- The Princess Bride is the story that grandpa (Peter Falk) wheels out when grandson (Fred Savage) thinks he's too old for fairy tales. Kids, this one is different. Sure, it's got a kidnapped princess named Buttercup (Robin Wright), a dastardly prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon), and the courageous Westley (Cary Elwes) who works his way up from stableboy to swashbuckler. It also features the revenge of the devoted Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) upon his father's murderer (Christopher Guest). What sets it apart, however, is a certain self-awareness that allows it casually to refer to "Cliffs of Insanity," "eel-infested waters," and "Rodents of Unusual Size" as terms that any fairy tale aficionado should immediately recognize. In the wrong hands, such a postmodernist approach to storytelling could be completely obnoxious. In the hands of Rob Reiner, it is mostly amusing and endearing.
- Since the plot is as intentionally generic a fairy tale story as one could imagine with its "fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, (and) miracles," I'll focus instead on the characters and settings that fill out this seemingly familiar story. At the heart of it all is the case of "true love" that instantly develops between Westley and Buttercup along the usual spoiled princess/servant romantic paradigm. Her kidnappers are a Sicilian named Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), who thinks that acting smarter than everyone is an occupation, the aforementioned Spaniard Montoya, and a gentle giant (Andre the Giant) who excels at silly rhymes. Naturally, the kidnapping is just an excuse for Westley to rescue Buttercup, giving the evil prince a chance to show his true colors.
- Upon this rewatching, I was most struck by the film's settings, which are almost uniformly at or around high-school pageant quality. Maybe I'm giving the production too much credit in assuming that they really were aiming for the sorts of cheesy fantasy backdrops that were characteristic of familiar fairy tale productions of the era. Regardless, The Princess Bride finally obliterates any semblance of authenticity it had when Billy Crystal and Carol Kane cameo as a couple of Brooklynites who peddle miracles. I realize that it's also absurd for fantasy actors to put on British accents, but that was going a little too far, I think. Regardless, the entire adventure is a clever and immensely quotable romp even if none of it is intended to stick with the audience in a meaningful sort of way. If you're sick in bed and the inestimably talented Peter Falk happens to be around, get him to read you this one.
- Based on the novel by William Goldman.
