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    Tilting at Windmills: The Films of Terry Gilliam
    Tilting at Windmills: The Films of Terry Gilliam
    Tilting at Windmills: The Films of Terry Gilliam
    Ebook79 pages1 hour

    Tilting at Windmills: The Films of Terry Gilliam

    By scott colbert

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    About this ebook

    From Jabberwocky to The Zero Theorem, Terry Gilliam has run the gamut of film and fantasy. Once again Scott Colbert takes a look at another favorite director and talks about his work as only he can. More fan than critic, Colbert's conversational tone makes these essays a pleasure to read. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBandersnatch Books
    Release dateNov 18, 2015
    ISBN9781516359547
    Tilting at Windmills: The Films of Terry Gilliam
    Author

    scott colbert

    Phoenix resident Scott Colbert is a transplanted New Yorker. Prone to send pictures of his cat to random strangers, you can listen to him babble on various podcasts and his website thesupernaughts.com

    Read more from Scott Colbert

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      Book preview

      Tilting at Windmills - scott colbert

      I’ve always loved storytellers. In fact, I think it’s safe to say I prefer a good storyteller compared to an accomplished writer, or technically proficient filmmaker.  Robert Heinlein was a great writer with interesting ideas, but a lousy storyteller. Stephen King, while not necessarily a great writer, is one of the best storytellers since Mark Twain.

      They have a way of transporting you, sweeping you away and making you believe in the impossible. Dickens did it. H.G. Wells did it.

      And so does Terry Gilliam.

      From his unique animations for Monty Python, where you never knew what would happen, to his dystopian view of society, Gilliam, like Calgon bath beads, takes you away. Often, his characters take a secondary position to the world’s he creates. While Time Bandits wouldn’t be the same without the motley crew of Kevin and the dwarves, it also wouldn’t be the same without the world they inhabited. Whether it was Sherwood Forest or the hanging cages, the landscape proved to be as important as the actors. Gilliam’s eye for detail is unparalleled, and his set designers have always bordered on genius. Like the great genre writers all know, to make the fantastic believable, you have to make the believable fantastic.

      Even if it’s a rundown house in the middle of BFE, Texas. Gilliam’s eye, and his passion for everything he does is unwavering. He’ll do what it takes to see his vision come to fruition, even if it means battling studios, actors, and critics.

      There have been few working directors (or others), whose back stories are as consistently interesting and rife with drama as the films he’s making. Call him stubborn, bullheaded, perhaps even a diva, but there are few current filmmakers who have his sense of responsibility not only to the audience, but the material.

      In this day and age of rampant violence, terrorist attacks, hate speech masquerading as news, we need storytellers now, more than ever, and Terry Gilliam is simply the best.

      Departing from the subject of this book for a moment, I want to take a few moments and thank some people. As always my Mom and family, who will probably never understand why I do what I do, but love me anyway, I thank you for your support.

      To the late T.M. Wright who taught me more about being a writer than any book on the subject, you will be missed Terry, but never forgotten.

      To my cohosts for the podcasts I do, Todd Staruch, Jerry Janda Jr, and Wade Radford, thank you for the opportunity to spend time with you doing my silly shows. When you get your probation papers I’ll gladly sign off on the volunteer work you have to do. :P

      My wonderful friend and cover designer Joe Adams, who constantly amazes me with his talent and amuses me with his stories. There are few people like Joe, though some would say that’s probably good thing.

      To John Waters, David Cronenberg, David Lynch and Terry Gilliam, for being the artists they are and creating such brilliance it allowed me to write about and fawn over them (at times).

      Last but not least, all those who read my work, and enjoy it. Thank you, thank you, and thank you.

      Scott Colbert

      Phoenix, AZ

      11/18/2015

      One: Jabberwocky

      ––––––––

      What do you do after your run on one of the most successful comedy shows is over, and your first feature film is a rousing success? You adapt Lewis Carroll’s nonsensical poem Jabberwocky, of course. Assuming you’re Terry Gilliam that is.

      Never one to shy away from tackling what would be unfilmable ideas for others, much like the subjects of my previous two series about John Waters and David Cronenberg, Gilliam always seems to manage to do the impossible. If he never quite reaches the heights he wishes, he’s still a damn sure lot higher than anyone else.

      And high may be an ingredient for some to enjoy Gilliam’s movies (his work after Jabberwocky anyway, as his feature film debut as a solo director is very straightforward for a Gilliam project). Even Holy Grail was more a series of skits that tied together to make a movie. Jabberwocky if anything is far more a story and told in a conventional way than any of the Python exploits. Of course that could very well have to do with money and time than anything else. Yet when you look at it, even today, it cannot be confused for anything but a Terry Gilliam movie.

      Jabberwocky starts out with a trapper collecting the animals he’s snared, and here’s the first of a few Python references, as the trapper is played by none other than Terry Jones. Unfortunately, Jones doesn’t appear very long as no sooner has he collected his dinner, than he’s eaten by the monster and left looking a lot like Mr. Creosote after he exploded.

      We then have a bit of narration which leads us to a small village that’s not been affected by the monster. We meet Dennis Cooper and his father, both of whom are-oddly enough, coopers (barrel makers for you infidels who didn’t know).  While the elder cooper sees his occupation in the most reverent of terms, even an art form, the younger cooper (played by fellow Python Michael Palin) only has interest in counting stock, and trying to make the business more efficient. After a bit of an argument over selling some barrels, Dennis takes a canoe to go see his girlfriend. Or a girl who he hopes to have as a girlfriend. Griselda, a surly, rubenesque girl, can’t stand Dennis because he’s not a knight, and has no money. Still, he has hope that she’ll change her mind.

      When he returns home, he finds his father has had a heart attack, and is on death bed. Prior to his dying, he disowns Dennis, disappointed in his son’s disinterest in making barrels. Forlorn, he returns to his girlfriend to let her know he’s going to the big city and may not see her for a long while. Unfazed, she chucks a rotten potato out the window which he views as a symbol of their love. Dennis may be good with numbers, but he’s not much for the game of love.

      Once at the city gates, he’s denied entrance because he has no possessions. As he walks away, one of the guards calls him back, asks to see his

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