Time Bandits, The (1981)

In Terry Gilliam’s fantastic voyage through time and space, a 10-year-old English boy named Kevin (Craig Warnock) escapes from his gadget-obsessed parents to join a band of time-travelling dwarves called Randall, Fidgit, Strutter, Og, Wally and Vermin.

With a map stolen from the Supreme Being (Ralph Richardson) which shows holes in the universe (it turns out the Creation was something of a botched job), they delight in plundering treasure from Napoleon and Agamemnon (Sean Connery) by using the holes as doorways into different time zones.

They also bump into John Cleese’s Robin Hood (hang on, isn’t he a fictional character?) but the Evil Genius (David Warner) is watching every move.

Kevin and his companions spend time on the Titanic right before it goes down, and in the Time of Legends, where an Ogre couple prepares them for a fondue.

One robber is turned into a pig, and the lot of them find themselves suspended over a timeless limbo void in a metal cage.

But worst of all, the gang finds itself at Evil’s very own Fortress of Ultimate Darkness, where only a little help from the Supreme Being himself can turn the tide.

With a darkly playful script by Gilliam and Michael Palin, Time Bandits is a giddy fairy tale, a revisionist history lesson, and a satire on technology gone awry.

Much of the film was shot with the camera a couple of feet off the ground or looking up from holes, so as to create the perspective of a child.

With music and a closing song by former ex-Beatle George Harrison, the movie had enough crowd-pleasing adventure to turn a tidy profit at the box office.

It remains an offbeat favourite of those who like a good potpourri of fantasy, sci-fi and comedy in their time-travel adventure movies.

The dwarf called Fidgit was played by Kenny Baker – more widely known for his work as R2D2 in a certain space movie.

Kevin 
Craig Warnock
Randall
David Rappaport
Fidgit
Kenny Baker
Strutter
Malcolm Dixon
Og
Mike Edmonds
Wally
Jack Purvis
Vermin
Tiny Ross
Robin Hood
John Cleese
King Agamemnon
Sean Connery
Evil Genius
David Warner
Supreme Being
Ralph Richardson
Napoleon
Ian Holm
Pansy
Shelley Duvall
Ogre
Peter Vaughan
Mrs. Ogre
Katherine Helmond
Vincent
Michael Palin
Kevin’s Father
David Daker
Kevin’s Mother
Sheila Fearn
Reginald
John Young
Beryl
Myrtle Devenish
Lucien
Terence Bayler
Neguy
Preston Lockwood
The Great Rumbozo
John Hughman
Robert
Derek Deadman
Benson
Jerold Wells
Cartwright
Roger Frost
Baxi Brazilia III
Martin Carroll
Horseflesh
Marcus Powell
Clytemnestra
Juliette James

Director
Terry Gilliam

Video