Film review no.8 - Time Bandits (1981)

Time Bandits - 1981

Rating - PG

Director - Terry Gilliam 

Written by - Terry Gilliam & Michael Palin 

Starring - Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Michael Palin

Run time - 116 minutes

Time Bandits is a 1981 fantasy adventure film about a young boy who accidentally goes on an adventure with six time-travelling dwarf thieves across history. The plot is set around Kevin, a kid who’s obsessed with history and neglected by his parents, sees a knight on a horse burst through his closet, and then disappears. To prove this was true, Kevin brings a polaroid camera with him to bed the next night, when he is unexpectedly visited by a group of dwarfs on the run from the Supreme Being, as they’ve stolen a precious map featuring a series of time holes to different periods of history. Along the way, they meet historical figures like Napoleon (played by the recently deceased Ian Holm), Robin Hood (Cleese) and his merry men and King Agamemnon (Connery) in ancient Greece. There are also the recurring characters as lovers Pansy (Duvall) and Vincent (Palin), who always seem to get in some kind of sticky situation. Kevin and the time bandit's main quest is to get to the time of legends and find the most fabulous object in the world.

The film was made by production studio Handmade Films as their first film was Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1978), a film featuring Terry Gillam (Director of this movie) and comedians John Cleese and Michael Palin as part of the Monty Python team. The Company was started by the late musician and former Beatle George Harrison when Life of Brian’s financers EMI pulled out. George Harrison paid 4 million pounds from his own pocket to finance that film and then the company was made.

Gilliam refers to this movie as the first of his “Trilogy of Imagination” following with the movies Brazil (1986) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). He also directed the 1996 sci-fi movie Twelve Monkeys.

This film is undeniably one of Gilliam’s best works. The pure creativity and effort put into these films are outstanding. With a great script, lively characters, and pure absurdity, Time Bandits is well worth it, family-friendly watch for an exciting and fun time.

Score - 7/10