Monty Python's Life of Brian [Blu-ray]

Overview

On a midnight clear 2,000 years ago, three wise men enter a manger where a babe is wrapped in swaddling clothes. It is an infant called Brian...and the three wise men are in the wrong manger. For the rest of his life, Brian (Graham Chapman) finds himself regarded as something of a messiah -- yet he's always in the shadow of this other guy from Galilee. Brian is witness to the Sermon of the Mount, but his seat is in such a bad location that he can't hear any of it ("Blessed are the cheesemakers?"). Ultimately, he is brought before Pontius Pilate and sentenced to crucifixion, which takes place at that crowded, nonexclusive execution site a few blocks shy of Calvary. Rather than utter the Last Six Words, Brian leads his fellow crucifixees in a spirited rendition of a British music-hall cheer-up song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." The whole Monty Python gang (Chapman, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam) are on hand in multiple roles, playing such sacred characters as Stan Called Loretta, Biggus Dickus, Deadly Dirk, Casts the First Stone, and Intensely Dull Youth; also showing up are Goon Show veteran Spike Milligan and a Liverpool musician named George Harrison.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/16/2008
UPC:	5050629538519
Original Release:	1979
Source:	Imports
Region Code:	2
Language:	English
Sales rank:	14,713

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Graham Chapman	Brian Called Brian
John Cleese	Wise Man
Terry Gilliam	Revolutionary
Eric Idle	Stan,Composer
Michael Palin	Wise Man
Carol Cleveland	Mrs. Gregory
Kenneth Colley	Jesus Christ
Neil Innes	Samaritan at the Forum
Charles McKeown	Stig
John Young	Stonee
Gwen Taylor	Young Girl
Sue Jones-Davies	Actor
Peter Brette	Actor
John Case	Actor
Chris Langham	Revolutionary
Andrew MacLachlan	Revolutionary
Bernard McKenna	Official Stoner's Helper
Spike Milligan	Spike
Randy Feelgood	Actor
George Harrison Xanthis	Actor
Charles Knode	Passer-By
Randy Mixer	Man/Woman
George Harrison	Mr. Papadopoulis
Terence Bayler	Revolutionary/Masked Commando
Susan Jones	Judith,Simon
Geoffrey Burgon	Composer
David Howman	Composer
Andre Jacquemin	Composer

Technical Credits

Terry Jones

John Cleese

Eric Idle

Graham Chapman

Terry Gilliam

Michael Palin

Terry Jones	Director,Screenwriter
John Goldstone	Producer
Tarak Ben Ammar	Executive Producer
Denis O'Brien	Executive Producer
George Harrison	Executive Producer
John Cleese	Screenwriter
Eric Idle	Screenwriter
Graham Chapman	Screenwriter
Terry Gilliam	Screenwriter
Michael Palin	Screenwriter
Garth Marshall	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Blissfully sacrilegious and completely irreverent, The Life of Brian was banned in a number of places upon its initial release. Any film that featured a messiah telling his followers to "f*ck off" and a musical interlude staged at a mass crucifixion was bound to seem objectionable to more than a few people. For those familiar with Monty Python's dependably absurd, subversive brand of humor, however, the film was an almost instant classic, the best of the four theatrically released Python excursions. Featuring some of the more memorable Python characters -- Biggus Dickus, Mr. Big Nose, Brian himself -- and scenarios -- a lesson in proper graffiti grammar, surprise alien abduction, and, of course, the crucifixion scene -- it is an intoxicating celebration of the bizarre, outlandish, and unthinkable. Or, simply put, it is Monty Python at their ridiculous best.

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