Everybody loves The Princess Bride, although as the Honest Trailer notes, most probably never saw it in the movie theater. The film, which was directed by Rob Reiner, has become a classic of repeated viewings on VHS, DVD, cable, and through the Internet. I cannot even count how many times I have seen it.
So, sit back and enjoy a little fun being poked at The Princess Bride.
What is your favorite Honest Trailer? Leave your two cents in the comments.
As the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and the President are going down to the wire trying to avoid the dreaded “fiscal cliff,” here is a reminder how some folks can work together to overcome cliffs. In this video, Mandy Patinkin (who played Inigo Montoya) gives a behind-the-scenes look at the Cliffs of Insanity scene from Director Rob Reiner’s classic The Princess Bride (1987). In the video, Patinkin describes how the wonderful André the Giant helped Wallace Shawn overcome his fears.
If these guys can overcome the Cliffs of Insanity, I hope our politicians can handle a little Cliffs of Fiscal. What is your favorite scene from The Princess Bride? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Happy Nigel Tufnel Day! Why is it Nigel Tufnel Day? If you look at today’s date, you will see that, as Mr. Tufnel famously stated in This is Spinal Tap, “The numbers all go to eleven.” In other words, today is 11/11/11.
The famous exchange occurs between Nigel Tufnell, played by Christopher Guest, and filmmaker character Marty DiBergi, played by the movie’s director Rob Reiner.
This week is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the release of the movie Stand By Me. Like me, you should plan to watch it again. It is a movie that many of us connect to over and over again. For example, about a year ago, I discovered that a childhood friend had passed away. I had lost touch with the friend when we were both kids and he moved away, but I still felt close to him. The best explanation I could give to anyone at the time was a line from Stand By Me, where the writer character played by Richard Dreyfus looks back and writes, “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”
Below is a clip from the film, but you should check out Will Wheaton’s new blog entry, “I was twelve going on thirteen when I made the movie that changed my life.” Wheaton, who played Gordie in the movie, discusses reuniting with the surviving cast members Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell. And he talks about coming to terms with the death of River Phoenix. It is a moving must-read for any fan of the movie.
There are some other good articles about the anniversary around the web. Popdose has a thoughtful piece about the movie’s anniversary, including some discussion of the Stephen King book that was the source for the film. SlashFilm lists twenty-five lessons from the film. And NPR has an audio story that includes an interview with Wheaton that he discussed in his blog post. Few movies hold up as well as Stand By Me, which is a genuine classic about being young and growing up. As Wheaton notes in his blog post, “[M]ovies like Stand By Me come along once in a generation.” That is true, if we are lucky.