The Fisher King (1991)
Directed by Terry Gilliam
Two troubled men face their terrible destinies and events of their past as they join together on a mission to find the Holy Grail and thus to save themselves.
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9 films that influenced The Fisher King
What critics say influenced The Fisher King
Before Terry Gilliam found success in the US with The Fisher King and Twelve Monkeys, he made a series of wondrously inventive fantasies, of which this was one of the best.
That was followed by the sci-fi fairy tale Time Bandits (1981), which featured a cast of noisy dwarfs, and the spectacular cult favorite Brazil (1985), a head-spinning retro-future comedy that was like 1984 reimagined by an acid-flashback casualty.
Terry Gilliam’s early films share a dismissal of corporations and corporate procedure: the time-traveling dwarves in Time Bandits and their refusal to pay their debt to the Supreme Being; Brazil , virtually in its entirety; and Baron Munchausen’s preference for fantasy in the middle of a war.
The filmmaker had kicked off the 1980s quite strongly: 1981’s Time Bandits and 1985’s Brazil had cemented his reputation as a visionary—if hard-headed—director; both critically-acclaimed fantasies bore Gilliam’s unmistakable thumbprint.
From "Jabberwocky" to "Time Bandits" to "Brazil" to "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," the former Monty Python member demonstrates both his brilliance and his penchant for sabotaging his own narrative.
Richard LaGravenese's script follows in the tradition of A Thousand Clowns, King of Hearts and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in which a character whom society sees as crazy or irresponsible proves to be wiser than the respected guardians of morality.
Richard LaGravenese's script follows in the tradition of A Thousand Clowns, King of Hearts and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in which a character whom society sees as crazy or irresponsible proves to be wiser than the respected guardians of morality.
Up to that point in his career, Williams tended to fluctuate between flat-out zany and super-serious—sometimes even in the same movie, as in Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets Society.
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Many Gilliam aficionados rank Brazil as the director's second or third best non-Python project (in the mix with Time Bandits and The Fisher King.
Terry Gilliam ("Jabberwocky"/"Time Bandits"/"The Fisher King") directs an imaginative satire on modern technology in the near future that blends together science-fiction (with Big Brother references to Orwell's 1984), scathing black comedy and fantasy.
That was followed by the sci-fi fairy tale Time Bandits (1981), which featured a cast of noisy dwarfs, and the spectacular cult favorite Brazil (1985), a head-spinning retro-future comedy that was like 1984 reimagined by an acid-flashback casualty.
Terry Gilliam’s early films share a dismissal of corporations and corporate procedure: the time-traveling dwarves in Time Bandits and their refusal to pay their debt to the Supreme Being; Brazil , virtually in its entirety; and Baron Munchausen’s preference for fantasy in the middle of a war.
Directed by Terry Gilliam (Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) from an original script by newcomer Richard LaGravenese, this enormously entertaining and wonderfully acted but compromised New Age comedy spectacular represents Gilliam's bid to prove his commercial mettle, and the results are simultaneously highly personal and extremely corrupt—a shameless attempt to “give the public what it wants” that is shot full of brilliance.
The filmmaker had kicked off the 1980s quite strongly: 1981’s Time Bandits and 1985’s Brazil had cemented his reputation as a visionary—if hard-headed—director; both critically-acclaimed fantasies bore Gilliam’s unmistakable thumbprint.
His first film, the Pythonesque Jabberwocky (1977), was a full-throttle wallow in medieval muck, complete with an eager fast-food vendor peddling rats-on-a-stick.
From "Jabberwocky" to "Time Bandits" to "Brazil" to "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," the former Monty Python member demonstrates both his brilliance and his penchant for sabotaging his own narrative.
Richard LaGravenese's script follows in the tradition of A Thousand Clowns, King of Hearts and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in which a character whom society sees as crazy or irresponsible proves to be wiser than the respected guardians of morality.
Bridges is wallowing in self-pity, living with and taking advantage of Mercedes Ruehl ("Married to the Mob"), who owns and operates a small video store.
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The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was released in 1988, millions of dollars over budget, to a less than satisfactory box office return.
Directed by Terry Gilliam (Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) from an original script by newcomer Richard LaGravenese, this enormously entertaining and wonderfully acted but compromised New Age comedy spectacular represents Gilliam's bid to prove his commercial mettle, and the results are simultaneously highly personal and extremely corrupt—a shameless attempt to “give the public what it wants” that is shot full of brilliance.
By 1988’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, however, his much-publicized clashes with studios and production misfortunes caught up with him.
For the part of Parry, Jack’s homeless savior, the studio wanted Robin Williams, who’d worked with Gilliam before on The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen.
But it ties in with his mythical obsessions, from "The Time Bandits" to "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen."
It's interesting to me that Gilliam is paired with Robin Williams here (and once more in the infuriating The Fisher King), because if there's anything that two people in desperate need of leashes don't need it's their doppelgänger looking at them over a camera.