THE FULL MONTY THE STORY OF THE WRITING OF THE FILM THAT SAYS 'NI'!'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

And now for something completely different.

OK, maybe not completely different. Just a little bit. But then, that quibble is the equivalent of a ``flesh wound'' to the legions of fans that have memorized the exploits of Brave Sir Robin, the Knights Who Say ``Ni,'' Tim the Enchanter and the other medieval misfits who populate ``Monty Python and the Holy Grail.''

When the comedy classic opens Friday at the Nuart in West Los Angeles, it will sound completely different, thanks to a new stereo soundtrack (the original release was in mono) and look a little better with a brand-new print. The re-release also boasts ``missing footage,'' which amounts to exactly 23 more seconds spent with Sir Galahad and the lusty sisters at Castle Anthrax.

``Don't blink or you'll miss it,'' jokes Python member Terry Jones, who co-directed ``Grail'' with Terry Gilliam.

But nobody really needs any extra enticement to see ``The Holy Grail'' again. Since it arrived in theaters in 1975, the movie has become a cult favorite, the kind of movie, much like ``The Rocky Horror Picture Show,'' that people will watch again and again and again, no matter how many times they've seen it.

Unlike ``Rocky Horror,'' though, ``Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' is actually a great film, a brilliant send-up of medieval movies and lore that sports the Python group's remarkable ability to make anarchy smart, funny and palatable to the masses.

The British comedy troupe - composed of writer/performers Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and the two Terrys (Jones and Gilliam) - went on to make other movies (``Life of Brian'' and ``Meaning of Life'' among them), but never one that would quite capture the zany magic of their first narrative movie. The group will be honored on June 29 along with a number of other performers for the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame for the beginning of the Bowl season (only Idle will be there).

We recently sat down for tea with Cleese and Jones and, along with previous interviews with the other surviving Python members (Chapman died in 1989), we pieced together this oral history of the ``Grail.''

THE IDEA

Terry Jones: I love the medieval period and Chaucer, and Michael Palin had a history degree from Oxford, so we had all this useless information that we'd never put to any use. The script originally hovered between the Middle Ages and the 20th century, but the modern material was never that strong so we decided to set it all in one period.

Michael Palin: That use of a surreal device of somebody not really being on a horse: I always thought that if you were going to have coconuts instead of horses, what one had to do was keep this conceit going throughout. There was no point in giggling about it. You had to be absolutely serious. It's a ridiculous thing to do, but then played by John and Graham you absolutely believed that they believed that they were on horses.

John Cleese: I always thought we used coconuts because we couldn't afford horses.

THE FINANCING

Jones: We couldn't get anyone to give us any money. EMI said they might put money in if we used our TV director, but we wanted to direct it ourselves. In the end, the financing came from members of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and various record companies. The budget started at 150,000 pounds and went up to 200,000 by the end. (Less than a half million dollars, even with the most favorable exchange rate.)

Cleese: This is how poor we were. I got a phone call the week before we were to set off by train to Scotland asking me if I was prepared to share a hotel room.

Once we got there, the facilities were so poor that if it rained, we all got wet. And when we finished for the day, there was an incredible scramble to get back to the hotel because there was only enough hot water for six or seven people.

Jones: We got paid 1,000 pounds up front and maybe a thousand later.

Cleese: When ``Holy Grail'' became successful in America in 1975, for the first time ever I began to make money. I remember laughing and thinking it's like waking up and having people throw money through the bedroom window. People used to laugh at us at how little we got paid for doing the (BBC television) series.

Jones: The money spoiled us ever since.

THE PREPARATION

Jones: No one wanted to play Arthur. Graham had to be talked into it. Thankfully, he was agreeable.

Palin: No one wanted to sacrifice the chance of playing lots of silly smaller roles in order to play the one big one.

Jones: Terry Gilliam and I had spent some time traveling all around Scotland and Wales looking for good locations. We decided on Scotland, found some wonderful castles and then two weeks before we were due to start, we got a letter from the Department of the Environment telling us we couldn't use any of their castles. Great. We ended up using a privately owned castle, the Doune Castle, and adapting it every time the script called for a shot of a different castle. Little did I know that was just the beginning of the fun.

THE SHOOT

Jones: Terry Gilliam and I decided to share the directing duties. Nobody else wanted to do it. I soon realized why. We only had five weeks to run around Scotland and get everything on film.

Cleese: I remember being directed more by Terry Jones than by Terry Gilliam. I remember exploding at Gilliam once and hurting his feelings. I never saw him again after that.

Terry Gilliam: The one scene where it blew up was the scene where all the animals were being thrown over the battlements. To do the shot, I had to get their heads below the parapets so I could do a matte to put the animals in the shot. That meant digging a hole in the ground and sticking the camera in the hole and they had to be on their knees so everybody was the right height.

John was just like screaming and shouting and I finally said, ``I don't want to sit here and have to beg you guys to do this so that your sketch works!''

Cleese: We were wearing this armor and it was very uncomfortable. And Gilliam didn't seem to realize that. He was used to working in animation where the bits of paper couldn't complain. So when the pain of kneeling for so long became unbearable, I was overwhelmed and shouted, ``We're not your bloody cutouts! This hurts!''

Gilliam: John in particular just thought that everything I was doing was getting in the way, because for him it had to be comfortable and easy and the comedy would flow, and I was always trying to stick a helmet on him and then stand him in a ditch. They're pretending that you don't have to do all these things, and I think you do. I want it to be both great-looking and funny.

Cleese: Almost anything that embroiders comedy - be it a helmet or a silly mustache - makes it less funny. Terry also has a belief that if a production isn't accompanied by a certain amount of sturm and drang, then it can't be good art. I think that's nonsense.

Jones: It didn't take long before I was working almost exclusively with the actors and Terry was concentrating on the visuals.

Eric Idle: They are both control freaks, and it drove them both mad. But Terry G. won. He drove Terry J. mad! Terry J. would be cutting by day, and Terry G. would undo it and be recutting by night. In the end, the balance works great. Terry J. is good with the acting, Terry G. is good with the location feel, the sinister boat, the visual elements.

THE LEGACY OF THE 'GRAIL'

Gilliam: I think most of the stuff we pulled off on ``Grail'' worked really well. ``Bring out your dead.'' It's gorgeous. (Excrement) has never looked so beautiful! And because of that, it's funnier because it feels so much of a serious movie, a real movie, with real people groveling in the mud, and then ``I'm not quite dead; I'm feeling much better.'' It's funnier that way.

Cleese: There's a little bit in the middle that's soft, right around the three-headed knight.

Jones: That doesn't work, the three-headed giant.

Cleese: But the ending is great and the first 50 minutes is as good as anything we ever did.

Jones: ``Holy Grail'' has the best atmosphere, but ``Life of Brian'' is our best film. ``Meaning of Life'' probably has the best bits.

Cleese: Yes, in England, everyone considers ``Life of Brian'' to be our best film. I find it puzzling that Americans have embraced ``Holy Grail'' as they have. I have no idea why that is.

Jones: Maybe Americans simply have a deeper appreciation for nice shrubbery.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Knight shtick 

`Monty Python and the Holy Grail' celebrates its 25th anniversary with a theatrical re-release, so drink up

Photo illustration from a photo by John McCoy/Staff Photographer

(2) King Arthur, played by the late Graham Chapman, encounters strange creatures while traveling with his trusty horse (yes horse), Patsy (Terry Gilliam), in ``Monty Python and the Holy Grail.''