Throwback Thursday: "The Princess Bride" and all its glory

The Princess Bride is a movie for the ages. This unconventional fairytale directed by Rob Reiner was released almost 30 years ago, but it will always be one of my favorite movies of all time. The film is based off of the novel of the same title by William Goldman, who also wrote the screen adaptation.



If you are reading this and haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend you make it the next film you watch. It is well-written, witty, beautifully costumed & constructed, and just an all-around fun film. A fair warning, though, if you're someone that does not enjoy quirky/slapstick humor, this is probably not the film for you.

Buttercup & Westley

The Princess Bride is told as a Grandfather (Peter Falk) reading a fairytale book to his ill grandson (Fred Savage); is voiceover is heard throughout the film as a narration. The "classic" fairytale tells the love story of Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright) and her love affair with Westley the farm boy (Cary Elwes). Westley is captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts so Buttercup must marry Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon), but she is kidnapped by the annoying Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), swordsman Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) and the large and strong Fezzik (André the Giant). The remainder of the film follows Buttercup, Inigo Montoya, and Vizzini as they try to escape the grasps of the evil Prince Humperdinck while bringing Westley back from the "mostly" dead. (along the way we meet Miracle Max, an expert on the matter played by Billy Crystal--whom we can hardly recognize under all that costume & make-up.)

My initial reaction to The Princess Bride was that the pace moved way too slowly (but I was ten the first time I saw it). When I saw it again a few years later I understood and appreciated the humor such more. Now each time I watch it, I pick up on the nuances that I did not see in previous viewings.

Some of the special effects may seem a bit wonky nowadays, but considering the nature of the whole movie it fits in nicely. It simply adds to the effect of how ridiculous the subject matter is.

So if you like stories with swordplay, fun rhymes, and only a few ROUS'es (rodents of unusual size), then check out The Princess Bride, you won't regret it!

4th Wall

Ive always been iffy about my feelings towards breaking the 4th wall. Breaking the 4th wall is when a character in a film talks directly to, or acknowledges the audience watching the film. I'm indecisive about this technique, because it throws you out of the film for a moment, which means if the movie is not engaging enough to begun with, it may be hard to fall back into the world of the film. however when it is done correctly it can make for an amazing viewing experience.  

One of my favorite examples of breaking the 4ht wall is in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. Annie Hall is about a comedian in New York City named Alvy Singer and his relationships and love interests throughout his life. Through out this movie Allen’s character, Alvy, breaks the 4th wall and talks directly to the audience. Allen later said he chose to use this Technique “because I felt many of the people in the audience had the same feelings and the same problems. I wanted to talk to them directly and confront them.” 

Another excellent example of breaking the 4th wall is in the Netflix series House of Cars staring Kevin Spacey. This show is based on a BBC mini series which was based off a Michael Dobbs novel. The show centers around a power hungry, Congressman, and his equally heartless wife and their rise through the government. The creators of the show says that they use “Shakespeare’s direct address from Richard III, where the Main Character speaks directly to the audience.” the goes on to say “i think it is a really rich and effective way to bring an audience even close to the material.”

Fight Club also famously breaks the 4th wall, arguably the most seamlessly. Fight Club revolves around an insomniac and a strange soap salesman he meets on a plain. The two become unlikely fiends and start a fight club, that become more and more popular and spreads to many cities. The first time you see this film you might not even realize the 4th wall was being broke, however Ed Norton and Brad Pits characters, or character, do it relatively frequently.