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Conference bookie::movies

Title:Movie Reviews and Discussion
Notice:Please do DIR/TITLE before starting a new topic on a movie!
Moderator:VAXCPU::michaudo.dec.com::tamara::eppes
Created:Thu Jan 28 1993
Last Modified:Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1249
Total number of notes:16012

1222.0. "The Princess Bride" by ORION::chayna.zko.dec.com::tamara::eppes (Nina Eppes) Mon Feb 24 1997 20:45

Note 1219.16 asked:

>    What is a Princess Bride about?

Rather than get into a rathole in the "Family Films" topic, I'll start an
official topic for "The Princess Bride."

"The Princess Bride" is kind of a fairy tale.  It's basically a love story,
but it's hard to describe - boy and girl fall in love, boy disappears, 
girl gets courted by a prince and is going to marry him, thinking
that her True Love is lost, and so on (I don't want to give anything away!).  
There is magic and swordfighting and humor and drama.  What more could you
ask? :-)

It is related in the framework of a sick boy (played by Fred Savage) being
read to by his grandfather (played by Peter Falk).

In this case, I would recommend reading the book ("The Princess Bride" by 
William Goldman) before seeing the movie.  The movie is actually quite faithful
to the book, although it doesn't get into the detailed backgrounds of all the 
characters the way the book does (not enough time in the movie!). 

The movie cast also includes (off the top of my head) Robin Wright, Carey 
Elwes,  Christopher Guest, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, and 
Carol Kane.

Both book and movie are excellent, in my opinion, and I highly recommend them.

-- Nina

P.S. If you do an AltaVista search on "The Princess Bride," you'll get a
ton of hits. :-)
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1222.1ODIXIE::MOREAUKen Moreau;Technical Support;FloridaMon Feb 24 1997 21:0214
Not much I can add to what Nina said in .0, but if you like stories where the
most *Beautiful* *Girl* in the world is *In* *True* *Love*, is forced to marry 
someone else, but gets captured by the *Strongest* *Man* in the world assisted
by the *Best* *Swordsman* in the world masterminded by the *Smartest* *Man* 
in the world, all done in great good humor, see this movie and read the book.

The cast is outstanding, the humor is wonderful, the dialog is snappy, the
effects are ok (except those which are *deliberately* bad, which are
delightful), and the whole thing is a very fun romp.

My wife and I love this movie, and my kids (boy 8 and girl 11) request it
frequently.

-- Ken Moreau
1222.2TROOA::BUTKOVICHpeople in masks cannot be trustedMon Feb 24 1997 21:417
    whole transcript is at:
    
    http://web.mit.edu/mitcbf/www/princess_bride.html
    
    
    The book is really wonderful (as is the movie) ... now I have to go dig
    it out and re-read it!
1222.3Perfect book, very good movieWRKSYS::COULTERIf this typewriter can't do it, ...Tue Feb 25 1997 00:1321
    I'd never heard of this book, when people in this file
    began talking about the upcoming movie.  (OK, it was
    actually an earlier, lost incarnation of this file. :-)
    The noters were waxing rhapsodic about their treasured
    memory of this amazing book.  So naturally I went out
    and read it.  The book is WONDERFUL.  What makes it work
    so well is that the author tells you this is the most 
    beautiful girl in the world, but your IMAGINATION creates 
    the image.  So, of course, it works for you.  
    
    The movie is very faithful to the book.  The only problem
    was they had to use actual people, which can't possibly
    match everyone's mental image.  But they did a really good
    job.  It's not the "magic" quality of the book, but it's 
    very good.  
    
    Read it first yourself.  Get your kids to read it, or read
    it to them.  Then enjoy the movie as often as you like.
    
    Have fun storming the castle!
    
1222.4The six-fingered manNEWVAX::BUCHMANRosalie's UncleTue Feb 25 1997 14:2721
    Last time I saw this was at the house of a friend; he got it for his
    kids (he said) some months before. He had to step out for a minute
    during the sword fight; and though he had certainly seen it countless
    times and there were three other adults and two kids watching, he
    insisted on rewinding to the beginning of the sword fight.
    We didn't mind -- we loved this flick!
    
    I agree with everything that's been said; this movie is sheer delight
    from beginning to end! Andre the Giant does a very creditable job as
    (what else?) a giant, which surprised me until I realized that "pro
    wrestling" requires a lot of acting anyway.
    
    Do check out the KOLFAX::BOOKS conference for the topic on the book.
    One of the replies includes a letter which you get from the publisher
    in response to queries about the sequel.  The book gives you more
    depth about the story in the movie; even better, the "frame tale"
    about the father reading the book to his son while he was sick, and how
    the son later tries to find it for his son when he grows up, is
    quite well done, and funny in a way that sneaks up on you.
    
    				Jim B.
1222.5I'm not left-handed either!SWAM1::STERN_TOTom Stern -- Have TK, will travel!Tue Feb 25 1997 18:4110
    re: -.1
>>                         Andre the Giant does a very creditable job as
>>  (what else?) a giant,                                                
    
    
    When we first saw it, my friend commented that since the giant
    character was working for Wallace Shawn, they should have called the
    sequence "My Dinner with Andre the Giant"
    
    tom
1222.6THEBAY::BOOKSTHEBAY::WIEGLEBVoracious schools of lottery girlsTue Feb 25 1997 20:0412
>   Do check out the KOLFAX::BOOKS conference for the topic on the book.
>   One of the replies includes a letter which you get from the publisher
>   in response to queries about the sequel.  The book gives you more
>   depth about the story in the movie; even better, the "frame tale"
>   about the father reading the book to his son while he was sick, and how
>   the son later tries to find it for his son when he grows up, is
>   quite well done, and funny in a way that sneaks up on you.
    
    Actually, the conference moved to THEBAY::BOOKS some time back.
    Press <KP7> or <Select> to add it to your Notebook.
    
    - Dave
1222.7ROCK::HUBERFrom Seneca to Cuyahoga FallsWed Feb 26 1997 17:1011
    
    I first heard about The Princess Bride in the previous incarnation
    of this conference, rented it, and fell in love with it.  In turn,
    I introduced the movie to my roommates in college, and we ended up
    watching that movie about once a month - including once starting at
    4 in the morning.
    
    Depending upon how my tastes are running at the time, you can count the
    number of movies I like more than TPB on either one or zero hands.
    
    Joe
1222.8COMICS::MILLSS&quot;Jump! Jump now!&quot; ...KoshTue Apr 08 1997 11:465
Just had to comment and add my praise for this film. It has some truly wonderful
moments and the cameos from Billy Crystal and Carol Kane are masterpieces of
comedy acting and timing. Have I raved enough about this film ?

Simes %^)