Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Directed by Terry Jones
King Arthur, accompanied by his squire, recruits his Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot and Sir Galahad the Pure. On the way, Arthur battles the Black Knight who, despite having had all his limbs chopped off, insists he can still fight. They reach Camelot, but Arthur decides not to enter, as "it is a silly place".
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Plus, there are two classic Python songs ("Knights of the Round Table" and "The Ballad of Sir Robin") and several new animated interludes from Terry Gilliam.
We are shown a few clips from the film, then are treated to a bizarre parody of Bergman's The Seventh Seal.
With the exception of Robert Bresson’s anti-romantic Lancelot of the Lake in 1974, however, the same full-scale deconstruction never happened with the Arthurian stories.
Released about the same time as Monty Python and the Holy Grail,Lancelot du Lac (1974) is its diametricopposite.
I have no idea whether Mr. Gilliam and Mr. Jones have seen Robert Bresson's rather more austere film, "Lancelot of the Lake," which was shown at last year's New York Film Festival, but there are times when "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" seems to be putting on Mr. Bresson unmercifully.