Throwback Thursday: The Princess Bride

 The Princess Bride is an amazing movie. Can you believe a movie can be funny, moving, witty, insightful, action-packed, and have a good bit of mystery? Maybe you can, but to me it sounds INCONCEIVABLE! 

 The Princess Bride is a movie based on a book. Note that I said based, it is not an exact adaptation of the original story but I would say it hits all the important beats. I would say that it is worth both watching the movie and reading the book. I had two distinct experiences and I think both were worth the time I spent. Interestingly William Goldman both wrote the book and the screenplay. He understood the limitations of  filming an epic fairy tale style story and so adapted a screenplay at the same time he wrote the original novel. While the novel was published in 1973 it was sometime before he could sell the screenplay. In a brief aside, William Goldman created the pen-name S. Morgenstern and published an "original"(fictional) version of the story with one scene changed. He could then claim it was an abridgment of the original work and that future sequels were held up by conflicts with the Morgenstern "estate". While not really having anything to do with the film I thought it was an interesting footnote in the history of the novel.

 The Princess Bride stars Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon, Mandy Patinkin, Christopher Guest, and Andre The Giant. Wallace Shawn has a small but very well done and memorable role as Vizzini. Billy Crystal also makes an appearance as "Miracle" Max. The movie is framed as a story told by a grandfather(Peter Falk) to his sick grandson( Fred Savage). The movie was directed and co-produced by Rob Reiner who had a great love for the novel and his obvious passion for the project is shown in the final product. Andre the Giant almost did not appear in the film but the WWF match that conflicted with the movie shoot was canceled. He was also recovering from back surgery during filming and could not do any stunts. Despite this he still gives a memorable performance and his size is intimidating enough to sell him as a powerful character. I wouldn't say that any performance in this movie is bad. Carry Elwes and Mandy Pitinkin both learned to fence and did all of their own sword fights. Chris Sarandon sells himself as a slimy villain to a tee and Robin Wright does a great job as Buttercup. I love the over the top performances and all the great quotable dialogue featured in this film.

 At it's core The Princess Bride is a fairy tale love story. Mix in a healthy dose of comedy and action and you get a great movie. I only saw this movie a few years ago but it quickly became one of my favorite movies. Not only it is a supremely funny Mel-Brooksesque comedy but the movie also has a powerful emotional pull. I genuinely felt for Inigo Montoya's plight and for the loss of Westley. Even seeing Andre The Giant is bittersweet as this was his last major film appearance. I just fell in love with this movie and have re-watched it several times in the last few years. I think you will love it too if you give it a chance.

The Princess Bride is a great movie and you should watch it. It's another one of those movies that you really have to see to get. You should go watch it, and if you have seen it, re-watch it. It is such a simple story but such a powerful one. The Princess Bride just goes to show you, you don't need a super complex plot or flashy special effects to make a powerful and memorable movie that stands the test of time. This movie has heart, a quality sorely lacking in many modern movies. Go watch it, you probably won't regret it. Thanks for reading!

Also my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!