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Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Princess Bride (film)

8:32 PM Wikipedia No comments

The Princess Bride is a 1987 American film, based on the 1973 novel of the same name byWilliam Goldman, combining comedy, adventure, romance, and fantasy. The film was directed by Rob Reiner from a screenplay by Goldman. The story is presented in the film as a book being read by a grandfather (Peter Falk) to his sick grandson (Fred Savage), thus effectively preserving this novel's narrative style. This film is number 50 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies," number 88 on The American Film Institute's (AFI) "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions" listing the 100 greatest film love stories of all time, and 46 in 50 Greatest Comedy Films.



Plot

The film is an enactment of the following story read by a sick boy's grandfather (Falk) as the boy (Savage) sits in bed listening, framed and occasionally interrupted by scenes of the reading.
A beautiful young woman named Buttercup (Robin Wright) lives on a farm in the fictional country of Florin. Whenever she gives her farmhand Westley (Cary Elwes) an order, he answers "As you wish!" and happily complies. Eventually she realizes he loves her and admits her love for him. Westley leaves to seek his fortune so they can marry, but his ship is attacked by theDread Pirate Roberts.
Five years later, believing Westley is dead, Buttercup reluctantly agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon), heir to the throne of Florin. Before the wedding, she is kidnapped by three outlaws: a short Sicilian boss named Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), a gigantic wrestler from Greenland named Fezzik (André the Giant), and a Spanish fencing master namedInigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), who seeks revenge against the six-fingered man who killed his father. The outlaws are pursued by Prince Humperdinck with a complement of soldiers, and also by a masked man in black.
The man in black catches up to the outlaws at the top of the Cliffs of Insanity, where he defeats Inigo in a duel and knocks him unconscious, chokes Fezzik until he blacks out, and kills Vizzini by tricking him into drinking poison. When he tells Buttercup he is Roberts, she becomes enraged at him for killing Westley and shoves him into a gorge, but she realizes he is Westley himself when he replies "As you wish!" She dives into the gorge after him, and they flee through the dangerous Fire Swamp. When they are captured on the other side by Humperdinck and his sadistic six-fingered vizier Count Rugen (Christopher Guest), Buttercup agrees to return with Humperdinck in exchange for Westley's release, but Humperdinck secretly has Rugen imprison and torture Westley.
When Buttercup expresses unhappiness at marrying Humperdinck, he promises to search for Westley, but his real plan is to start a war with the neighboring country of Guilder by killing Buttercup and framing them for her death. Buttercup taunts Humperdinck after learning that he never tried to find Westley. Enraged, Humperdinck tortures Westley almost to death. Meanwhile, Inigo and Fezzik meet when Humperdinck orders a gang of goons to arrest the thieves in a nearby forest, and Fezzik tells Inigo about Rugen. Inigo decides that they need Westley's help to get into the castle, and when he hears cries of anguish, he realizes they must be from Westley. Inigo and Fezzik find Westley and fear him dead, but they bring him to a wizard named Miracle Max (Billy Crystal), who explains that Westley is "only mostly dead" and revives him to a state of heavy paralysis.
After Westley, Inigo, and Fezzik invade the castle, Humperdinck orders the wedding ceremony shortened and Inigo finds and kills Rugen in a duel, repeatedly reciting his greeting of vengeance: "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." Westley finds Buttercup, who is about to commit suicide, and assures her that her marriage is invalid because she never said "I do." Still partly paralyzed, he bluffs his way out of a duel with Humperdinck, then rides away with Buttercup, Inigo, and Fezzik.
Back in the boy's bedroom, the boy asks his grandfather to read the story to him again the next day, to which the grandfather replies, "As you wish!"

[edit]Cast

[edit]Production

The Cliffs of Insanity are actually the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, Ireland.
The film was shot in various locations in England and Ireland:
Although Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin did learn to fence (both left- and right-handed) for the film (reportedly spending all their free time during the production practicing with fencing instructor Bob Anderson and with each other), the actual swordfight scene between them was filmed using two separate, mirror-imaged, sets, allowing the illusion that they were equally skilled with either hand. They actually performed all of the fencing in the swordfight scene; however, stunt doubles were used for the two somersaults.[1] This amount of time spent practicing came in handy for Elwes, who later starred—and used his fencing skills—in the film Glory and in the Mel Brooks film Robin Hood: Men In Tights, notably against Roger Rees, and even going so far as to call out, 'Parry, parry, thrust, thrust—good!'
André the Giant had undergone major back surgery prior to filming, and despite his great size, could not support the weight of the much lighter Cary Elwes or Robin Wright for a scene at the end of the film. For the wrestling scene, when Elwes was pretending to hang on André's back, he was actually walking on a series of ramps below the camera during close-ups. For the wide shots, a stunt double took the place of André; on close examination, it is apparent that the double is much smaller than André.[2]
André the Giant had trouble with both the speed and clarity of his lines, prompting Patinkin to slap him in the face to get him to concentrate harder. In the first script reading, Patinkin slapped André in the face and screamed at him, "Faster, Fezzik!" It worked.[3]
Billy Crystal's interactions with André the Giant later inspired Crystal to create the film My Giant.
When Count Rugen hits Westley over the head, Cary Elwes told Christopher Guest to go ahead and hit him for real. Guest hit him hard enough to shut down production for a day while Elwes went to the hospital.
In the As You Wish documentary in the special features section of the DVD release, it is stated that one of the few injuries sustained during the making of the film was when Mandy Patinkin bruised a rib by trying not to laugh at Billy Crystal (Crystal was actually on camera).[4]

[edit]Reception

The film was initially a modest success, grossing twice its $15,000,000 (USD) production costs at the U.S. box office. It received highly favorable reviews from some critics, including Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel who gave the film a "two thumbs up" rating on their television program At the Movies.[5] Roger Ebert also wrote a very favorable print review.[6] Richard Corliss of Time felt the film was fun for the whole family,[7] and later, Time listed the film as one of the "Best of '87."[8]
Over the years the film has frequent television and occasional big-screen showings. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted The Princess Bride the 38th greatest comedy film of all time. In 2006, William Goldman's screenplay was selected by the Writers Guild of America as the 84th best screenplay of all time. The film has a percentage of 95 on Rotten Tomatoes, with a Cream of the Crop percentage of 86. The film was selected number 88 on The American Film Institute's (AFI) "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions" listing the 100 greatest film love stories of all time. BBC Radio 5's resident film critic, Mark Kermode, is a fan of the film, frequently considering it a model to which similar films aspire.[citation needed] British actor, writer and broadcaster Stephen Fry, whose friend, Peter Cook appears in the film as The Impressive Clergyman, has also expressed admiration for The Princess Bride.[9]

[edit]Post-theatrical release

[edit]Soundtrack

The Princess Bride
Soundtrack by Mark Knopfler
ReleasedNovember 12, 1987
GenreFilm score
Length39:25
LabelVertigo
Warner Bros. (USA)
ProducerMark Knopfler
Professional reviews
Mark Knopfler film score chronology
Comfort and Joy
(1984)		The Princess Bride
(1987)		Last Exit to Brooklyn
(1989)
The song "Storybook Love", written and sung by Willy DeVille, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 60th Academy Awards.
The soundtrack was released by Warner Bros. Records in the USA and Vertigo Recordsinternationally in November 1987. It was co-written and recorded by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, the only person who director Rob Reiner felt could create a soundtrack to capture the film's quirky yet romantic nature. Reiner was an admirer of Knopfler's work but did not know him before working on the film –- he sent the script to him hoping he would agree to score the film. Knopfler agreed on one condition: that somewhere in the film Reiner include the USS Coral Sea (CV-43)baseball cap (modified to say USS Ooral Sea) he wore as Marty DiBergi in This is Spinal Tap. Reiner was unable to produce the original cap, but did include a similar cap in the grandson's room. Later Knopfler said he was joking.

[edit]Track listing

All songs composed by Mark Knopfler unless otherwise noted.
  1. "Once upon a Time...Storybook Love" – 4:00
  2. "I Will Never Love Again" – 3:04
  3. "Florin Dance" – 1:32
  4. "Morning Ride" – 1:36
  5. "The Friends' Song" – 3:02
  6. "The Cliffs of Insanity" – 3:18
  7. "The Swordfight" – 2:43
  8. "Guide My Sword" – 5:11
  9. "The Fire Swamp and the Rodents of Unusual Size" – 4:47
  10. "Revenge" – 3:51
  11. "A Happy Ending" – 1:52
  12. "Storybook Love" (Willy DeVille) – 4:24

[edit]Musical adaptation

Tony Award-winning composer Adam Guettel spent much of 2006 working with William Goldman on a musical adaptation of The Princess Bride. The project was abandoned in February 2007 after Goldman reportedly demanded 75 percent of the author's share, even though Guettel was writing both the music and the lyrics.[10] Some of Guettel's music for the production has since surfaced in concert performances and workshops.

[edit]Rights issues

The film was released theatrically by 20th Century Fox in North America, and internationally by what was then Vestron Pictures. When it was first issued on home video, Fox lost all but the television rights, and to the present day, Fox remains the TV distributor. Domestically, the ancillary rights ended up changing hands and eventually became part of the Epic Productions package acquired by MGM, so today it is the latter studio that is responsible for most rights. Interestingly, Fox today acts as distributor for the MGM video library.
What became Lions Gate still holds international rights to the film outside North America, with Fox acting as UK video distributor (inherited from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment).

[edit]Home video history

In North America, the film was released on VHS and laserdisc in 1988 by Nelson Entertainment, the latter being a "bare bones" release inunmatted full screen. The Criterion Collection released a matted widescreen version, bare bones version on laserdisc in 1989, supplementing it with liner notes. in 1997 they re-released the laserdisc as a "Special Edition". This edition was widescreen and included an audio commentary by Rob Reiner, William Goldman, Andrew Scheinman, Billy Crystal, and Peter Falk; excerpts from the novel read by Rob Reiner; behind the scenes footage; a production scrapbook by unit photographer Clive Coote; design sketches by production designer Norman Garwood; and excerpts from the television series Morton and Hayes, directed by Christopher Guest.
Cover of 20th Anniversary Edition
By 2000, MGM had acquired some rights to the film (as part of the aforementioned "Epic Productions" package) and released the film on VHS and DVD. The DVD release featured the soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 with the film in wide and full screen versions, and included the original US theatrical trailer. The next year MGM re-released the film in in another widescreen "Special Edition", this time with two audio commentaries–one by Rob Reiner, the other by William Goldman–"As You Wish", "Promotional", and "Making Of"featurettes;[clarification needed] a "Cary Elwes Video Diary"; the US and UK theatrical trailers; four television spots; a photo gallery; and a collectible booklet. In 2006 MGM released a two-disc set with varying covers–the "Dread Pirate" and "Buttercup" editions&dash. Each featured their respective character, but had had identical features: in addition to the features in the previous release were, the "Dread Pirate Roberts: Greatest Legend of the Seven Seas", "Love is Like a Storybook Story", and "Miraculous Make Up" featurettes, "The Quotable Battle Of Wits" game, and Fezzik's "Guide To Florin" booklet. Another year later, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the film, MGM and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film with flippable cover art featuring the title displayed in an ambigram. This DVD did not include any of the bonus features from the older editions, but had new short featurettes and a new game. A Blu-ray Disc was released on March 17, 2009, encoded in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Special features include two audio commentaries, the original theatrical trailer and eight featurettes.[11]
In 2007, the film was released for download in the iTunes Store.
The film is also available in Region 2 where it is published by Lions Gate. Its extras are the theatrical trailer and text filmographies.

[edit]Licensing

Beginning in 2007, a new round of licensing began, with several large companies picking up the rights to produce Princess Bridemerchandise. Among these is Toy Vault Inc., NECA Toys, and Worldwide Biggies. Toy Vault Inc. has released a line of plush toys based on the film's main characters, as well as the very first card games based on the film. Worldwide Biggies made headlines on various technology websites with their release of the first ever video game based on the film. NECA released a line of collectible sculpts.[citation needed]


In 2008, PlayRoom Entertainment (in association with Toy Vault Inc.) released The Princess Bride: Storming the Castle, a board game based on the film. The game is for 2-4 players and it is based on the assault by Westley and his companions on the Humperdink's castle during the wedding. The game received a fairly good reception on board-game review websites and, as of September 2008, got a 6.29/10.00 rating onBoardGameGeek, based on 14 ratings by players. The game includes a comic book adaptation of the film

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