First of all, a note: this comment is not just for the title under which it is listed, but for the entire first disc of the DVD pack called "The Life Of Python", which is a program assembled in 1999 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Monty Python team. The program begins with the entertaining, informative and not at all dry documentary "It's The Monty Python Story", which tells us....well, the title is self-explanatory. Among the highlights of this documentary: we see people holding signs that say things like "Python=Serpent=Satan" outside theaters playing "The Life Of Brian"; Cleese, Palin and Jones admit that "The Meaning Of Life" is not quite as good as their other films; Palin (probably the most eloquent of the bunch) and Gilliam explain why they are opposed to the idea of a formal reunion. Then we get a nice little feature about Palin re-visiting some of the places where the Pythons filmed some of their sketches 30 years ago. The show lags a bit in the middle, with a brand new "Gorilla Sketch" which I frankly found awful, and a "lost" 10-minute May Day Special, which Cleese symbolically finds in the BBC garbage dump, and which probably belongs there (as Cleese himself admits!). But then the show makes a brilliant recovery with another, shorter documentary ("From Spam To Sperm") about Monty Python and their music, which (as you know) is impossible to get out of your mind once you've heard it, and we get to see how Eric Idle became a pop star! There are also some great animated bits, not only by Terry Gilliam but also by the "South Park" creators, and Cleese gets some laughs when he complains about this whole celebratory program being shown on BBC-2, instead of the more popular BBC-1 ("thanks a lot for the vote of confidence!"). (***)
6 Reviews
Better then I expected.
Doyman-216 December 1999
When I saw the commercial for this Tv show, for some reason I thought it would be a rubbish, boring, old documentary with no humor in it at all. But this has turned out to be very good. It has clips from the Python Tv show and films and interviews with the python team. If you ever get the chance to see this then do so, it's very good. Monty Python fans won't be disappointed.
T'was good, could have been better
the_pythonizer11 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I just finally got the "out of print" Life of Python DVD set. I watched the Python "reunion" special. The documentary was good, I enjoyed it very much. I also enjoyed the documentary about their "rock and roll" career. It left out some key points, such as George Harrison's involvement of Life Of Brian and Neil Innes's contributions.
I was sad to see that Eric didn't concede with joining the group for the bits of new material, which is odd because in the past 9 years he has been doing a lot of past Python material live, on CD, and books (not to mention adapting the Holy Grail to Broadway creating Spamalot . . . which did reunite Python for the opening). He was also the one who was trying to do more Python stuff after the Meaning of Life and after the death of Chapman. However, it looks like it could have been conflicting with scheduling because he did do the interviews, did the phony bio sketch of "Monty Python" the man, showed up on satellite for the VERY brief interview at the end, as well as played some music on his guitar. Also I heard he was angry with some of the things Carol Cleveland said, however I found nothing of what she said offensive, so I don't know.
However, the great part was when Palin spoofed his Travel videos by doing one on "Pythonland". Even though that is the one part I saw before, it still was great to see.
All in all, I think it was great and funny. I liked the new bits with the Gumbies, the men on the street, the Pepperpots, and the bit with Mastermind and the Gorillas. They all made me laugh and smile, but I wished there was more. The "new" Mayday portion (which has bits of other Python sketches aired) was good and funny as well. Also, to the makers of South Park: please release Gilliam's Mother. I found that one bit was not on the DVD that I knew about, it could have been aired on BBC and was cut from the DVD, or was an out take from the show. It was where Palin plays a man who wants to be remembered as an idol so he comes to a man played by Cleese, who eventually shoots him.
The Live At Aspen reunion interview was better, and the documentaries of the films on the special edition DVDs themselves (a terrific one on the Life of Brian Immaculate Edition DVD, a funny digital reunion on the Meaning of Life Special Edition DVD) were better. Also if you want a complete history of the Pythons, get the book Python by the Pythons.
Sadly there will be no 2009 reunion. The 5 chaps met in England, had a great night together, and they all felt that another one wouldn't be good, that all they wanted or needed was that personal night together. However they are all still going strong. Both Terry's are doing movies (Gilliam is back doing The Man Who Killed Don Quixote with possible Palin as Don Quixote this time), Cleese has a new show on the BBC, Palin is still doing his travel videos, and Eric is still doing Spamalot, writing books, and CDs.
It is worth seeing if you are a big Python fan like me. If you are a mediocre, you may not get as much joy out of it. However you can get a look at it, I recommend it.
I was sad to see that Eric didn't concede with joining the group for the bits of new material, which is odd because in the past 9 years he has been doing a lot of past Python material live, on CD, and books (not to mention adapting the Holy Grail to Broadway creating Spamalot . . . which did reunite Python for the opening). He was also the one who was trying to do more Python stuff after the Meaning of Life and after the death of Chapman. However, it looks like it could have been conflicting with scheduling because he did do the interviews, did the phony bio sketch of "Monty Python" the man, showed up on satellite for the VERY brief interview at the end, as well as played some music on his guitar. Also I heard he was angry with some of the things Carol Cleveland said, however I found nothing of what she said offensive, so I don't know.
However, the great part was when Palin spoofed his Travel videos by doing one on "Pythonland". Even though that is the one part I saw before, it still was great to see.
All in all, I think it was great and funny. I liked the new bits with the Gumbies, the men on the street, the Pepperpots, and the bit with Mastermind and the Gorillas. They all made me laugh and smile, but I wished there was more. The "new" Mayday portion (which has bits of other Python sketches aired) was good and funny as well. Also, to the makers of South Park: please release Gilliam's Mother. I found that one bit was not on the DVD that I knew about, it could have been aired on BBC and was cut from the DVD, or was an out take from the show. It was where Palin plays a man who wants to be remembered as an idol so he comes to a man played by Cleese, who eventually shoots him.
The Live At Aspen reunion interview was better, and the documentaries of the films on the special edition DVDs themselves (a terrific one on the Life of Brian Immaculate Edition DVD, a funny digital reunion on the Meaning of Life Special Edition DVD) were better. Also if you want a complete history of the Pythons, get the book Python by the Pythons.
Sadly there will be no 2009 reunion. The 5 chaps met in England, had a great night together, and they all felt that another one wouldn't be good, that all they wanted or needed was that personal night together. However they are all still going strong. Both Terry's are doing movies (Gilliam is back doing The Man Who Killed Don Quixote with possible Palin as Don Quixote this time), Cleese has a new show on the BBC, Palin is still doing his travel videos, and Eric is still doing Spamalot, writing books, and CDs.
It is worth seeing if you are a big Python fan like me. If you are a mediocre, you may not get as much joy out of it. However you can get a look at it, I recommend it.
Great
DizzyMissLizzy31 March 2002
funny
GingerRogers5218 July 2001
I saw this a couple of years ago and I thought It would be kinda boring and mundane but of coarse, Monty Python would never alowe that.I really liked it and found it very intertaining but the problem is it was only 3 hours. I especially like when they showed clips from stuff I forgot about like Hollywood bowl and ect.
In response to a previous review
daniel-f-mcgachey7 July 2011
In his review, Nick Roberts said, "I found that one bit was not on the DVD that I knew about, it could have been aired on BBC and was cut from the DVD, or was an out take from the show. It was where Palin plays a man who wants to be remembered as an idol so he comes to a man played by Cleese, who eventually shoots him." This is actually from an episode of the documentary, "The Human Face", which John Cleese wrote and presented. Michael appeared in one show, in a couple of short sketches.
As for "Python Night" itself, it's a shame that Eric wasn't more heavily involved. Nothing to do with anything Carol Cleveland said, as a previous poster has speculated (besides which, the bit Eric's quoted as being annoyed about - Carol commenting on the lack of roles for women in Python - was actually dubbed in from a documentary made 10 years previously), and more annoyance that plans for a stage tour had taken a nosedive. But it would have been nice to see the whole surviving group, in costume, doing some silly sketches.
That aside, I loved the whole evening of programmes, the documentaries, the unearthed footage, the new sketches, a new Gilliam animation, and the very skillful way that Graham's Colonel was brought into the proceedings (though the editing of the American "Life of Python" DVD removes the lead-in to this - celebrity 'tributes' to the Pythons - which slightly spoils the moment), so that, just for a moment, it did feel like all 6 Pythons were genuinely reunited for the night. Here's hoping there'll be more reunions still to come.
As for "Python Night" itself, it's a shame that Eric wasn't more heavily involved. Nothing to do with anything Carol Cleveland said, as a previous poster has speculated (besides which, the bit Eric's quoted as being annoyed about - Carol commenting on the lack of roles for women in Python - was actually dubbed in from a documentary made 10 years previously), and more annoyance that plans for a stage tour had taken a nosedive. But it would have been nice to see the whole surviving group, in costume, doing some silly sketches.
That aside, I loved the whole evening of programmes, the documentaries, the unearthed footage, the new sketches, a new Gilliam animation, and the very skillful way that Graham's Colonel was brought into the proceedings (though the editing of the American "Life of Python" DVD removes the lead-in to this - celebrity 'tributes' to the Pythons - which slightly spoils the moment), so that, just for a moment, it did feel like all 6 Pythons were genuinely reunited for the night. Here's hoping there'll be more reunions still to come.
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