Time Bandits
Directed by Terry Gilliam. UK. 1981. PG. Running time: 110 min.
- Sun, Apr 6, 2:00 pm
This highly inventive fantasy, co-written with Michael Palin, one of Gilliam’s former Monty Python cohorts, has something for everybody. The plot has a bored young boy being taken by a band of outlaw dwarves on a wild trip through time while being pursued by The Supreme Being (Sir Ralph Richardson), from whom they have stolen the map to the universe. (Don’t ask – just hang on and enjoy the wildly witty ride.) Along the way they encounter such wonderfully game players as Sean Connery (as King Agamemnon), Ian Holm (as Napoleon), David Warner (as The Evil Genius), and John Cleese (as a hilariously patronizing Robin Hood), as well as many other notables. Both a hilarious (and sometimes quite dark) send-up of hero worship, as well as a film that celebrates imagination and daring, Time Bandits is the film that made the world realize that Terry Gilliam is much more than just another Python. (Watch, especially, Sean Connery’s splendid performance as the ultimate father figure, a role he was born to play.)
This film will be shown on DVD.