Lively swashbuckler

Rating: 6/10 (5 June 2015)

THE PRINCESS BRIDE is one of those well-loved 1980s classics that I'd never seen before, so I thought I'd better get around to watching it as everybody else has, it seems. It turns out to be a slight but lively swashbuckler in which various heroic characters team up to battle a dastardly prince and his allies in a quasi-historical world.
The film had a budget of 16 million dollars and yet it looks rather cheap in places, but I guess that's part of the fun. Although the narrative is set in some kind of unspecified historical past, the script is replete with modern-day gags which work nicely somehow. It's the humour that makes this so entertaining, and without these gags I think it would have been rather ho hum.
Cast-wise, we're saddled with the weak and weedy Cary Elwes as the erstwhile hero and Robin Wright as the uninteresting damsel-in-distress, but the best actor by far is Mandy Patinkin who excels as the master Spanish swordsman. Patinkin has natural wit and flair, plus plenty of charisma that really comes across. Christopher Guest and Chris Sarandon are the pantomime villains, there are cameos for comedians like Billy Crystal, Mel Smith, and Peter Cook, and a nice supporting role for lovable wrestler Andre the Giant. In fact this is an all-star thing with a wraparound story involving Fred Savage and Peter Falk. THE PRINCESS BRIDE was shot mainly in the Peak District here in the UK, which looks fantastic, and contains a lovely fencing bout that brings to mind the likes of Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn. Watch how the last half hour was extensively ripped off for ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES.