Thieving bastards

Time Bandits

Starring John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Long and Michael…

Time Bandits

Starring John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Long and Michael Palin

Directed by Terry Gilliam

1982

“Time Bandits” takes us through a Spark Notes-meets-Monty Python version of history, led by a troupe of time-traveling dwarves and a small British boy with the loveable characteristics of all three Harry Potter kids.

Terry Gilliam (co-director of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”) introduces a talented cast of small thieves with a charming David Rappaport at the head. The time bandits, once hedge trimmers for the Supreme Being (Ralph Richardson donning a pleated gray suit), steal a map of the universe and use it to burglarize history’s most prominent figures.

In this case, history is riddled with laughable cameos. Sean Connery plays a sweetened-up gladiator as King Agamemnon. Shelley Long plays the romantically challenged Pansy. John Cleese shows up as Robin Hood, and Katherine Helmond (Mona from “Who’s the Boss”) plays a disgruntled ogre’s wife.

A strange combination of classic children’s fantasy, innuendo-filled humor, and the best of ’80s special effects, this movie is nothing short of entertaining – even if it is mainly because of its weirdness.