Your reading Be Kind, Rewind. Where I review movies from the 70s to 90s weekly. If there is a movie you would like me to review, email me at [email protected] with the subject line, Be Kind, Rewind.

The “Princess Bride,” released in 1987, could easily be overlooked as just another cheesy romance without substance, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. When the film first released, production had a hard time labeling the film, so they released it as a comedy and with no trailer. Even so, the film doubled its budget in the box office, and has stood as one of the best movies for over three decades.

The plot describes two young farmers, Buttercup (Robin Wright) and Westley (Cary Elwes), who fall in love. When Westley departs to make a fortune for their wedding, he doesn’t come back, leaving Buttercup devastated. Five years later, Buttercup is forcibly engaged to Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon), then suddenly captured by the criminal mastermind, Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) and his crew, Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) and Fezzik (André Roussimoff).

Each actor was delightful, creating some of the most quotable scenes in television history. This was also due to Rob Reiner, the director, who was known for accepting many of the actors’ ideas for their own characters, which made them very lively, having contrasting personalities and jokes.

Billy Crystal, who was told by Reiner to improvise his lines as the character Miracle Max, resulted in what may be one of the greatest scenes in the film. Crystal created small banter and an irregular conversation about BLT’s, making the character feel new and fresh. It makes it easy to rewatch the movie’s scenes as they often felt very diverse compared to other films.

The film would often draw back to its comedy in thrilling moments, as the movie portrays its events as being read to a child in bed. The child (Fred Savage) is sick and his grandpa is reading him “The Princess Bride” novel that the film is based on. Oftentimes there would be a cut back to Savage, and would show his reaction to the current events.

In most stories, this would dilute the connection between the viewer and the characters. Making the suspense less thrilling and deaths less meaningful, but in “The Princess Bride” that is not the case. Using voice transitions with the grandpa and quick paced scene changes, the story feels just as connecting, and with the bonus of an added novel-esque mood.

The story often followed common novel tropes like “peasant to princess,” or “avenging a character’s father.” This didn’t become repetitive because of the bright characters, but instead added to the feel of a familiar story with a twist. This included plots of revenge, which were comedically used to draw the child’s attention to the story.

Revenge often revolved around Montoya, as he searched for his fathers killer. Even though he is portrayed as the enemy, he was a character of respect and loyalty, making him easy to root for. Montoya and Fizzik would both become iconic characters as they become deuteragonists over the course of the film.

Fizzik was portrayed as the brawns over brains type. In fact, Roussimoff was seven feet and four inches tall, making his character a true testament to his size. While he wasn’t the smartest he was kind hearted and respectful, creating a lovable companion, contrary to his boss, Vizzini.

Vizzini was an amazing temporary enemy. Heartless and iconic, he became popular for using the word “inconceivable” repeatedly and for the wrong reasons. His ego was parallel to no other following the trope of a hubris villain, even if he only appears in the first half of the film.

These three made a great trio to start off the film and set up the later events. Each contrasted the other in ways that complemented them dearly. Which is unexpected, as stories are often written by small groups of people, mixing characters’ personalities. 

One of the main reasons the film is still so popular today, is the movie goes above and beyond with rewatch value. This was caused by the in depth characters, but also the inclusion of jokes that are seemingly always fresh. This may have been due to the heavy emphasis on vocal jokes instead of visual ones. 

Jokes that come from character lines are refreshing compared to the strong physical comedy in today’s family films. People getting hurt or “gross comedy” has become extremely overused (if they should have been used at all) in recent films. Since “The Princess Bride” strays from this, it increased the value of its comedy and made the film more interesting.

Even though the comedy is great, it isn’t all the film holds. The movie could easily be categorized as an action film, as setting people on fire or killing rodents of unusual size are all present in the film. The movies “Fire Swamp,” and “Sea of Shrieking Eels,” strongly contrasted the English plains appropriate for a romance. These helped build on the film’s fantasy genre, and created opportunities for great jokes and thrilling suspense.

Suspense actually was the least expected part of “The Princess Bride.” In the fire swamp, Buttercup falls into quicksand and immediately starts suffocating. Production made this scene swift and unexpected, which it hard to think, as many shots switched back and forth. Added with the dramatic shift in music, the quicksand scene did very well at building worry in a film where you expect everything to work out.

Thanks to Reiner, each actor enforced their character’s actions, making the movie one of the most diverse films of all time. The film would be hard to improve, complementing itself in a way that makes it perfect in its own right way. I would rate “The Princess Bride” at a 4.82📼 out of 5.00📼, and I encourage anyone with a love for humor, romance, drama, action, suspense, revenge, or fantasy, to watch “The Princess Bride.”