Palin’s first foray into film without the Python troupe came in 1981, with Time Bandits, by which time the Python television show and two movies Monty Python and the Holy Grail(1975) and The Life of Brian (1979) had already made him a household name.
Palin Stars in Two Very English Comedies
Palin’s follow-up to Time Bandits came in 1982 with The Missionary, a comedy drama about - aptly enough - a missionary returning to England from abroad, and being obliged to attempt to convert the prostitutes of London. Palin both wrote and starred in the film, which also featured Maggie Smith in the role of his wealthy but demanding patron.
After re-joining the other Python’s for the 1983 film The Meaning of Life, Palin then made A Private Function in 1984. The film was co-written by Alan Bennett, and was the first movie Palin had been in without taking a hand in the script. Maggie Smith was again amongst the cast, as was Richard Grithiths, and like The Missionary, A Private Function was a gentle English farce, this time featuring a plot which revolved around food rationing following the Second World War, the celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s wedding, and a stolen pig.
Palin Re-Unites with Other Members of Monty Python
The films Palin had made without his former comedy accomplices were solid but unspectacular. But in the mid-1980's he collaborated with two former Python’s on two of the best films made by the group.
First, in 1985, he took a role in Brazil, another brain-child of Terry Gilliam, who again directed, this time working from a screenplay written with Tom Stoppard. In an all-star cast which featured Jonathan Pryce and Robert de Niro, Palin did not have a leading role. But he can nonetheless be proud of his involvement in this darkly comic sci-fi fantasy, which garnered two Oscar nominations.
Then in 1988, Palin was offered the part of Ken in A Fish Called Wanda, written by and starring John Cleese. This small budget British crime caper went on to be a global hit, thanks partly to the two ex-Python’s, and partly to the talents of two Americans, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline.
Palin’s Film Career Slows Down
Through the 1990's and beyond, Palin has made fewer and fewer films, concentrating instead on his globe-trotting television shows. But he has still made some notable appearances on the big screen.
In 1991 he wrote and starred in American Friends, another comedy in the vein of his early film work, in which he played an Oxford don. Then came more collaborations with the former Python’s. The Wind in the Willows (1996) featured all the surviving members of the Circus, with the exception of Gilliam. Palin played the Sun in the film, which was written and directed by his old writing partner Terry Jones, who also starred. Cleese played a barrister, as he had in A Fish Called Wanda, while Eric Idle took the role of Ratty - a part which Palin himself had played the previous year in a television adaptation of the story.
1997 saw another reunion, this time of the Wanda cast. Palin, Cleese, Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis once again joined forces to work on Fierce Creatures. This effort, set in a zoo and once again written by Cleese, did not match the massive success of Wanda, but still contains some superb comic moments.
