I shouldn't have to explain this, but by "three classic Monty Python films" I mean:

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)

Most people seem to agree that all of them are pretty terrific, but nobody seems to agree on which is the best. That's why I'm interested in seeing how others would rank them from favorite to least. My own goes The Meaning of Life, The Holy Grail, and Life of Brian.

How's about you?

I misread the thread title as "remaking" rather than "ranking" and got real scared.

I'm not against remakes but somethings shouldn't be attempted.

Holy Grail for me

Chronological order. I never seem to tire of Holy Grail, and I rarely feel the need to revisit The Meaning of Life (and don't even own it).

Chronological.

But I tend to like meaning of life a lot. That's probably my favorite one.

Yep, chronological order for me.

Pssh, Life of Brian is easily the best. It's the most cohesive and has some incredibly insightful social commentary, while still being blisteringly funny.

Then it's Holy Grail for being so quotable, and The Meaning of Life in third.

This

Life of Brian - Hilarious, daring and intelligent. Feels more like a film than a bunch of sketches.
Holy Grail - Groundbreaking and funny but IMO not as good as LOB.
Meaning of Life - The most visual of the three.

An ex GF of mine loves Monty Python and once when we were having relations I asked her to sit on my face and she started busting up. I asked her what the hell was so funny and she played me that damned "sit on my face" song by the troupe. I never asked her to do that, in those words, again. What a boner killer.

That's my random Monthy Python tale.

I agree with Mallet, Obi and Inri.

Brian
Grail
Meaning

Yeah, for me it's Brian>Grail>Meaning as well.

Life of Brian is the best "film" of all three, it always keeps on track and doesn't get too "silly" like Holy Grail tends to at times.

I realy like parts of Meaning of Life, but when I watch it I tend to fast forward through certain segments.

They are all terrific movies that I love, so I'm not saying Life of Brian is bad, but it is my least favorite of the Python films, because it is too much like a "real movie". I like the free-flowing and random absurdity in the other films much better.

In fact, I may even enjoy Live at the Hollywood Bowl more than Brian.

HOLY GRAIL. Which I saw in a theater when it came out.

I saw LIFE OF BRIAN in a theater also, but a few years after it came out. I don't remember much about it.

I'm not sure how much I saw of MEANING OF LIFE. I must have seen it on cable at some point, but I don't remember anything about it.

My daughter took me to see "Spam-a-Lot" on Broadway, an adaptation of HOLY GRAIL. All I could think as I watched it was how much funnier these same gags were in the movie. If you're going to all this trouble--do something NEW.

Thanks for writing that so I didn't have to.

Seconded!

I was wondering if I was ever going to find anyone who agreed with me that Life of Brian is the least of the three. Most people seem to like it best or second best.

I guess I'll have to keep looking for someone who agrees that The Meaning of Life is the best, though...

Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Monty Python's Life of Brian

Grail, Brian, Life

I'd probably go with this order, though all 3 of them are excellent.

Ditto.

Lots of blasphemy in this thread. Brian is great, but Holy Grail wins easily IMHO.

Did she at least tell you that she loved you?

Same. LoB is vastly overrated, IMO.

Another one for exactly what I think

Kind of passed the Monty Python phase I guess but the movies are okay now and again. I'd probably go:

Life of Brian- Smart film and I enjoy the soundtrack to it quite a bit.
The Holy Grail- Funny and definitely very quotable. A bit overrated though.
The Meaning of Life- Not bad but not one I feel the need to re-watch a bunch of times.