The Fisher King · reception & legacy
1991 · Terry Gilliam
How The Fisher King has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
A genuine hit in 1991 — five Oscar nominations and a Best Supporting Actress win for Mercedes Ruehl — it's since been reframed twice: first by its 2015 Criterion release, then by Robin Williams' death, which turned Parry into one of the roles people reach for when talking about what he could really do.
What's debated
The eternal Gilliam-fan split: is this his warmest, most humane film, or the 'compromised' one — his first time directing someone else's script — that sanded down what makes him Gilliam?
Its footprint
The Grand Central Station waltz — hundreds of rush-hour commuters suddenly ballroom dancing — is the film's calling card, endlessly clipped, referenced, and imitated (Grand Central has even hosted real-life tribute waltzes), with the Red Knight close behind as nightmare-fuel imagery.
Where it stands
A canon climber: long filed under 'minor Gilliam,' now regularly called the Gilliam film for people who don't like Gilliam — and a fixture of Robin Williams retrospectives and best-of-the-90s lists.