April 16, 2019 (XXXVIII:11) Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam: MONTY PYTHON’S THE MEANING OF LIFE (1983, 107m) The version of this Goldenrod Handout sent out in our Monday mailing, and the one online, has hot links. DIRECTOR Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam (animation and special sequence) WRITING Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin PRODUCED BY John Goldstone CINEMATOGRAPHY Peter Hannan, Roger Pratt (segment "The Crimson Permanent Assurance") MUSIC John Du Prez EDITING Julian Doyle The film won the Grand Prize of the Jury and was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. CAST Graham Chapman of Life (1983), which won the Grand Prize of the Jury and was John Cleese nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. In The Meaning of Life, Terry Gilliam he wrote and performed the song “Every Sperm is Sacred” and Eric Idle wrote the song “Christmas in Heaven.” He has also directed such Terry Jones films as: Personal Services (1987), Erik the Viking (1989), Mr. Michael Palin Toad's Wild Ride (1996), Python Night: 30 Years of Monty Terry Gilliam Python (TV Movie documentary) (1999), and Absolutely Carol Cleveland Anything (2015). He has also acted in television series and films, Simon Jones such as: And Now for Something Completely Different (1971), Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus (TV Series) (1972), TERRY JONES (b. February 1, 1942 in Colwyn Bay, Wales, Jabberwocky (1977), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), Monty UK) is a Welsh actor (54 credits), writer, comedian, screenwriter Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (Documentary) (1982), Erik (51 credits), film director (18 credits) and historian, best known the Viking (1989), L.A. Story (1991), The Young Indiana Jones as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Jones Chronicles (TV Series) (1992), Monty Python & the Quest for graduated from Oxford University with a degree in history and the Holy Grail (Video Game) (1996), Not the Messiah: He's a began writing and performing with fellow Oxford student and Very Naughty Boy (2010), and The Secret Policeman's Ball (TV future Python member Michael Palin. They worked for several Special) (2012). high-profile British comedy programs, including Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967-1969) and The Frost Report (1966-1967), before TERRY GILLIAM (b. November 22, 1940 in Minneapolis, creating Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-1974) with Minnesota) is an American-born British screenwriter (29 credits), Cambridge graduates Eric Idle, John Cleese, and Graham film director (19 credits), animator (14 credits), actor, comedian Chapman, and American animator/filmmaker Terry Gilliam. and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. The only Jones, who would begin directing films, was largely responsible Python member not born in Britain, he became a naturalized for the program's innovative, surreal structure, in which sketches British subject in 1968 and formally renounced his American flowed from one to the next without the use of punchlines. He citizenship in 2006. He began his career as an animator and strip made his directorial debut with the team's first film, Monty cartoonist. One of his early photographic strips for Help! Python and the Holy Grail (1975), which he co-directed with magazine featured future Monty Python member John Cleese. Gilliam and acted in, and also directed and acted in the When Help! folded, Gilliam went to Europe, jokingly subsequent Python films, Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning announcing in the very last issue that he was "being transferred Jones & Gilliam: MONTY PYTHON’S THE MEANING OF LIFE—2 to the European branch" of the magazine, which, of course, did Something Completely Different** (1971), and Monty Python not exist. Moving to England, he animated sequences for the Live (Mostly) (Documentary) (2014). And these are some of the children's series Do Not Adjust Your Set (1968), which also films, television series, and video games he has acted in: We featured Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Gilliam was a Have Ways of Making You Laugh (TV Series) (1968), Monty part of Monty Python's Flying Circus* from its outset, credited at Python's Fliegender Zirkus (TV Series) (1972), Spies Like Us first as an animator (1985), Monty Python & (his name was the Quest for the Holy listed separately Grail (Video Game) after the other five (1996), The Meaning of in the closing Life (Video Game) credits) and later as (1997), Locked Out a full member. His (2006), Not the Messiah: cartoons linked the He's a Very Naughty Boy show's sketches (2010), A Liar's together and Autobiography: The defined the group's Untrue Story of Monty visual language in Python's Graham other media, such Chapman (2012), Jupiter as LP and book Ascending (2015), and covers and the title Absolutely Anything sequences of their (2015). films. His *Also wrote animations mix his ** Also acted own art, characterized by soft gradients and odd, bulbous shapes, with backgrounds and moving cutouts from antique photographs, GRAHAM CHAPMAN (b. January 8, 1941 in Leicester, mostly from the Victorian era. With the gradual breakup of the Leicestershire, England, UK—d. October 4, 1989 (age 48) in Python troupe between Life of Brian* ** in 1979 and The Maidstone, England, UK) was an English comedian, writer (49 Meaning of Life* ** in 1983, Gilliam became a screenwriter and credits), actor (29 credits), author, and one of the six members of director, building upon the experience he had acquired co- the British surreal comedy group Monty Python. He often played directing Monty Python and the Holy Grail* ** with Terry Jones. authority figures such as “the Colonel” on the Monty Python He also directed the animation and a special sequence in The television series and the lead role in two Python films, Monty Meaning of Life. He has classified his 1980s and 1990s films in Python and the Holy Grail* (1975) and Life of Brian* (1979). He terms of trilogies: the "Trilogy of Imagination,” composed of co-wrote an unsuccessful 1976 TV movie with the beloved Time Bandits* (1981), Brazil* ** (1985), which was nominated comedic novelist Douglas Adams, Out of the Trees. Chapman for an Oscar for Best Writing, and The Adventures of Baron died of tonsil cancer in 1989, the same year of Monty Python's Munchausen* **(1988). All are about the "craziness of our 20th anniversary, and his life and legacy were commemorated at awkwardly ordered society and the desire to escape it through a private memorial service at St Bartholomew's with the other whatever means possible" (Criterion). In the 1990s, Gilliam five Pythons. The five surviving Python members had decided to directed a trilogy of Americana: The Fisher King (1991), 12 stay away from Chapman's private funeral to prevent it from Monkeys (1995), and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas* (1998), becoming a media circus and to give his family some privacy. which was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. This trilogy They sent a wreath in the shape of the Python foot with the played on North American soil and, while still surreal, had less message: "To Graham from the other Pythons with all our love. fantastical plots than his previous trilogy (Imagine Magazine). In PS: Stop us if we're getting too silly.” These are some of the an interview conducted by the British-Indian novelist Salman other films, music video shorts, and television series he acted in: Rushdie, Gilliam identified with the term often associated with At Last the 1948 Show (TV Series) (1967), No, That's Me Over Rushdie and other authors of the Global South “magical Here! (TV Series) (1967), Broaden Your Mind (TV Series) realism,” saying “It's about expanding how you see the world. I (1968), David Frost Presents (TV Series) (1969), The Magic think we live in an age where we're just hammered, hammered to Christian (1969), A Christmas Night with the Stars (TV Series) think this is what the world is. Television's saying, everything's (1969), Doctor in Trouble (1970), The Rise and Rise of Michael saying 'That's the world.' And it's not the world. The world is a Rimmer (1970), The Statue (1971), Euroshow 71 (TV Movie) million possible things” (The Believer). These are the other films (1971), And Now for Something Completely Different* (1971), he has directed: Storytime (Short) (1968), Miracle of Flight* Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus* (TV Series) (1972), Monty (Short) (1975), Jabberwocky* ** (1977), The Crimson Python's Flying Circus* (TV Series) (1969-1974), The Odd Job* Permanent Assurance (Short) (1983), The Brothers Grimm (1978), Saturday Night Live (TV Series), Monty Python Live at (2005), Tideland* (2005), The Imaginarium of Doctor the Hollywood Bowl* (Documentary) (1982), The Meaning of Parnassus* (2009), The Legend of Hallowdega (Short) (2010), Life* (1983), Permanent Assurance (Short) (1983), The Wholly Family (Short) (2011), The Zero Theorem* (2013), Yellowbeard* (1983), Still Crazy Like a Fox (TV Movie) (1987), and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote* ** (2018). These are Iron Maiden: Can I Play with Madness (Video short) (1988), some of his other writing credits: Do Not Adjust Your Set (TV Jake's Journey* (TV Movie) (1988), and Stage Fright (1989). Series) (additional material - 4 episodes) (1968), And Now for *Also wrote Jones & Gilliam: MONTY PYTHON’S THE MEANING OF LIFE—3 writer (40 credits), director (8 credits), and producer (6 credits). Idle is a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python, a member of the parody rock band The Rutles, and the author of the musical Spamalot. Idle started at Cambridge only a year after future fellow-Pythons Graham Chapman and John Cleese. Idle starred in the children's television comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967-1969), co-starring his future Python partners Terry Jones and Michael Palin.