‘Time Bandits’ Robs Some of Their Senses

“Time Bandits” is one of those movies that, inexplicably to many critics, developed a fanatical following shortly after its release in 1980. Some people (especially Terry Gilliam, who directed) talk about this loopy Monty Python project as nothing less than comic paradise.

I can’t say I’m one of them. While I admire a few set pieces that put the film on the lunatic fringe, most of the scattershot plotting bores me.

And then there’s that business with the main stars, six little people who stick their tiny noses into everybody’s business, no matter which century they plop down in. As reviewer Richard Corliss wrote in Time magazine: “Who can care about six dwarfs when they’re all dopey?”

Anyway, local devotees should be pleased to know that “Time Bandits” can be seen on the big screen again. On Friday night, UC Irvine will present the movie as part of its “Films We Love to Watch But Were Afraid to Admit” series.

The careless organization is typical for a Monty Python flick, although this one is more concerned with exposition than most. A string of diverse scenes is loosely connected by a peculiar story line involving those small folk (led by David Rappaport) and a modern English boy (Craig Warnock) they’ve accidentally picked up in their romp through time.

Let’s see: They steal stuff from Napoleon (Ian Holm), hoodwink King Agamemnon (a sleepwalking Sean Connery), hook up with Robin Hood (John Cleese) and spend time on the Titanic, not necessarily in that order.

They do other stuff too, all the while followed by the goodly Supreme Being (played by a rather distracted Ralph Richardson) and the not-so-goodly thing called Evil (the perfectly snarling David Warner). Pythoner Michael Palin makes an appearance or two.

It’s really a frantic movie that tests your concentration. Some folks love all that giddy tension; others find it annoying.

I always did like Cleese’s howl of a performance as Robin Hood. He uses the Royal Family as kind of a model, unctuously keeping a stiff upper lip the entire time and offering such curdled blather as “Have you met the poor? Charming people.”

Holm also has a moment or two as Napoleon. While watching a puppet show, the impresario suggests as a change of pace something performed by real people, to which Napoleon shrieks: “No! This is what I like--little things hitting each other!”

Also, the special effects (John Bunker did them, with help from art director Norman Garwood and production designer Milly Burns) are often sensational, especially when a really, really big giant emerges from the sea with the heroes’ boat jauntily atop his head. Evil’s nether world is also a surprisingly dank and creepy hideaway.

What: Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits.”

When: Friday, Oct. 16, 7 and 9 p.m.

Where: UC Irvine Student Center, Crystal Cove Auditorium.

Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Jamboree Road and head south. Go east on Campus Drive and take Bridge Road into the campus.

Wherewithal: $2 and $4.

Where to call: (714) 856-6379.