Time Bandits

[krtek a houby]

Gillian's 1981 time travel dark fantasy comedy is a favourite. But it seems to have been lost in time. Best fantasies of the 80s articles seldom feature it. It's not on streaming. It rarely crops up on various feeds.

Perhaps it was just too out there, the ending too dark? It didn't connect with audiences? Or maybe it's an algorithm thing and haven't searched it out properly.

Still, it has appeared, imho, that younger generations are unaware of it and don't react to it on the YouTube. Mind, they don't react to any Gilliam unless it's Monty Python Life of Brian or The Holy Grail.

It's fine, will always treasure it and the film will always be a beloved and unblemished gem and known only to a select audience. It can remain secure, snug and smug in my heart...

Wait a moment

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I thought it was pretty widely highly regarded. I do remember not knowing it existed when it came out though. I only came across it by chance as a teen late one night on TV. I think I was too young to stay up and watch it all. Maybe I taped it. It was definitely fun watching it without knowing a single thing about it or where it might be going (I'm not sure I even knew the title having missed the beginning).
It seemed crazy for a film of it's calibre to be tucked away late at night, seemingly without any fanfare.

I'm sure the new show will be fine.

 

[krtek a houby]

I thought it was pretty widely highly regarded. I do remember not knowing it existed when it came out though. I only came across it by chance as a teen late one night on TV. I think I was too young to stay up and watch it all. Maybe I taped it. It was definitely fun watching it without knowing a single thing about it or where it might be going (I'm not sure I even knew the title having missed the beginning).
It seemed crazy for a film of it's calibre to be tucked away late at night, seemingly without any fanfare.

I'm sure the new show will be fine.

Oh, am sure it will find a whole new audience and will probably watch out of curiosity. The showmakers have a good record.

It might stoke interest in the original, which can't be a bad thing!

 

[seeformiles]

I saw it when it came out because of the George Harrison connection (unashamed Beatle fan) and give it a watch pretty regularly. Sort of Python for kids with Sean Connery as a bonus. Not keen on remakes in general - shows a lack of imagination among film makers and usually winds up being a bit of a turd (E.g. “Italian Job”, “Bedazzled”). The intervals between Hollywood’s reboots of superhero films gets ever shorter as it eats its own tail.

ETA The Sunday Times gave away a free copy of it about 15 years ago as part of a classic film series (others included “The Wicker Man” iirc)

 

[andysays]

By coincidence, I watched Gilliam's Brazil the other night after it popped up on YouTube



It's even weirder than I remembered

 

[kalidarkone]

I loved time bandits when it came out, however like anything even vaguely monty python it is really dated. Good story though and could be remade and updated. (With no monty python input)

 

[emanymton]

The film was great, but that trailer looks crap to me.

 

[krtek a houby]

Zero problems with remakes, if they're good - they are acknowledged as such. Gilliam's 12 Monkeys, for a start.

And if they're bad... they tend to sink and most don't remember.

Time Bandits was such a shock when we saw it on release. I was not used to seeing Robin Hood as portrayed by Cleese, or the kind of cinematography used. It was refreshing and different.

But I'm not ten years old anymore, so that sense of wonder isn't there (much) and so it's up to younger audiences to make their minds up on it.

Does make me want to excavate my DVD of the original...

 

[Pickman's model]

If memory serves I saw time bandits as part of a double bill. The other film was about schoolboys robbing a bank. One of them interviewed a bank manager and got a photo of him with bank keys on the desk then they made a key to the vault and emptied the cash. And unusually for caper films got away with it.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I first saw it on VHS, and it had 'The Crimson Permanent Assurance' before it. I remember sitting through that thinking it was a trailer, but it wasn't, then I thought it was part of The Time Bandits, which it wasn't, and I eventually realised it was just a short film that had been added before The Time Bandits started. This just made the Time Bandits weirder and more out there an experience the first time around. I was probably about 12.

 

[kalidarkone]

I loved time bandits when it came out, however like anything even vaguely monty python it is really dated. Good story though and could be remade and updated. (With no monty python input)

Oh just noticed the trailer and that it has been remade. Hmmmm no.

 

[krtek a houby]

Oh just noticed the trailer and that it has been remade. Hmmmm no.

This is what am genuinely interested in, what puts you off, is it that it looks crap to you or do you feel it's not going to live up to your idea of what it should be?

Not having a go, btw. Am always fascinated why people bridle at remakes etc

Asking as someone who adores the original

 

[kalidarkone]

This is what am genuinely interested in, what puts you off, is it that it looks crap to you or do you feel it's not going to live up to your idea of what it should be?

Not having a go, btw. Am always fascinated why people bridle at remakes etc

Asking as someone who adores the original

It's just so American and Lisa Kudrow irritates me.

 

[krtek a houby]

It's just so American and Lisa Kudrow irritates me.

Fair enough!

 

[souljacker]

Looks a bit schmaltzy to me. The original was pretty dark in places (especially the ending). That trailer is giving me 'it all worked out in the end' vibes.

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

I saw Time Bandits in the cinema when it came out. Was really looking forward to it but then when i saw it i was disappointed. It wasn't really very funny; the Pythons who are in it weren't at all funny. But over the years I've changed my mind. It doesn't matter that its not funny, it was really inventive, and original, and in fact there are many things that are good about Time Bandits. I watched it on streaming fairly recently - last year i think. It was on several streaming platforms at the time - think it may have been shown on telly too, hence why it was on at least one of the platforms.

 

[moochedit]

I first saw it on VHS, and it had 'The Crimson Permanent Assurance' before it.

That's from "the meaning of life".

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

By coincidence, I watched Gilliam's Brazil the other night after it popped up on YouTube



It's even weirder than I remembered

I was obsessed by this when it came out.
I bought it on VHS which would have been a great expense for me at the time.
I can probably still quote large sections of it. (to this day I usually have to say "Ere I am J H - The ghost in the machine" if I am in a lift or writing in dust).
Other frequently used lines include . . .
"Things don't just fix themselves sir"
"Here's your bomb arsehole"
"something for an executive"
"My complication had a little complication"
"Ha ha, he'll never get that out"

Oh there are so many!!


Oh, and it was also fun to discover recently that a fair bit of it was filmed close to where I currently live.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

That's from "the meaning of life".

Memory mash up

 

[emanymton]

This is what am genuinely interested in, what puts you off, is it that it looks crap to you or do you feel it's not going to live up to your idea of what it should be?

Not having a go, btw. Am always fascinated why people bridle at remakes etc

Asking as someone who adores the original

The problem with doing remakes, and prequels is that they almost always fall short of the original, so they feel worse than an original property would. What's the point in doing something that has been done before but worse? For them to work they need to bring something original, but most are made just to cash in on the name not because someone has a story they really want to tell.

I think this will be differnt as the name is not big enough to cash in on, but the trailer did not impress me. It feels like fans of the original remaking it because they can, which has more of of chance to work out, but I'm not optimistic.

Oh and yes every time Kudrow opened her mouth I cringed.

 

[krtek a houby]

The problem with doing remakes, and prequels is that they almost always fall short of the original, so they feel worse than an original property would. What's the point in doing something that has been done before but worse? For them to work they need to bring something original, but most are made just to cash in on the name not because someone has a story they really want to tell.

I think this will be differnt as the name is not big enough to cash in on, but the trailer did not impress me. It feels like fans of the original remaking it because they can, which has more of of chance to work out, but I'm not optimistic.

Oh and yes every time Kudrow opened her mouth I cringed.

Jumping genres, am looking forward to Robert Eggers Nosferatu. Love the silent original by Murnau, also like the Herzog version and imho Eggers is a brilliant director.

This is why am not against remakes etc, because it's something that cinema has been doing since the start.

Nosferatu itself being an, ahem, homage to Dracula because of rights etc

 

[Gromit]

Remake looks awful.

I doubt it has the underlying moral about happiness.

 

[bemused]

Be nice to see Lisa Kudrow in a TV comedy. She is good fun.

 

[ska invita]

For me the early films directed by Terry Gilliam are some of the best things in cinema history.....the run of Holy Grail >> Jabberwocky >> Life of Brian >> Time Bandits >> Meaning of Life >> Brazil >> The Adventures of Baron Munchausen are some of the best looking films ever made. They all have a unique feel and look, and the work that goes into them has a punk DIY spirit that comes across on the screen. Some of them are pitch-perfect, but even when they arent they've got enough of a vibe about them that still makes them interesting to watch.

The vast majority of modern films by comparison are all the same: they look the same, the grading is the same, the feel is the same, the machine that produces them is the same....and its boring and bland. Going on the trailer this remake looks like Coldplay covering Hendrix's Are you experienced. There's not enough outsiders in TV and film these days....

Trivia from IMDB
"In an interview for the website The Playlist from June 2023, Terry Gilliam criticized the show for its "shortage of dwarves" whereas he took pride that on Time Bandits (1981), short actors who usually were hidden inside costumes or relegated to small parts "were out. and they were now action heroes." Gilliam claims that he's "very disconnected" from the production after he lost control of the film's rights when the production company Handmade Films was sold to other companies."

 

[surreybrowncap]

For me the early films directed by Terry Gilliam are some of the best things in cinema history.....the run of Holy Grail >> Jabberwocky >> Life of Brian >> Time Bandits >> Meaning of Life >> Brazil >> The Adventures of Baron Munchausen are some of the best looking films ever made. They all have a unique feel and look, and the work that goes into them has a punk DIY spirit that comes across on the screen. Some of them are pitch-perfect, but even when they arent they've got enough of a vibe about them that still makes them interesting to watch.

I get what you mean - although Brian and Meaning of Life were directed by Terry Jones..

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

For me the early films directed by Terry Gilliam are some of the best things in cinema history.....the run of Holy Grail >> Jabberwocky >> Life of Brian >> Time Bandits >> Meaning of Life >> Brazil >> The Adventures of Baron Munchausen are some of the best looking films ever made. They all have a unique feel and look, and the work that goes into them has a punk DIY spirit that comes across on the screen. Some of them are pitch-perfect, but even when they arent they've got enough of a vibe about them that still makes them interesting to watch.

I had fond memories of Jabberwocky but tried to watch it recently and boy was it a slog. I never much cared for Holy Grail or the meaning of Life (but I did love the short film about (the insurance company pirates?) that came before it. That was slick.
I'd quite like to try watching the Fisher King again. I have not seen it since it came out. I remember it being a bit bloated, a bit on the long side, something I feel a lot of Gilliams films suffer from.

 

[krtek a houby]

I had fond memories of Jabberwocky but tried to watch it recently and boy was it a slog. I never much cared for Holy Grail or the meaning of Life (but I did love the short film about (the insurance company pirates?) that came before it. That was slick.
I'd quite like to try watching the Fisher King again. I have not seen it since it came out. I remember it being a bit bloated, a bit on the long side, something I feel a lot of Gilliams films suffer from.

Fisher King is a wonderful odyssey through loss, pain and fantasy. It's another one of Gilliam's output that's just faded away, which is a shame.

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

Fisher King is a wonderful odyssey through loss, pain and fantasy. It's another one of Gilliam's output that's just faded away, which is a shame.

Saw Fisher King around the time I visited New York for first time. It seemed perfectly timed for me and the person I went with. Was a huge Gilliam fan at the time and probably blind to the negative aspects of his films such as being over long and bloated and quite self indulgent. Not sure I could watch this again, and I've never tried. But for one viewing back in the mists of time it seemed like the perfect film for a particular moment in my life.

 

[ska invita]

I get what you mean - although Brian and Meaning of Life were directed by Terry Jones..

co directed with gilliam iirc on MofL and was invovled in writing on all of them - but its less about the direction than the production style

 

[ska invita]

I had fond memories of Jabberwocky but tried to watch it recently and boy was it a slog. I never much cared for Holy Grail or the meaning of Life (but I did love the short film about (the insurance company pirates?) that came before it. That was slick.
I'd quite like to try watching the Fisher King again. I have not seen it since it came out. I remember it being a bit bloated, a bit on the long side, something I feel a lot of Gilliams films suffer from.

Yes I tried to watch Jabberwocky earlier this year, its a pretty shit script, and just falls flat as a watch, but everything else about it in terms of production, cinematography, execution etc is spot on. A shame really. For me Holy Grail holds up start to finish, love it. Brian is the most "perfect" of them all in terms of audience satisfaction, no fat to trim off that, but I prefer the shambolic nature and energy of Grail and even Time Bandits.....where the experience of making the film bleeds into the experience of watching of the film.