Rent Time Bandits (1981)
3.6 of 5 from 190 ratings
1h 56min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Along the way, he encounters Agamemnon (Sean Connery), Robin Hood (John Cleese), Napoleon (Ian Holm) and winds up as a passenger on the Titanic, although not necessarily in that order. But is this just random entertainment laid on for history fan Kevin's benefit, or part of a wider struggle between the forces of Good (Ralph Richardson) and Evil (David Warner)?
- Actors:
- Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, John Cleese, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Ralph Richardson, Peter Vaughan, David Warner, David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Malcolm Dixon, Mike Edmonds, Jack Purvis, Tiny Ross, Craig Warnock, David Daker, Sheila Fearn, Jim Broadbent, John Young
- Directors:
- Terry Gilliam
- Producers:
- Terry Gilliam
- Voiced By:
- Chris Grant, Tony Jay
- Writers:
- Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam
- Studio:
- Anchor Bay
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Children & Family, Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Collections:
- A Brief History of Ships in Film: From Sailing to , A Brief History of Cinema Afloat: Part 2, And Now For Something Completely Similar: Solo Pythons, Cinema Paradiso's 2023 Centenary Club: Part 1, Films & TV by topic, The Beatles in Film, A Brief History of Film...
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 05/10/2009
- Run Time:
- 116 minutes
- Languages:
- English Dolby Digital 5.1
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- Bonus:
- Exclusive interview with Terry Gilliam (2009)
- Scrapbook – Containing stills and story boards from the film
- Trailer
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 28/08/2023
- Run Time:
- 116 minutes
- Languages:
- English Dolby Digital Stereo, English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Chasing Time Bandits - an interview with Terry Gilliam
- Writing the Film that Dares Not Speak Its Name - an interview in which Michael Palin discusses co-writing and acting in 'Time Bandits'
- The Effects of Time Bandits - an interview in which Kent Houston, founder of the Peerless Camera Company, discusses 'Time Bandits' optical effects
- Playing Evil - an interview in which actor David Warner remembers producer George Harrison and playing Evil in 'Time Bandits'
- The Costumes of Time Bandits - an nterview with costume designer James Acheson
- The Look of 'Time Bandits' - an interview with production designer Milly Burns
- From Script to Screen - an animated featurette in which Milly Burns takes us through her production notebooks, location photographs and storyboards revealing how twentieth century Morocco was transformed into ancient Greece
- Original Trailer
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Reviews (1) of Time Bandits
Delighted by Its Own Chaos - Time Bandits review by griggs
Terry Gilliam's bag of tricks is very much on display here — anarchic, visually inventive, stuffed with Python-adjacent sketch energy, and delighted by its own chaos. The time-travelling vignettes work better as individiual gags than as a cohesive story, and the whole thing overstays its welcome by at least twenty minutes.
The real pleasures are on the margins, mind. Ian Holm's Napoleon — petty, vain, obsessed with short men — is a beautifully silly comic turn. Katherine Helmond adn Shelley Duvall float through their scenes with effortless weirdness. It's a shame young Kevin is so hard to root for.
Still, Time Bandits has genuine wit and visual imagination to spare, and when it lands, it really lands. More a grab-bag of brilliant moments than a film, though, — which is either the point, or the problem.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.