Key players:  Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin

Why it's great: It's not easy to make a comedy that can make a ten minute joke about the proper conjugation of Latin verbs and also get the filmmakers excommunicated from the Church of England, but Monty Python managed both with their blistering satire about why people follow and what they want.  It tells the story of the guy born one stable over from Baby Jesus, raised in an age of false prophets.  While "Holy Grail" may be more quotable, this movie is smarter and deeper and it somehow manages to be one of the most historically accurate and well-researched films about the era of Christ ever made, even as it ridicules the society of that era as well as the ongoing friction between faith and reason.  Besides, any film that ends with a musical number staged by people who have been crucified is to be celebrated.

- Drew McWeeny