You thought this wouldn't be on my list? INCONCEIVABLE! Yesterday was a comedy/drama, and today is another comedy/drama. My eighth favorite movie right now is The Princess Bride. Directed by Rob Reiner, based on the book by William Goldman (who also wrote the screenplay for the movie), and starring such actors as Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, Christopher Guest, Robin Wright, Andre the Giant, Chris Sarandon, and many others, The Princess Bride is, through and through, a great movie. You've all most likely seen the movie dozens of times, enough to be able to quote the majority of the dialogue, so I don't really need to explain why this is on my list (but I'm gonna, anyway). You're probably just curious as to why it's only taken the eighth slot. This is a great movie, I just have more of a soft spot for the other seven movies on the list.
In my opinion, Princess Bride: The Movie is the best book-to-film-translation to have been made yet. I'm most likely gonna eat those words when I reveal my seventh favorite movie (which is also a book adaptation), but this one is the best for one solid reason: The character of the grandfather. He reads the actual book to his sick grandson. That is how you do a book adaptation in the more accurate way possible. Have one of the characters sit down and read the book, as if he's narrating the events of the movie. It would also excuse some of the more wonky line deliveries present in the film. They can be written off as just how the grandfather would say the lines to the sick kid. It's as if the grandfather is reading the screenplay to the audience while a bunch of actors act it out, it's very clever. Young Fred Savage is just adorable in this, too. He gets grossed out by the kissing scenes (just like we all did when we were kids), but he starts to warm up to them as the film does along. And, for a child actor, he does a good job. His line reads feel real and he reacts to the events of the story in the same way that I would had I been in his shoes. Fred does great in this. Thank God he came back to be the best part of Once Upon a Deadpool. Peter Falk was so good as the grandfather (no actual name given). He conveys his love and concern for his grandson's health without just outright saying it. The grandfather was so sweet, so pure and he gets a lot of the funniest lines. For someone that doesn't get a lot of screentime, the grandfather really leaves his mark on the movie.
And then we get to the actual book adaptation portion of the movie. We're introduced to Westley, played by Cary Elwes, and Buttercup, played by Robin Wright. These two have some of the most adorable chemistry I've ever seen in a movie couple. They are absolutely head over heels for each other, and the two actors portray it beautifully. Cary Elwes is so good in this. His only dialogue when we first see him is just "As you wish" repeated a bunch. Normally, that would get annoying. But Elwes manages to make every instance of it sound like the sweetest way of saying "I love you" ever conceived. Yeah, Buttercup does treat him like a slave for the first few minutes (even making him grab a pitcher that is mere inches away from her face), but she does begin to fall for him as the scenes go along, culminating in that first big kiss that almost makes Fred Savage throw up. When Westley is presumably killed by pirates, it destroys Buttercup. She says it herself that she "died that day" in a later scene. It's revealed that Westley didn't actually die, he just became the new Dread Pirate Roberts. They aren't gonna kill off the top-billed Cary Elwes that early in the film. Buttercup is eventually forced into marrying Prince Humberdinck, played by Chris Sarandon. "Humperdinck" has gotta be the weirdest name I've ever heard. Chris does a good job portraying his character. He's a mixture of subtle and over the top, which doesn't always work (but it does here). Also of note in the acting department (in terms of the main characters) is Wallace Shawn as Vizzini, Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya (which is arguably the coolest name ever given to a fictional character), and Andre the Giant (may he rest in peace) as Fezzik. These three steal the show. Inigo's accent, Vizzini's constant usage of the word "inconceivable", Fezzik's gentleness, they come together and give us the best part of the movie. Even when Vizzini dies, he still gives us some of the funniest lines in the whole movie. Major props to Wallace Shawn for his performance. For someone with such a recognizable voice, you'd expect how pitchy it is to become grating, but it never does. Yeah, he yells a lot, but his line deliveries are just too hammy to be annoyed by. He's a lot of fun to watch. I've seen this movie countless times, and his "I'M WAITIIIING" still cracks me up.
When the movie isn't making you laugh until it hurts, it's giving you some genuinely good action scenes. The swordplay is awesome! Inigo dueling Westley is one of the best scenes in the film. Inigo starts the fight off with a cocky "Begin", as if to say "This won't take long", but then he quickly finds himself overpowered by Westley's skills. He even admits that his own skills don't compare to that of Westley's, which I thought was pretty cool. The choreography is very good. Every move has a counter, every counter has a counter, and the actors do a good job of making you feel like they know what they're doing. I also like how Inigo and Westley have a casual conversation while they fight. They discuss fencing styles, they compliment each other's forms, they crack jokes. It feels like two life-long friends are having a sparring session, even though Inigo is actively trying to kill his opponent. It's awesome, made even better by the intense score of the scene. Now, let's compare the Inigo vs Westley scene to the Inigo vs Count Rugen scene. There's only two sword fight scenes in the whole film (if you don't count the part where Inigo murders four of Rugen's guards without breaking a sweat as one), but they're both memorable for different reasons. Inigo dueling Westley is great from an intensity standpoint. While Westley does eventually get the better of Inigo, the two fighters are so equally matched that it truly feels like anyone's game for the majority of it. Inigo dueling Rugen is great from an emotional standpoint. Rugen is the man responsible for the death of Inigo's father, so, naturally, this had been the moment that Montoya had been waiting for for years. Inigo enters the fight with a knife to the gut, but was still totally in control of the whole battle. Inigo is clearly above Rugen in terms of skill, so it makes sense that Montoya would easily overpower the Count. He gives Rugen the same injuries that he himself had received from the Count during their confrontations. The same cheek scars, stabbings in the shoulder and arm from earlier in that very fight, even finishing it off by stabbing Rugen in the same place that the knife hit Inigo. It's awesome. We also get the best line in the whole thing when Inigo angrily tells Rugen that he wants his father back. Accent aside, Mandy's acting really shines in this scene. Who else can you think of that make saying their own name over and over again sound that awesome?
This movie has a lot of heart, too. Westley and Buttercup's relationship was very cute, Inigo giving Westley time to catch his breath before their duel was nice, everything about the grandfather was unbelievably wholesome, Inigo's motives were admirable, and, my goodness, I have to talk about Andre the Giant. He pours his soul into this movie, turning in one of the sweetest performances I've ever seen. Fezzik, as a character, is a gentle giant. When him and Westley fight, instead of just crushing his skull with a rock (which he very easily could have done), him and Westley drop their weapons and have a full-on wrestling match. All because Fezzik wanted to fight him more sportsmanlike. They have playful banter during their battle, as well. Fezzik compliments how quick Westley is, goes as far as to say "you're doing well", and then they talk about the differences between fighting multiple people and just fighting one person, all while Westley is choking Fezzik out. It's so out of place, but it works for that exact reason. Fezzik doesn't wanna hurt anyone, he just wants to have fun, and Andre portrays it exceptionally. Fezzik is just the coolest, I love him. Out of all the awesome scenes, one scene in particular manages to combine the heart and the coolness of the movie and funnel it into one speech. Westley's "to the pain" monologue to Humberdinck. Elwes delivers the venom behind every threat flawlessly. Westley does it to defent Buttercup, as well as out of disdain for the Prince for almost killing him in an earlier scene. He ends it by standing up, pointing his blade directly at Humperdinck's smug face, and saying "Drop. Your. Sword" in what is easily Cary's best line delivery. Everything about this scene is great.
Now, if I'm gonna talk about The Princess Bride, I have to mention Miracle Max. Billy Crystal is in one scene of this movie, playing a retired miracle worker named Max. Remember when I said that Vizzini and his crew stole the show earlier in this review? Well, then Miracle Max swoops in, breaks the movie's kneecaps, and holds it hostage during his scene. That wasn't a good analogy, but you get what I'm trying to say. The Miracle Max scene is the funniest part of the movie, hands down. Billy Crystal, one of the funniest people ever, nails this scene. I don't know which of his lines are scripted and which of them are improvised, but, either way, almost all of them are sure to leave you howling from laughter. And, on the topic of the funniest scenes, how about that priest with the speech impediment? Peter Cook only had roughly two minutes of screentime, but he made the most of it. Everybody that has seen the movie can quote this scene, even if they've only seen it one time. But, the real question is: Which line is funnier? Billy Crystal's "You are the Brute Squad", or Peter Cook's "Mawage is wot bwings us togeder too-day"? I'll leave that up to you to decide. I'd also like to point out that the fictional priest's speech problems are played for laughs, but Andre the Giant's real speech problems aren't. I don't have a joke for that, I just think it's cool.
The Princess Bride is awesome. It's full of memorable lines, great action scenes, one of the sweetest grandfather characters ever put to film, a brilliant score, a balanced mixture of heart and comedy. It's a really fun movie. The actors do a great job in it, it's well-written, the cinematography is nice. Yeah, it suffers from a handful of love story cliches, but it does those cliches so well that I'm willing to look past it. Oh, and that "Storybook Love" song at the end? I love it. It's well-written, well-sung, the instrumental is very lovely. It's a very good song, perfectly compliment the movie that came before it. Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I unveil the movie in my seventh slot. Here's a hint: It's a Disney animated movie. I realize that that doesn't narrow the possibilities down at all. I'm not good at hinting.
