by
359Rabbit
@ 2008-07-20 - 12:35:50
Seasideman should have heard this story after it’s in his area. I thought the film was hilarious and have seen it many times since:
She's not the messiah, she's the mayor of Aberystwyth and she has a plan.
Sue Jones-Davies is trying to overturn a near 30-year ban imposed by the town on Monty Python's Life of Brian - the film in which she played a role. Long before she donned her mayoral robes in the mid Wales town, she played Brian's girlfriend in the movie.
Opponents claimed it made fun of Jesus, but she says it's "amazing" that a town like hers still officially bars a movie now regarded as a comedy classic. In 1979, however, it grabbed the headlines for the wrong reasons, with critics accusing the Python team of blasphemy with its story about a Jewish man who was mistaken for the messiah and then crucified. Some religious groups picketed cinemas which screened the film.
It is understood a committee made up of church leaders in Aberystwyth recommended a ban in 1979. Ceredigion council has the power to lift it, but a spokesman said no-one in the licensing department knew about the ban. But Michael Davies, the owner of Aberystwyth's Commodore Cinema, said he was sure it was still in place.
"As far as I know the Life of Brian is still banned from being shown at the cinema," he explained. "My father ran the cinema when the ban was imposed and I suppose it would have had a commercial impact at the time because it was a huge film and made a fortune. "I don't think lifting the ban now would make much of a difference."
Stars such as Spike Milligan and ex-Beatle George Harrison, who financed the Life of Brian when no-one else would, played cameo roles.