Film Review: The Princess Bride (1987)

Hollywood screenwriting legend William Goldman said that he was truly proud with only two works in his long career. The first was his script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The other was his 1973 fantasy adventure novel The Princess Bride, which was adapted into 1987 eponymous film directed by Rob Reiner.

Goldman wrote the script, keeping some of the “meta” structure from the original text. The framing device is plot about sick boy (played by Fred Savage) being visited by grandfather (played by Peter Falk) who decides to read him The Princess Bride, a book by certain S. Morgenstern. Although the boy prefers playing video games, he gradually gets engrossed in the story. It is set in fictional country of Fiorin where beautiful young woman Buttercup (played by Robin Wright) lives on a farm and begins to notice that a handsome farmhand Westley (played by Carey Elwes) loves her. She returns his feelings, but Westley leaves the farm in order to seek fortune in order to marry her. Butttercup is devastated after learning that Westley was killed by infamous Dread Pirate Roberts. Years later, she is to marry Prince Humperdinck (played by Chris Sarandon), country’s heir to the throne. One day she gets kidnapped by trio of bandits – cunning Sicilian Vizzini (played by Wallace Shawn), Turkish giant Fezzik (played by Andre the Giant) and Spanish swordsman Inigo Montoya (played by Mandy Patinkin). She ultimately gets rescued by mysterious masked man who is revealed to be Westley. However, it turns out that it was Humperdinck who had her kidnapped in order to use the crime as a pretext for war against neighbouring country of Guilder.

The Princess Bride was initially greeted by a lot of enthusiasm among the critics and had decent, albeit not too spectacular results at the box office. However, it was in the later years, through the medium of home video and television, that this film earned the cult status that it maintains to this day. This phenomenon can be best explained with the film structure that works well on two different layers. On its most basic layer, it is typical fantasy adventure that feature romance, exotic costumes, sets, swashbuckling action and fencing and, as such, could be understood and enjoyed by the youngest of the audience. There is, however, additional humorous layer to the film that allows it to function as parody of said stories and films and be enjoyed by older and presumably more cynical or jaded viewers. Rob Reiner’s direction finds perfect balance between those two approaches, with cleverly inserted interruptions of the general story in scenes where the boy comments the plot. Reiner confidently puts English and Irish locations to good use and even relatively primitive special effects (in the scenes that feature giant eels or giant rodents) work within the context of this film. Cinephiles, especially those familiar with early history of Hollywood, would probably appreciate scenes in which Reiner pays humorous homage to swashbuckling screen icons like Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn; one such scene features two characters engaged in sword fight during which they comment on each other’s fencing techniques.

The cast is very good. Cary Elwes looks the part and has a good chemistry with heavenly-looking Robin Wright for whom Buttercup represented first feature role. The duo is, however, overshadowed by actors playing supporting roles, especially the trio of bandits. Wallace Shawn is great as a short man who tries to intimidate people with his alleged intellectual superiority with great comic effect. Pro wrestler Andre the Giant as gigantic villain who discovers soft heart delivered the best performance in his acting career. But it is Mandy Patinkin, at the time best known for his work on stage, who made the lasting impression and vengeance-driven Inigo Montoya and delivered lines of dialogue that would become part of American popular culture in decades to come. Chris Sarandon as chief villain looks less impressive; Christopher Guest is slightly better as his sadistic henchman Count Rugen. Billy Crystal and Carol Kane, who play wizard and his wife, struggle under too much makeup. The biggest flaw of the film is the music by Mark Knopfler, which, while adequate, doesn’t sound like it properly belongs to this film which would should have used something more epic. Yet, despite this minor shortcoming, The Princess Bride is very funny and mostly entertaining film that truly deserved its status in popular culture. In 2020 it received a homage in form of fan film called Home Movie: The Princess Bride directed by Jason Reitman. On the other hand, attempts to make “proper” big budget Hollywood remake created such backlash among fans that the initiative was nipped in the bud, at least for now.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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