese’s lines – ’tis but a scratch’, ‘I’ve had worse’ and ‘Alright, we’ll call it a draw’ – have since become classics.
However, the Pythons thought the sword fight should be removed because it was ‘so bloody that it was killing the rest of the film’, Doyle said.
The stars were ‘sticklers for perfection’ and feared certain gags could damage the films by falling flat with audiences, he has revealed.
Doyle said several of Python’s iconic moments such as Biggus Dickus were nearly shelved over concerns they were not funny
Two scenes featuring Otto were ultimately removed from the film but the Suicide Squad are later seen tapping their lifeless feet to the film’s closing song, ‘Always look on the bright side of life’ (pictured, Brian singing the song while being crucified)
Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin in Monty Python’s Life Of Brian (pictured)
With Life Of Brian, Cleese believed the famed Biggus Dickus scene became ‘too silly’ and wanted to cut the end section.
Many precious moments were saved thanks to Doyle’s ‘fanatical persistence’ which Palin would later mention in more polite terms: ‘Julian won’t let anything go unless he thinks its right.’
Doyle, whose feature film credits also include Time Bandits and Brazil, said he fought ‘tooth and nail’ with the stars to keep the scenes.
Speaking at the launch of his new novel The Jericho Manuscript, which was inspired by his work on Life Of Brian, he said: ‘The Monty Python films are known today as comedic masterpieces, and rightly so.
‘But what no one knows, and has never known until now, is that several scenes that would go on to become iconic, side-splitting institutions in their own right, were in fact destined to suffer a brutal edit.
‘The Pythons were sticklers for perfection, and thought some of these skits were too silly, too offensive or too dull.
‘They and the producers wanted to cut the Black Knight sketch because they thought the scene was so outrageously bloody that it would kill the rest of the film.’
John Cleese with Eric Idle in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The film’s unforgettable ending, where King Arthur is arrested just before claiming the Holy Grail, only came about because the production ran out of money
A scene where a market trader barters over the cost of a fake beard was dubbed by the actors as ‘too slow’ – as was The Three-Headed Knight (pictured) from The Holy Grail
Doyle continued: ‘In the Biggus Dickus scene in Life Of Brian, John Cleese believed that after he, as the centurion, left the scene it became too silly for words with Palin teasing the soldiers to make them laugh.
‘He originally felt Michael was moving out of character. And although John was probably right, when we ran the finished film the audience were in such hysterics as the scene progressed that they did not care about the finer details, they just wanted it to go on and on.’
The three feature-length Python films – released in 1975, 1979 and 1983 – followed the success of the troupe’s cult comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
They continue to top polls of the funniest movies of all time, and their influence on comedy been compared to the Beatles’ impact on music.
Yet according to Doyle, who worked on all three movies either as editor or special effects designer, at London’s Neal’s Yard studios, the six Pythons were ‘tenacious in their pursuit of timeless gags’ and would ask him to cut out anything that they felt wasn’t ‘100 per cent perfect’.
Idle, he said , lost confidence in two of his most famous characters – Otto, and Harry the Haggler – and asked for them to be cut entirely from Life Of Brian.
Otto is the hapless leader of the ‘udean People’s Front Crack Suicide Squad and Idle feared the character’s satirical Nazi overtones would upset Jewish viewers.
Two scenes featuring Otto were ultimately removed from the film but the Suicide Squad are later seen tapping their lifeless feet to the film’s closing song, ‘Always look on the bright side of life’.
He said the opening scene in The Holy Grail, which sees King Arthur riding into shot through the mist banging coconuts, was nearly never filmed because the film’s entire £175,000 budget (approximately £1.5million today) had already been spent.
He revealed the film’s unforgettable ending, where King Arthur is arrested just before claiming the Holy Grail, only came about because the production ran out of money.
Doyle said: ‘I shot the opening scene of The Holy Grail on Hampstead Heath because the budget was used up and we couldn’t return to Scotland where the rest of the filming took place.
‘The original ending, meanwhile, was meant to be King Arthur wading through thousands of dead bodies holding the Holy Grail and saying, ‘Best Grail I’ve ever seen!’ but we couldn’t afford a helicopter for the aerial shot or to pay for lots of extras.
‘So, the closing scene of The Holy Grail was changed by the Pythons on the hoof and became the anarchic, brilliant ending it is today.’
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