Gilliam Terry

"He won't get far on hot air and fantasy," sniffs The Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson in the upcoming movie "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen." Horatio Jackson, a symbol of the chilling winds of reason and rationality blowing into the 18th Century, was deriding his fantastical, whimsical nemesis--the Baron von Munchausen. He could just as well have been echoing Terry Gilliam's modern-day detractors.

"He won't get far on hot air and fantasy," sniffs The Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson in the upcoming movie "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen." Horatio Jackson, a symbol of the chilling winds of reason and rationality blowing into the 18th Century, was deriding his fantastical, whimsical nemesis--the Baron von Munchausen. He could just as well have been echoing Terry Gilliam's modern-day detractors.

Editor's note: It will be welcome news to devotees of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" -- the 1975 movie inspired "Spamalot," the Tony-winning musical -- that the distributor struck a new print and restored 24 seconds that were snipped prior to its original release. What follows is a condensed version of a review by Kevin Thomas that was published June 15, 2001.

Before Thursday night's game against the New York Knicks, Houston center Akeem Olajuwon criticized Coach Bill Fitch's coaching tactics and accused guard Sleepy Floyd of not fulfilling his duties as a playmaker. The Rockets then went out and defeated the Knicks, 134-117, at Houston. Purvis Short scored 33 points, tying his season high. The 134 points is a team high for the Rockets this season. The game met with Olajuwon's approval. "That's what I was talking about before," he said.

To see "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" 26 years after its original release is to appreciate it considerably more than the first time around--especially when an initial look proved to be a turnoff. The inspired lunacy of the famed British comedy troupe's take on King Arthur and his knights' quest for the Holy Grail is more often amusing than hilarious in effect; if there are laugh-out-loud moments, there are also passages that are dry and overly talky.

What: "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel" Where: HBO, tonight, 10 The lead story is on "Jefferson Street" Joe Gilliam, who, with the Pittsburgh Steelers, in 1974 became the first African American to begin an NFL season as the starting quarterback. The last time television featured Gilliam was four years ago on an NBC Super Bowl pregame show. It showed a beaten man, homeless, unable to beat a drug habit. Gilliam hit rock bottom on national TV.

HERO COMPLEX 2 weeks for 2 minutes of movie Early in "Terminator Salvation," Christian Bale as future resistance leader John Connor leads a raid on a Skynet facility, escapes in a helicopter, gets walloped by the force of a nuclear explosion, crash-lands and crawls from the wreckage, only to get attacked by a crawling Terminator. Did we mention this is all in one shot? To achieve this, visual effects supervisor Charles Gibson coordinated two film crews working over multiple locations to compile all the elements of the scene.

IT'S a dark and crowded theater in New York. The curtain has only been up five minutes, and Steve Wynn, the billionaire owner of the Wynn Las Vegas hotel, leans in, grips my knee and whispers in my ear: "Eric," he says, "this will be great in Las Vegas." "Yes," I say, "it will." Then I realize, slightly disappointedly, he means "Spamalot." My future as a billionaire's date is still up for grabs. "Can I give you a ride home?" he asks nicely. I'm thinking 6th Avenue, but he means L.A. Well, OK.

D eath be not proud seems to be one of the chief themes of the collective canon of Monty Python, the six-man British comedy troupe whose work first began airing on the BBC a quarter-century ago this month. Their TV show was infamous for its litany of dead parrots, sick undertakers and quasi-cannibals; their movies signified by medieval torture and disease, heroes dying on crosses and grim reapers. In Monty Python's world, there are 8 million ways to die--all of them silly.