What's the best Terry Gilliam film?

[Mrs Miggins]

Ive never seen a film of his I didnt like but I grew up with Time Bandits which I still love to this day.

Ditto!!

It's really hard to choose just one to like the most but there's just something about Time Bandits that I adore. Maybe because I loved fairy tales so much as a child and it really chimes with the things I loved about those stories.

Is the Brothers Grimm worth seeing? Looks a bit off-form to be honest. Wait til it's on TV??

 

[poului]

5464e654e

Brazil edges it but only just for me.


Holy Grail, Meaning of Life, Time Bandits, Twelve Monkeys and Fear and Loathing are all fucking brilliant too.


Munchausen and Jabberwocky were a bit disappointing IMO.

 

[J77]

Time Bandits, hands down.

 

[Ozric]

Is the Brothers Grimm worth seeing? Looks a bit off-form to be honest. Wait til it's on TV??

I liked Brothers Grimm, its quite dark and looks like the sort of thing that would freak out small kids so just like traditional fairy tales really.

 

[HarrisonSlade]

Nope, only Life of Brian was of those three.

I stand corrected.


....


Aha then why is Life of Brian up there then. You answer me that

 

[chooch]

Brazil.
Twelve monkeys is a good looking film.

 

[HarrisonSlade]

Brazil.
Twelve monkeys is a good looking film.

Good looking, but over long, poorly scripted and pointless.

 

[Cloud]

If you want the best performance in a TG film then it has to be depp.

Did he become Hunter Thompson in Fear and Loathing or what? When I saw the BBC omnibus documentry on Thompson I was gobsmacked. I gather that Depp spent alot of time with HT and they were good friends but still the 'cloning' that JD perfomed in the film was quite amazing.

 

[Wide Eyed Angel]

If you want the best performance in a TG film then it has to be depp.

Did he become Hunter Thompson in Fear and Loathing or what? When I saw the BBC omnibus documentry on Thompson I was gobsmacked. I gather that Depp spent alot of time with HT and they were good friends but still the 'cloning' that JD perfomed in the film was quite amazing.

Yeah I think Johnny Depp moved into his basement for a while to really pick up those characteristics.

I voted Fear and Loathing, one of my favourite films anyway not just of Terry Gilliam

 

[Belzub]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - great film. Nice soundtrack as well.

Nearly went for Monty Python and the Holy Grail but it doesn't stand up to repeated viewing as well as Fear and Loathing for me.

 

[anfield]

Watched Fear & Loathing as a teenager. Had a similar effect as Fight Club - made me think outside the box. Love it for that.

 

[Dhimmi]

I have you have to watch Munchausen on acid to really appreciate it

Well try this version too

Münchhausen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036191/

 

[Stigmata]

That's the one film of his I just couldn't get into. Watched about 20 minutes and had to switch it off.

Thought Jabberwocky was great. A children's film with nudity and excessively gruesome violence.

 

[Cloud]

Well try this version too

Münchhausen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036191/

OMG lol

I seriously can't see any nazi tendencies in Baron Munch. Will watch it again to see if I can pick up on the subliminal nazi undertones???

What's the story with the TG remake then?

 

[rich!]

Well try this version too

Münchhausen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036191/

There's three of them: the early Czech part-animated version, the b/w German MasterRace version, and the Gilliam version.

Once you've seen all three...

 

[stavros]

I don't think I've seen any of them except Fear & Loathing and the Python films so I kind of have to vote for Holy Grail, although I can't really split it from Brian and it's greatness is a six-way responsibility.

 

[stavros]

Although I did do a favourite Python poll about a year ago and I think Terry G won, although methinks it's from his work away from Python.

 

[maya]

...Brazil, without a shadow of doubt. 'Tis one of my all-time favourite films, in fact

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Although I did do a favourite Python poll about a year ago and I think Terry G won, although methinks it's from his work away from Python.

Funnily enough yesterday I was also thinking of doing a 'Who's done the best stuff since Python' poll and it's a tough call really. Palin's done the superlative GBH (one of the best programmes the UK has ever produced IMHO), and loads of fantastic travel documentaries. Cleese has done Fawlty Towers and stuff like Clockwise and A Fish Called Wanda. Gilliam's done tons of great films. Can't think of much Eric Idle has done though. And of course Chapman is dead

Otherwise, compared to most rock stars (and they were the comedy equivalent of a rock group) they've had pretty impressive post-split careers! Very difficult to choose between them...

 

[mhendo]

Well, i love all his stuff, but i'm going to cast the first vote for The Fisher King. One of my favorite movies, one that i can watch over and over.

 

[silentNate]

Torn between Time Bandits and Brazil
Hated Fear and Loathing- the book was so much better

 

[jannerboyuk]

Thought Jabberwocky was great. A children's film with nudity and excessively gruesome violence.

Jabberwocky is a cracking little film with some proper knowledge of medival society - Terry Jones of course went on to do that excellent myth busting doc series on the middle ages so maybe he helped on that side.

 

[fear-n-loathing]

as my handle says got to be fear n loathing

 

[Pie 1]

I know I loved Brazil, but I haven't seen it for sooo long, so it's 12 Monkeys for me. But I love pretty much everything he's done.

Also, while not a Gilliam film, Lost in La Mancha (about Gilliam's doomed attempt at Don Quixote) is completely & utterly riveting and an excellent insight into the great man.

 

[Dhimmi]

OMG lol
I seriously can't see any nazi tendencies in Baron Munch. Will watch it again to see if I can pick up on the subliminal nazi undertones???
What's the story with the TG remake then?

I'm not there are any, it was a "special" to celebrate the studio's 25th anniversary. It's a cracking film if a bit spooky by association. In the 20's and 30's Germany probably had the best cinema industry in Europe with a reputation similar to the one French film makers have today.
TG does seem to specialise in incredible storylines so it fits.

There's three of them: the early Czech part-animated version, the b/w German MasterRace version, and the Gilliam version.
Once you've seen all three...

Oooh not seen the Czech one, got the name of it?
BTW the German one was in colour.

 

[Reno]

OMG lol

I seriously can't see any nazi tendencies in Baron Munch. Will watch it again to see if I can pick up on the subliminal nazi undertones???

What's the story with the TG remake then?

I'm not there are any, it was a "special" to celebrate the studio's 25th anniversary. It's a cracking film if a bit spooky by association. In the 20's and 30's Germany probably had the best cinema industry in Europe with a reputation similar to the one French film makers have today.
TG does seem to specialise in incredible storylines so it fits.

Oooh not seen the Czech one, got the name of it?
BTW the German one was in colour.

One reason why there aren't any "nazi tendencies" in the German Münchhausen is because it was written by the then banned socialist writer Erich Kästner under a pseudonym. The film ended up as surprisingly subversive as Kästner got in quite a few satirical digs at Nazi big wigs, even getting away with criticising the invasion of Poland. There is also some outrageous sexual innuendo and female nudity in there which would have been unthinkable in an American or British film of the period. It's a witty and imaginative fairy tale epic and Gilliam was obviously influenced by it as he copied whole sequences for his version.

The Czech version was made by Karel Zeman in 1961 and the English title was The Fabulous Baron Munchausen. Like all of Zeman's films his version is a combination of actors and animation. His films look stunning and they are very popular in Europe and Japan, but so far he remains mostly undiscovered here.

There are a few more less famous versions of the Münchhausen tales.

As to Gilliam, his The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen is one of my favourite films of his. I prefer it to Brazil, which I enjoy for the first hour or so and then it becomes like being continuously being hit over the head with a mallet. I also really like Twelve Monkeys which is a surprisingly respectful homage to Chris Marker, not only as a remake of La Jetee, but there are also various nods to Marker's Sans soleil. I find it the most affecting of all of Gilliam's films, while Time Bandits is probably the most fun and The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen the most visually beautiful.

 

[Dhimmi]

Thanks for the info, these boards really work when folk are sharing fascinating nuggets. I've only seen the German Münchhausen once and did expect it to be all armbands and goosestepping which surprisingly it wasn't.
Don't suppose you know the name of the 1943 or 44 German movie in colour with massive battle scenes do you? That was a propaganda piece, and involved thousands of Wehrmacht troops to film it at a time when their fronts were collapsing quite rapidly.
I'll keep a eye out for the Czech one, although despite the interweb I don't have much luck finding older films.
You're spot on about TG's version having a rare beauty to it, but I do think he manages that with every film he's made.

 

[Orang Utan]

The Meaning Of Life is not 'A Terry Gilliam Film' - he only did the bit with the old accountants mutineering.

 

[Reno]

Thanks for the info, these boards really work when folk are sharing fascinating nuggets. I've only seen the German Münchhausen once and did expect it to be all armbands and goosestepping which surprisingly it wasn't.
Don't suppose you know the name of the 1943 or 44 German movie in colour with massive battle scenes do you? That was a propaganda piece, and involved thousands of Wehrmacht troops to film it at a time when their fronts were collapsing quite rapidly.
I'll keep a eye out for the Czech one, although despite the interweb I don't have much luck finding older films.
You're spot on about TG's version having a rare beauty to it, but I do think he manages that with every film he's made.

Most of the feature films made in Germany during the Third Reich were comedies, musicals or melodramas of little or no propaganda value. The average German actually wasn't committed enough to the Nazi party to have politics rammed down their throat non-stop and like anywhere else people mostly wanted to be entertained rather than constantly be reminded of the war.

The propaganda film you are referring to was a historical drama called Kolberg, about a German uprising against the Napoleonic siege. It was still being edited when the Germans lost the war and it never got a proper release.

Unfortunately Karel Zeman's films are almost impossible to get hold off. To my knowledge the only place where they have been released on DVD is in Japan, but it's as a very expensive box set and there are no English sub-titles.

 

[stavros]

Funnily enough yesterday I was also thinking of doing a 'Who's done the best stuff since Python' poll and it's a tough call really. Palin's done the superlative GBH (one of the best programmes the UK has ever produced IMHO), and loads of fantastic travel documentaries. Cleese has done Fawlty Towers and stuff like Clockwise and A Fish Called Wanda. Gilliam's done tons of great films. Can't think of much Eric Idle has done though. And of course Chapman is dead

There is Terry Jones as well you know. In many ways I like him best, with the subtleties of his performances all straight-faced and his female roles, although I can't think of much he's done since. They all wrote in four teams, with Cleese and Chapman as one pair, Jones and Palin as another, Idle on his own and Gilliam doing all the animation.

And Chapman may be dead but he did still appear on stage with the others in Montreaux in an urn. I think he'd have approved.