Originally published at: 'Time Bandits' remains wonderful | Boing Boing
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How funny is that? I just remembered this movie a few months ago and got it from Netflix to show my family. It aged really well. The effects are a little dated, but they didn’t really rely on effects for the movie so it doesn’t matter. The kids and spouse loved it. If I can manage it, I’m going to get them to watch “Explorers”.
My spouse wanted us to watch “E.T.” and that was not well received. The “radios for guns” edit is just not good.
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Thankfully Spielberg, unlike Lucas, had enough capacity for self-reflection to admit to himself and others that the 20th Anniversary Special Edition changes were a big mistake so the subsequent re-releases (such as the Blu-ray edition my family owns) reverted back to the original theatrical edition.
Some of the since-excised scenes from the Special Edition were included as bonus features on the Blu-ray set and it’s amazing how poorly the then-state-of-the-art CGI effects aged in a relatively short span of time.
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Yeah, we watched the DVD re-release and the CGI alterations were painful by modern standards. Sort of like the Star Wars edits.
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It is just too damn long since I watched this. So many good performances.
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My absolute favorite George Harrison song. I remember seeing the film for the first time in the theaters and staying for the whole credits because of this song.
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With Ian Holm as Napoleon!
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man i love this movie. it’s been AGES since i’ve seen it, and i don’t know why. i had forgotten what an all-star cast it was. so many cameos!
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I haven’t revisited any of Gilliam’s work since learning he was a #metoo dismissing sleazeball - not out of a decisive choice, so much as I’m always given a bit of pause when my finger hovers over the DVD case and I end up picking something from less of an open creep. But I remember Time Bandits being wildly inventive, fun, and funny, and imagine I’ll be revisiting it sometime in the future.
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I saw Time Bandits in the theater for my birthday party. It was the Greatest Thing I Ever Saw in My Life. Plus it had a George Harrison song at the end! None of my friends who I invited liked it or understood it.
That’s when I knew I was different from most of the other kids.
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Watched it many many times since it came out in my childhood. I never quite got the ending. Maybe I should rewatch it again.
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My grandparents took me to see this in a theater when I was 8. Blew my little mind. Damn do I miss those nuts 
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Having watched Time Bandits more dozens of times than I can count as a kid, I remember the song well but somehow never realized until today that it was George Harrison. I also completely forgot that Shelley Duvall and Sean Connery were in it.
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The ever excellent Rule of Three podcast did a terrific episode about it:
David Quantick on Time Bandits | Rule Of Three on Acast
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“Ooohh, so that’s what an invisible barrier looks like!”
“Like I always say: stick with me and you won’t go far wrong.”
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I love the movie but was saddened to find out the tragic story behind the death of David Rappaport; the stand-out star of the movie!
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Loved that film. God’s (erm, the Supreme Being’s) offhand response near the end “Oh, something about free will” always got me.
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Definitely one of my favorite films. One of my best friends growing up had it on RCA Selectavision laser disc and we watched it countless times. I was so psyched when my son was old enough not to get too freaked out by it and I got to show it to him: he loved it, too.
“He created slugs?!”
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Gilliam definitely seems to be settling into Cranky Old Man mode, and it’s not a good look. Sure, he’s always been cranky, but he used to be less ossified about it. It shows in his work–he was creatively at his peak in the 80s, and hasn’t done anything really notable since.
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