Up the Peoples Front of judea
waiting for the deluge of comments quoting lines from the film...
I think the moderaterix should thwough them to the floor....woughly!
Glasgow councillors yesterday took the bold decision to allow the burghers of that fine city to enjoy Monty Python's Life Of Brian on the big screen for the first time in 29 years. According to the Daily Record, Glaswegian licensing chiefs ruled back in 1980 that the movie could only be shown with an adult X cert. The …
That scene above "Thwough him to the floor \ Bickuth Dickuth" is pure genius. Watching Palin desperately trying to keep it together.
Epitamy of British comedy IMHO, and still stands proud to this day.
My other faves:-
"Conjugate the verb 'To Go'" - Romanes eunt dormus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIAdHEwiAy8. Horrifyingly similar to a particular Latin teacher i had a school....
And the 'Jehovah' sketch at the stoning with Cleese. Brilliant.
Will be spending the rest of the afternoon watching clips on youtube now methinks! Thanks reg!
Reg: If you want to join the People's Front of Judea, you have to really hate the Romans.
Brian: I do!
Reg: Oh yeah, how much?
Brian: A lot!
Reg: Right, you're in.
Replace Romans with the film title and I think you have what happened to this film when all the outrage started.
... after initially banning the film for a year, the Life of Brian was recently shown on an Easter Sunday. Reckon Glasgow will be following suit next year? :D Got to love that Scandinavian sense of humour (in Sweden the film was advertised as "So funny they banned it in Norway!").
[inserts token quote] We found this spoon sir" /happy
I have to admit, this film holds a special place in my heart...
There it was, rented VHS on the telly. My Mom and Dad sitting beside me as my legs almost touched the floor while sitting on the sofa. We all laughed and laughed and laughed, just like other MP films we all enjoyed. Until...
Suddenly, FULL FRONTAL FEMALE NUDITY. My Mom gasped. My Dad gasped. I ogled. Eagerly.
I was then sent sailing over the back of the sofa as both hands of each parent slapped me about the face and head as they tried to sheild my tender eyes from the travesty of 70's nether region hair stylings. Since then I have been mentally scarred for life. But, a Brazilian is a small price to pay for functional mental health, eh?
It hasn't really been banned for almost 30 years. In fact it wasn't really banned in the first place, the council refused to let it be shown as a cert 15 and the distributors refused to let it be shown on an adult certificate, as it says in the article.
Also i would suspect that this is the first application to show the film since 1980.
When this was released in Manchester all of the churches had people with placards marching up and down outside the Odeon cinema and included in their number were my Mum and Dad. So, there I was in the queue to get in and see the movie and I couldn't help saying hello to them. The rest of the people in the queue had a right giggle on that one.
That was my first R-rated movie as I was still in high school. My dad being a religious wonk thought the movie was about a football player (confused with Brian's Song). If he only knew.
I'm not surprised by Ireland, but guess I was surprised about Scotland. Damn religious fanatics (don't watch that movie- it'll turn you into a newt!)
I've never seen the problem with Life Of Brian, and I am a Christian (and for those that need disclaimers: this is my opinion and not necessarily in line with the official opinion of anyone or anything else). It's clear in the opening sequence that Brian isn't Jesus - the 3 wise men turn up in the wrong tent and after discovering their mistake go on to retrieve the GFM and go on to the right one. After the opening credits there's a shot of Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount and the camera pans back, and back, and back....to Brian. Plus who can forget:
He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy.
I'm not the Messiah!
Only the true messiah would deny that he is!
OK then, I AM the messiah.
He is the messiah!
If there's any valid criticism it's that the film solidly takes the mickey out of the Jews, having them chasing after messiahs left right and centre, not knowing their Latin, having loads of anti-Roman factions with similar names (People's Front Of Judaea, Judaean People's Front etc) that are all against each other (Where's the Popular People's Front? He's over there) and so on.
Seriously I've watched the film several times and I can't spot a single nanosecond of blasphemy in the whole lot. The only blasphemy IMHO is in the minds of the people who assume that Brian==Jesus and it's made absolutely clear right from the beginning that he's not.
And that mock interview where the Python crew were complaining about Life of Jesus being a mickey-take of Life Of Brian was absolutely hilarious.
It'll come, only it'll be made by Saudis or Iranians on a sandal-strap budget. Or US black ex-Muslims. Or a Bosnian. It needs the authentic ethnic frisson. The Muslim equivalent of Onward Christian Soldiers, religion and the parade ground permeating every pore of the body politic (BO!).
Like Israelis making Seed of the Patriarchs. Or Mel Brooks - America - the First 200 Years...
(Paris because Piss sorry Peace and much else should be upon her too)
I have shown this film to a number of church youth groups, one because it is very funny and not blasphemous at all, and two to teach teenagers to make their own minds up about what is offensive or not.
I don't know anyone, having seen the film has problem with it from a religious point of view.
Almost nobody that complained about the film at the time of it's release saw the film for themselves or knew anybody that had.
The whole thing was blown up by the churches and the right wing press.
Unfortunately the daily mail and its readers are still doing this today with them campaigning about people and things they have no experience or knowledge of.
...even if they do say Jehova!
It was funny when the Beeb did a Python night, they played the interview where Cleese and Idle tore the C of E guy a new bumhole, because it turns out that arguments for and against have to be subjected to certain standards of proof - something organised religion lacks.
Mine's the one with three flat ones and a packet of gravel in the pocket!
Not The 9 O Clock News also did a sketch like that. The General Synod's Life Of Christ was an affront to Pythonists the world over. The main character, this Jesus Christ bloke was obviously a parody of their lord John Cleese. Jesus Christ was just someone who happened to be born in Weston-super-Mare at the same time as John Cleese. But even the initials JC are exactly the same! :)
There shall, in that time, be rumours of things going astray, erm, and there shall be a great confusion as to where things really are, and nobody will really know where lieth those little things wi-- with the sort of raffia work base that has an attachment. At this time, a friend shall lose his friend's hammer and the young shall not know where lieth the things possessed by their fathers that their fathers put there only just the night before, about eight o'clock. Yea, it is written in the book of Cyril that, in that time, shall the third one...