1988’s The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen, directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Gilliam & Charles McKeown, is right up the director’s alley…a feast of visual splendor, where the lines separating fantasy and reality blur and disappear. Matt and Drew continue to have terrible opinions by not really liking this beloved classic!

The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen is based on the fictionalized novel, based on the tall tales told by and based on the life of, the real-life Baron Heironymous Karl Friedrich Freiherr von Munchhausen, and stars John Neville as Baron Munchausen; Sarah Polley as Sally Salt; Eric Idle as Berthold; Jonathan Pryce as Horatio Jackson; and Uma Thurman as Venus.

The real-life Baron Munchhausen was born in 1720 and fought for the Russian Empire in the Russo-Turkish War of 1735 to 1739.  After he retired, he became popular among the German aristocracy for his outlandish tall tales of his military career. Rudolf Erich Raspe compiled a number of them and published The Surprising Adventures Of Baron Munchhausen in 1785. There have been many Munchhausen books and movies since, but the subject matter seems tailor-made for former Python, Terry Gilliam’s style and sensibilities.

The film was nominated for Academy Awards in Art Direction (but lost to Batman); Costume Design (but lost to Henry V); Visual Effects (but lost to The Abyss); and Makeup (but lost to Driving Miss Daisy). How frustrating!

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