The Princess Bride (1987)

I think the Princess Bride has an off putting title to many. Most men are not going to voluntarily sit down and watch a movie called The Princess Bride. I first saw it as a child, maybe eight or 9, and I was told about it long before I watched it. Even then, I did not want to actually sit down and watch a movie with that title. It just evokes so much crap that I don't give a shit about (namely, princesses and brides). But then you start watching the movie, and the opening shot is a video game from the 80s. So you stick around for a bit. And it progressively draws you in. And it doesn't take long, usually around the time of the first challenge (the sword fight), that the movie completely engrosses you and you're in for the rest of the ride. And it doesn't end up being just a great movie, it ends up being one of the best movies of the 80s. Easily.

But how do you classify The Princess Bride? It fits into just about every genre. First and foremost it's hilarious. There is a lot of Mel Brooks style comedy in it. But it's not a full fledged comedy. It's a fairy tale. It's a swashbuckling action movie. It's a love story. It's a drama. It's a family film. It quite literally has just about everything.

I'm not going to bore you with a plot run down because quite frankly the plot makes it sound almost as unappealing as the title (at least to me). With names like Westley and Princess Buttercup. I will say there is a Giant (played by Andre the Giant), a sword master (played by Mandy Patankin), and a master of wits (played by the incomparable Wallace Shawn). The battle of wits may very well be one of my top 5 favorite scenes from an 80s film. William Goldman, the writer, working from inspiration from his two daughters, quite literally struck gold with this. He's written a lot of good shit, but this is probably at the top of the list.

The Princess Bride came at time when director Rob Reiner was ON FIRE. According to the making of doc on the BD, he filmed it right after This is Spinal Tap and The Sure Thing. I find that odd seeing as how it came out in 1987, and Stand by Me came out the year before. So I can only guess that The Princess Bride sat on a shelf for a good year and Reiner had enough time to make YET ANOTHER 80s classic (Stand by Me) before The Princess Bride was released. Or they just neglected to mention Stand by Me in the doc. Either way, Reiner was ON FIRE in the 80s and early 90s. He followed up Princess Bride with When Harry Met Sally, then Misery, then A Few Good Men. That's like SIX all time classics right there. And it seems like most people don't notice. Probably because he's not an auteur and he doesn't have a distinctive style. Well F that, I think it's just as impressive to make movies that are radically different from one another than to have an overriding style. Maybe even more impressive.

RATING: 5/5