Time Bandits
116 minutes,
UK (1981), PG
Average user rating 
(4.8 / 81 votes)
(4.8 / 81 votes)
Terry Gilliam's deranged, delightful foray into (and out of) world history. Starring John Cleese, Michael Palin and Sean Connery
Director:
Time Bandits Extras
Movie Quotes
I am the Supreme Being, I'm not entirely dim.
-
The Supreme Being (Ralph Richardson)
DVD
Anchor Bay, 2006
Audio commentary with Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, David Warner, John Cleese, and Craig Warnock
Interview with Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin
Trailer
Scrapbook
Biographies
Film notes
Dream facts
Production photo gallery
Missing scene
Storyboard extracts
"All the Pythons were suckers for history," says Time Bandits co-writer Michael Palin, and for Terry Gilliam, this was a terrific opportunity to "make lots of period films," the sort the team had delved into with Monty Python And The Holy Grail and Life Of Brian.
However, despite the involvement of Cleese and Palin, this is not an official Python gig; the shadow of Brazil looms large over Time Bandits (indeed, Bandits is supposed to be seen as the first part of a trilogy encompassing Brazil and The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen), and the film was borne out of a frustration with that movie - "a tedious sci-fi thing that was rather heavy," as he'd tell 'Clapperboard''s immaculately-coifed Chris Kelly in a 1981 interview, also included here.
Ostensibly dealing with "the pettiness of people's dreams," Time Bandits spells out its anti-materialist message in a way both big and little people can understand. As the director states on the commentary, the Bandits themselves are nothing more than "horrible, heartless greedy little bastards," operating from a position where, "Time and space is imperfect, and God is imperfect." Much of the material on disc two will already be familiar from the official Time Bandits tie-in film book - the splendid photo gallery, the missing scene and storyboard extracts - easier to read on the page than on the screen. Nevertheless, there's a treasure trove of extras here, formerly available on the Region 1 Criterion Collection. Anchor Bay, 2006 The chat track, featuring Gilliam, Palin, David Warner, John Cleese, and an all-grown-up Craig 'Kevin' Warnock (each actor recorded separately and introduced as they appear on screen for the first time) is as warm, witty and revealing as one could wish for. Among other revelations, we discover how Gilliam accidentally "broke Shelley Duvall's neck... I think she's got about 10 more vertebrae than most people"; that Cleese based his Robin Hood on the Duke of Kent; and that Sean Connery's inclusion sprung from a script direction - "the mask is pulled off at the end of the fight to reveal none other than Sean Connery - or at least an actor of equal but cheaper stature" - before Handmade's Dennis O'Brien took him out for a round of golf and convinced him to do it.
Evil's reptilian headgear was a deliberate homage to HR Giger's Alien creation; stock footage from A Night To Remember was colourised and slowed down for the sinking Titanic sequences; Peter Vaughan wasn't terribly polite to his child co-star when Warnock missed his cue ("maybe he didn't like kids"); that yes, those really are giant Lego blocks that comprise Evil's dusty domain; and that Ralph Richardson plied Gilliam with numerous gin and tonics on a Sunday morning while discussing his role as the Supreme Being in intricate detail. ("God wouldn't say that," Richardson would continually chide the chastened director).
Meanwhile, for those wondering as to the exact significance of the George Harrison song 'Dream Away' over the closing credits (sample lyric: "Greedy feeling wheeling dealing/Losing what you won/See the dream come undone/Lucky you got so far/All you owe is apologies") the oddly sour lyrics actually allude to the director himself.
"George was angry," says Gilliam, "because he thought I was being pig-headed and wasn't grateful enough to Denis O'Brien, and was shouting and behaving badly." Years later, Harrison would come to regret his association with the Handmade boss, dragging his once trusted right-hand man through the courts in a $25m lawsuit and claiming O'Brien had duped him out of a fortune for over 12 years. Next to this Bandit, Randall, Og, Vermin and Co. look like pretty small fry.
Interview with Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin
Trailer
Scrapbook
Biographies
Film notes
Dream facts
Production photo gallery
Missing scene
Storyboard extracts
"All the Pythons were suckers for history," says Time Bandits co-writer Michael Palin, and for Terry Gilliam, this was a terrific opportunity to "make lots of period films," the sort the team had delved into with Monty Python And The Holy Grail and Life Of Brian.
However, despite the involvement of Cleese and Palin, this is not an official Python gig; the shadow of Brazil looms large over Time Bandits (indeed, Bandits is supposed to be seen as the first part of a trilogy encompassing Brazil and The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen), and the film was borne out of a frustration with that movie - "a tedious sci-fi thing that was rather heavy," as he'd tell 'Clapperboard''s immaculately-coifed Chris Kelly in a 1981 interview, also included here.
Ostensibly dealing with "the pettiness of people's dreams," Time Bandits spells out its anti-materialist message in a way both big and little people can understand. As the director states on the commentary, the Bandits themselves are nothing more than "horrible, heartless greedy little bastards," operating from a position where, "Time and space is imperfect, and God is imperfect." Much of the material on disc two will already be familiar from the official Time Bandits tie-in film book - the splendid photo gallery, the missing scene and storyboard extracts - easier to read on the page than on the screen. Nevertheless, there's a treasure trove of extras here, formerly available on the Region 1 Criterion Collection. Anchor Bay, 2006 The chat track, featuring Gilliam, Palin, David Warner, John Cleese, and an all-grown-up Craig 'Kevin' Warnock (each actor recorded separately and introduced as they appear on screen for the first time) is as warm, witty and revealing as one could wish for. Among other revelations, we discover how Gilliam accidentally "broke Shelley Duvall's neck... I think she's got about 10 more vertebrae than most people"; that Cleese based his Robin Hood on the Duke of Kent; and that Sean Connery's inclusion sprung from a script direction - "the mask is pulled off at the end of the fight to reveal none other than Sean Connery - or at least an actor of equal but cheaper stature" - before Handmade's Dennis O'Brien took him out for a round of golf and convinced him to do it.
Evil's reptilian headgear was a deliberate homage to HR Giger's Alien creation; stock footage from A Night To Remember was colourised and slowed down for the sinking Titanic sequences; Peter Vaughan wasn't terribly polite to his child co-star when Warnock missed his cue ("maybe he didn't like kids"); that yes, those really are giant Lego blocks that comprise Evil's dusty domain; and that Ralph Richardson plied Gilliam with numerous gin and tonics on a Sunday morning while discussing his role as the Supreme Being in intricate detail. ("God wouldn't say that," Richardson would continually chide the chastened director).
Meanwhile, for those wondering as to the exact significance of the George Harrison song 'Dream Away' over the closing credits (sample lyric: "Greedy feeling wheeling dealing/Losing what you won/See the dream come undone/Lucky you got so far/All you owe is apologies") the oddly sour lyrics actually allude to the director himself.
"George was angry," says Gilliam, "because he thought I was being pig-headed and wasn't grateful enough to Denis O'Brien, and was shouting and behaving badly." Years later, Harrison would come to regret his association with the Handmade boss, dragging his once trusted right-hand man through the courts in a $25m lawsuit and claiming O'Brien had duped him out of a fortune for over 12 years. Next to this Bandit, Randall, Og, Vermin and Co. look like pretty small fry.
