Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / The Princess Bride (1987) - Rob Reiner | Houselights #130

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The Princess Bride (1987) - Rob Reiner | Houselights #130 · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

0:03
Welcome to the nerd Polity. Welcome back to Houselights, our director discussion show
0:23
here on the Nerd Party Network. I hear you've been sick today, so
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we'll be discussing Rob Reiner's nineteen eighty seven storybook classic, The Princess Bride.
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I'm Darren Moser and I'm joined again by my friends, the Inconceivably Poor circus
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performer Tristan Riddell and the Man in Black himself, John Mills. Gentlemen get
0:45
ready for fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases,
0:49
escapes, true love and miracles with The Princess Bride. I was really
0:55
looking forward to talking about this movie as we go through the book of Rob
1:00
Reiner, the Wing, the what do we call this like the Pit of
1:06
Despair of Rob Reiner? No, no, no, that'll depend on our
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rankings when we get to the end. But I always want to start off
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with where did you see this movie first? So this again came out in
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nineteen eighty seven. I was not quite a viewing age at that time,
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so it was definitely not when I saw in theaters. But John, let's
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start with you, where did you first come across this was it during its
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cult uprising in home video or did you catch it on you know, HBO
1:38
or some other place it might have been broadcast. Yeah, I lived in
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the boondocks. There was no way this was Dragon Mama and Papa Mills out
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to the Multiplex, you know, thirty minutes away. I wasn't even aware
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of this until I was well into high school and people started quoting it,
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and I was like, hell, are you guys talking about right? And
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people would always do, my name is Anigo Montoya. You killed my fun
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And I was like, oh, like I heard that line for in all
2:07
honesty this film. For me to even get to a point of liking it,
2:12
had to go up the same hill that led Zeppelin did, where it's
2:16
like I heard so many references to Zeppelin that it was one of those things
2:21
where I sort of dug my heels in and I was like, no,
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screw you, you listen to something else. I'm happy. But eventually I
2:28
got to Princess Briden will find out did I wind up accepting Princess Bride into
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my life or did I do a full you know, three to sixty and
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come back around at the original point like I did? Was Zeppelin and I'm
2:39
like, you know, a little bit overrated, guys, I John,
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I totally understand, not specifically with this movie, but there's certain things in
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pop culture and in TV and movies where everyone and their mom just talks about
2:52
how amazing it is, and so you just kind of you dig your heels
2:55
in where you're just like, no, I'm not going to listen to it.
2:58
I'm not going to watch it because everyone won't shut up about it.
3:00
I'm thinking, like I think like Lost and Breaking Bad were those things for
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me, because like when Lost was on, no one would shut the hull
3:07
up about Lost, and I was like, I refused to dig it just
3:10
because people are annoying. Now I later on, I did watch it and
3:15
loved it. But yeah, in same with Breaking Bad. But it's just
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you. It's that contrarian nature that we all have that like every once in
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a while that pops up. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't even contrarian,
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it was just I was I didn't want to watch it because if I
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was already give him a moment, if I was already sick of it before
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I even you know, uh, you know, but the contrarian thing does
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play into it. I'm not I'm not dismissing it out of hand. I'm
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saying like it went even deeper than that for me, sort of the way
3:49
reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was with me where I literally put a challenge
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out to friends where I said, as soon as you a holes can go
3:58
a week without mentioning that damn book, I will read it. And I
4:02
didn't read it for my entire time in college. Was until after college that
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I read it in there's game for me? Oh, fair, fair,
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very fair? All right, Well, what about you, Tristan? Was
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this also a VHS grab? Did the old Riddell clan hitch up the station
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wagon, head on down to Blockbuster? And that beautiful cover not the abomination
4:30
that is, let's do the upside down right side up type cover because we're
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just not even going to talk about that. But no, it was the
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first time you saw Princess Bride. Yeah, what's that called an ambigram?
4:39
I think, yeah, something like that. It tries so hard and it's
4:43
like we get it, but it's it's too curely que for me. But
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this was a TV watch. Um, actually I don't remember watching it on
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TV live, but I my dad had it taped. It was taped off
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of TV like it was on broadcast TV with commercial No. My dad is
5:00
absolutely amazing at the pause button and and and unpausing at the right moment,
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like he can sense when it's when it's going to go to commercial and when
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it's going to come back, like it's it's supernatural, it's uncanny. Um.
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So almost all of the stuff that we have recorded off of TV on
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VHS had no commercials, so this this was no different. And so I
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don't remember watching it live, and so it was just a tape that was
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in the house of one of those things that you know, like we had
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a huge tape from TV library and we would just pop it in and watch
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it. And we watched it so much, I mean just over and over,
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Like I was born in eighty six and my sister is four years older
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than I am, and we would watch it together like we would we would,
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you know, come together a lot to watch it. Like that was
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one thing that really united us. And I memorized every single stroke of Carrie
5:57
Elle was his sword for the dueling scene, and it got to the point
6:00
where my dad said, He's like, okay, you can do this,
6:03
but you have to stand behind the couch behind me when you do it,
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because he was so sick of watching me do it. So, yeah,
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this was something that was ever present in the household. But Tristan continually,
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you are not left handed, and so I don't think we ever owned it
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on VHS, but when it came out on DVD, that's when we bought
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it. Well, for me, this would have been summer two thousand and
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two because this was a camp movie. So the first several summers, my
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first real job was working at a Christian summer camp up in the coastal Redwoods
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of California. And I will just go to say, not that you have
6:42
to work at that camp, but I recommend everybody work at a summer camp
6:45
at least one summer of their life. It is a great experience. You'll
6:48
learn more about servant hardedness and what it is to really serve others than anything.
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But that summer, I remember they had some of the areas of the
7:00
camp were kind of railroad themed, and so they had this old converted box
7:03
car that had like a little additional building bolted onto it to make it like
7:08
a meeting room, and they had one of those thirty six inch CRT TVs
7:13
on a you know cart that they would pull out as if it was huge
7:17
something something like that. But wait, wait a lot. It never left
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that building. Okay, was it going down down the road. This is
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before projectors were in every every every nook and cranny. But this was you
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know, the other counselors. We were just kind of hanging out, or
7:33
would be on the weekend when we had our time off and said, oh
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hey, we're all gonna go to the box car and we're gonna watch The
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Princess Bride. I'm like, oh, what's that. I'd never I'd never
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seen it before, and oh my gosh, I mean you want to talk
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about I think we quoted that movie the entire summer. That's all we're doing
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is just quoting you know, you killed my father, prepared to die,
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or you know, inconceivable. Everything was inconceivable that summer. But I totally
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fell in with as I often say, with comedies, a good mark of
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a comedy is is quoteability. Is I mean, you can make a good
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comedy that has no quotes. Maybe I don't know, I don't think it's
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possible, but this one is definitely as Tristan even pointed out from his own
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upbringing, you know, the quotability and the amount of lines that just take
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you right back to those moments you hear someone say it and we're really you
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feel really bad for the actors who probably get those quoted at them throughout the
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rest of their entire natural lives. But that was my first introduction to the
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princess bride and started enjoying getting to share with my own kids or and being
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you know, a princess bride apologists where it's like, hey, have you
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seen this movie? Oh, have you seen this movie? You should come
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come and watch. I mean not like I had it stored on a memory
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stick or something. And it's like, you know, to fill the time.
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Didn't go that far, but that was a fun memory to revisit on
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just that first time. But John, as we're moving into more of the
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behind the scenes and we have Rob Reiner now, so he's coming out.
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He's done stand by me, and this kind of feels like a you did
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you did good John, you know, or you did good? Rob.
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You have a lot of money, you know, you've you've you've made us
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money. What do you want to do now? And it seems like others
9:26
had tried to make The Princess Bride before it had never culminated into something,
9:31
and a lot of other people like some big names too, like freaking Trufaux.
9:37
Well, this the book I think was seventy thirty, so it was
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like at least a decade or almost two. Yeah, that's I definitely think
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that that Rhiner is much more the tier of director that needs to tackle something
9:52
like this. I don't see this as a a Redford film, yeah,
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because apparently Robert Redford was gonna make. I'm like, I don't know,
10:01
because a lot a lot of these alternate names that you see tossed out there,
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it's like they're not people I know for comedy. They would have come
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at it with a completely different dramatic or something else. Yeah, it might
10:11
have worked. But you know, it's interesting that you say that, because
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one thing that really confused me was that the writer of the novel said that
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he understood that Rob Runner was the best person for the job to direct The
10:26
Prince's Pride after he watched Spinal Tap, and I started thinking to myself,
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I was like, what the hell? Stand by me Like, yeah,
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yeah, I was like what the hell. But after I kind of reflected
10:39
on it, I was like, yeah, that makes total sense because the
10:43
off the amount of offbeat humor is that, like people could see this and
10:46
go pure fantasy. I mean, it's all about the romantic it really,
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yes, exactly, it's all about the one lenners in the off kilter humor.
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And yeah, I totally get it that the Rob Runner of Spinal Tap
11:00
is the best person, not the Rob Reiner of Stand By Me. I
11:03
can say what offense is, Yeah, well, well that but that will
11:09
come back to some of the stuff that I do kind of ding the movie
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on. But but to stay on the to stay on the positive side of
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everything. I see Reiner as a director who's going to work with Andre the
11:20
Giant. Yeah, I don't see Francois Trufau saying, yes this WWF wrestler,
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let's get him, you know. And it doesn't really and can't lift
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anybody not not known specifically for his you know, um his nuanced performance by
11:41
so is this saying, is this movie and Andre the Giant paving the way
11:46
for the rise of Dwayne the Rock. Johnson's move into cinema is a lot
11:50
of pro wrestlers. A lot of pro wrestlers tried to break into legitimate theater
11:56
before the Rocks. I'm saying, he's just here. We're laying some ground
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luck. I mean I wouldn't wouldn't you say that Hogan really was the no
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no, no, no, rowdy roddy piper they live by John Carpenter,
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That's the one that kicks the door open. I will I will die on
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that hill for absolutely no other reason than to be stubborn about it. But
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I think that Reiner is definitely that's that's the guy that I would go for
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too. I would say, okay, And to you know, to your
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point that that you were bringing up Tristan about this is spinal tap. This
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does need somebody who understands that the humor is going to be both self deprecating
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and um loving of the source material that is coming off of You need to
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have both sensibilities, and I think stand by Me shows that he can be
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very um nostalgic. He can tap into that vein and everybody has the nostalgic
13:00
memory of some relative reading a story to them for the first time or giving
13:03
them a book for the first time, and spinal tap shows that he's completely
13:09
capable of lovingly knocking a genre, and so yes, Ryner makes sense as
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a director. Well well, and it's interesting because again you have the screenplay
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by William Goldman, who also did the novel, and I haven't read the
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novel, but I get the vibe that the book was really good and was
13:30
well received, and it didn't really change much for the screenplay. It was
13:35
basically it feels like a screenplay of the book. Tristan, what do you
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think of the just overall story? I'm not saying you've you've read the novel,
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but just does it have that same kind of feel to you of this
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is kind of just pulled from the page. It feels like a lot of
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the gags and the quotable moments seemed to come right from the story. I'm
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actually I'm going to default and say that a lot of this seems very much
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to be once again Ryan or picking the right cast. Okay, I don't
14:07
have any lens on the book, and so I don't. I mean,
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I should read it. I've meant to read it, you know, for
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years. If we don't talk about it for a month, you'll read it.
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Okay, yes, exactly, start your stop watches. I've meant to
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read it for some time obviously, but I think that a lot of that
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stuff that works really depends, you know, because you sit there and say,
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oh, doesn't it you know, does it feel like it's pulled out?
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A lot of this script doesn't work unless you get a Wallace Shawn to
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do that speech about you know, the two things you need to remember,
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which is one of the most It's a beautifully written piece, but you need
14:48
the right guy or you know, man or woman, whatever the role is.
14:54
You need that right person in there. And so I don't I never
15:00
took it as this feels lifted from the page so much as this is shaped
15:05
by the actors. Again, a lot like this is spinal tap or the
15:09
stuff that worked. And stand by me, this is very much a lightning
15:11
in a bottle scenario when it comes to casting. I mean, I just
15:16
you when you think about it. I was going through some of the trivia
15:22
of the movie and behind the scenes, and I think the top two picks
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not saying that they could have gotten them, not saying they even actually reached
15:28
out to negotiate with them, but like from Reyner and and William Goldman and
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everything like that or Goldman or Goldman, I can't remember. Yeah, William
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Goldman, Yeah, Goldman. They wanted Christopher Reeve as Wesley and Carrie Fisher
15:46
as the Princess Bride, and I feel like I can kind of see that.
15:54
I don't. I don't. I mean, I feel like you have
15:56
captured they're stunt doubles. Yeah, it's just I don't know, like these
16:03
people from you know, like from Guests to to Andre, to Peter Falk
16:11
to even Carol Kane and who had very little to do, you know,
16:15
like left her mark, and I just I cannot picture anybody else. Like
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there's there's always a huge list of people that could do a movie that they've
16:25
reached out to or who auditioned and everything like that. But just it's I
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honestly, every single person in this movie was perfect for this movie in my
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opinion, Like, I don't think there's a single person that I would recast.
16:37
Yeah. I think that comes around to every once in a while,
16:41
you hear somebody say like, oh, they're starting to play on a reboot
16:45
of The Princess Bride or a remake, and every single time it just gets
16:48
so vehetomly shut down because everyone's like, no, like, just tell another
16:52
story, Like we don't want this remade. This was, like you said,
16:56
Lightning in a Bottle. Well, let's go into some of the cast
17:00
choices, because, like we've said, you know, Rob is choosing these
17:06
people. And I had heard that that Carrie was one of his first choices
17:11
for Wesley, that he I think he was in Germany or somewhere in the
17:15
in Europe at the at the time of pre production, and that he went
17:18
out there and sat with him and like just to make sure he was the
17:22
right guy. And I think Carrie had a story of having you know,
17:26
read this year's prior or having it read to him by his father, and
17:32
of course, you know, gravitated to the role. And I'm trying to
17:36
not think about the fact that I recently watched Men in Tights because that's a
17:40
very different, uh version of the A story in the Forest. But but
17:47
what do think about that? Yeah, well, I mean I was just
17:48
I was gonna say that, like, you know, speaking of you know,
17:52
men and tights, you know, like in Robin Hood, Carrie,
17:55
Oh was very much has that Errol Flynn, yes, player to us swash
17:59
buckle Buckle swa absolutely and that's very much the vibe that you get from this
18:03
film, and I'm sure that that's why Rob Reiner chose Elwis and what was
18:07
what he was going for was those old swashbuckling, you know films, and
18:11
you know Flynn did Robin Hood and Carrie Ellis did Robin Hood. And it's
18:15
like there's a reason because he just fits that part, the little mustache,
18:18
and it just just the even his body type, just everything about it just
18:23
screams that old timey swashbuckle films. And I just this is clearly the movie
18:32
that made him and that everyone will remember him for. And that's a blessing
18:37
and a curse for a lot of actors who have this kind of notoriety this
18:40
early in their career. And you know, like remember seeing him, what
18:45
was it? I think it was an episode of Grey's Anatomy or no,
18:48
sorry, I'm crossing that with oh, what was that show? Early Edition?
18:56
Never mind, I'm mixing up my actors. But I saw an actor
18:59
from Early Edition in an episode of Gray's Anatomy. An instantly thought of that
19:04
character, because again, like you said that, when they have that notoriety
19:08
early in their career, it's sometimes very hard to disengage from that. But
19:14
but see, and the thing is, I'm not trying to derail the conversation
19:17
or anything, but I'm doing a good enough job doing that. So bring
19:18
us all. No, No, I'm saying no, I'm saying I'm like,
19:22
yeah, this is an iconic film. Regardless of where you stand with
19:26
it, whether it's a personal favorite or not, people will always come back
19:30
to it. And it's it's just, you know, it has enough to
19:34
hang on there, and yes, Carrie always being in what turns out to
19:40
be such an iconic role, and the whole I don't know if it's irony
19:47
or not, but the whole weirdness of it is that, just like Schwarzenegger
19:52
with The Terminator, it's not because the film was such a massive hit,
19:57
it really found its foot later. The movie doubled its budget, you know,
20:03
in box office and everything, but you know when you account for marketing
20:06
and everything, it kind of breaks even and it's not until home video.
20:10
And I really think this is another one of those ones, just like this
20:14
is spinal Tap, where it's the home video market saves it and what like
20:21
what I have got to imagine it's odd and that This is the reason I
20:25
bring it up is because Carrie always sort of escapes that trajectory of always being
20:32
seen as Wesley except for once Home Video really thinks it's like a delayed reaction.
20:38
That's right. Interesting, Yeah, you know, or even Rob Robin
20:42
writer Mandy Patinkin. Yeah, so I feel like Mandy Patinken looks so different
20:49
that like, when I see modern day Mandy Patinkin see My Criminal Minds,
20:53
I'm like, what who? Who? I do not think innygo at all?
20:57
See that's weird Because I look at him, I'm like, hey,
21:00
it's an ego men, just because I think it's just because of his voice
21:04
is so you know, so very distinctive. And when I see Wallace Shawn,
21:08
I actually think, um uh the the Negas from Deep Space nine more
21:15
than I do. Oh oh oh yeah. Well but that's because we're we're
21:18
a bunch of nine. We're Aunch of Space nine. Well, a fun
21:22
side story, you talk about not being able to escape certain things. Friend
21:29
from years past was at the metropolit Museum of Art up in New Yorky right
21:34
right now, it's not Joey. It was a different about Joey. No,
21:41
this is the funny thing. He was also named, but I'm not
21:45
the same anyway. He's in New York on a trip and he saw Wallace
21:51
Shawn in the museum and he relaid the story of how he embarrassed himself because
21:55
he pointed at him and he went inconceivable, and he said Wallace Shawn was
21:59
extreme, dreamly gracious and just sort of smiled and said, yep, that's
22:03
me. And he's like, I'm so sorry I couldn't. Now he goes
22:07
and basically Walla Sean was like, I'm used to it. It's fine,
22:11
It's probably every dayman's life. He gets at least one person saying that inconceivable,
22:15
it's it's okay. So I read an interview where Minnie Patinkin says that
22:19
every day of his life when he's out in public, can you imagine every
22:25
single day, he said, two or three different people say say that you
22:30
killed my father, prepared to die to him, and he says that he
22:33
loves it. I don't know if he was just being nice in the interview,
22:34
but he says that he loves it and that he just feels like he
22:37
got to be a part of something way bigger than himself. Minder that you
22:41
know someone remembers you from this wonderful role. But yeah, Wallace, Yes,
22:45
but Wallace Shan said, people scream it at me like I haven't seen
22:52
the movie, like like I'm the one who said it, Like I know
22:56
I said it. Like you could just feel that he was just broken down.
23:00
Makes me think of what is it the robot chicken sketch where George Lucas
23:06
and the nerd with the big glasses are in the elevator and he's like,
23:08
it's George Lucas. You know Star Wars because you wrote Star Wars. I'm
23:14
a time time but I don't have to tell you that. And it's just
23:15
like, oh god, no, just stop, please don't be that nerd.
23:21
But yes, we're all that nerd. M Well, yeah, and
23:25
Mandy. I think I've also heard a video clip of him. What was
23:30
he singing? I think he was singing like over the rainbow and his like
23:33
he has this angelic voice. Oh my gosh, I had. Yeah,
23:37
I'll send it to you guys. But it's it's a beautiful rendition and that
23:44
emotion and this is you know, we have to say it because it's a
23:48
Princess Bride Podcast I'm sure everyone has heard this story, but he's told it
23:51
many times on where he drew some of the emotion from his fight with the
23:57
six Fingered Man, and during the time of production, I think just a
24:03
little bit before, he had lost his father to cancer, and so he
24:08
channeled that emotion from that live event that happened to him, and in that
24:15
duel with the sink Fingered Man, he is like, I am fighting cancer
24:18
and when I am yelling at him, I want my father back. You
24:22
know that that he is That is what was driving the inflection of those words.
24:29
And it's like, okay, yeah, take that in your craft man.
24:32
That's an amazing subsit And obviously he's told this, so I'm pretty sure
24:36
it's accurate, but it's kind of I mean, it's I think it is
24:42
something where you have to marvel in a sense at the sensibilities that Reiner has
24:51
to juggle, because I highly doubt that Wallace Shawn was coming at it like
24:56
a method actor like that. He was coming at it like he does.
25:00
He's an incredibly gifted comic actor, huge resume I love. And while a
25:07
Sean is one of those guys where whenever he walks on screen, I'm like,
25:10
oh good, I'm gonna laugh. I know that, I know that
25:12
something funny he's going to happen, because he's got such a great energy for
25:17
that. But then you have the polar opposite, which is Maydi Patinken.
25:22
I'm going to use this pain. I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna go
25:25
Stanislawski with it. I'm gonna I'm fighting Christopher guests and it's like juggling that
25:33
that different approach, those different personality approaches to things. I think again,
25:40
more than any sort of visual sensibility we're very used to on this podcast to
25:44
sit there and be like, oh, well, you know the visual sensibility.
25:47
This, the visual sensibility that, oh, the way it's cut,
25:48
the way it's put together. I think Reiner is just the type of director,
25:55
and I think it comes from being a performer first that knows, Okay,
26:00
this is how she does it, this is how he does it,
26:03
this is how he does it. How am I going to make all three
26:07
of these three things work together for a big thing? Okay? I know
26:11
how I would have to deal with them as an actor, the type of
26:15
energy I would have to give them, and I honestly I think that's basically
26:18
just what we discover conclusively here is that is what Ryner brings to it.
26:23
He's very much that actor's understander. I'm sorry, I don't mean to cut
26:26
you off there, but yeah, he knows he's very much an actor's director.
26:30
And I think everyone that I every interview that I've read from an actor
26:34
talking about Rub Reiner describes him as such, where like someone who's been through
26:38
it, someone who knows how to act, someone who does it well and
26:41
did it well for a very long time. You know, like when it
26:45
comes to being behind the camera talking to someone in front of the camera,
26:48
he knows what to say in order to help them get there, get that
26:52
performance out now, because then flipping it to behind the camera, we'll ob
27:00
somebody has to photograph the darn thing. And we talked about the different sensibilities
27:04
with the sure Thing with um stand by me with this is Spinal Tap.
27:11
The director of photography on this, Adrian Biddle. The film previous to this
27:17
one was Aliens with James Cameron. Then he does the Princess Bride with Rob
27:23
Reiner. Then he goes on to shoot Willow for Ron Howard. Eventually he
27:30
goes on to do he just keeps coming back to God a variety Like I
27:40
feel like he's someone who can do anything, because when you have one on
27:42
one Dalmatians, an event horizon on your on your resume, like you're a
27:48
jack of all trade for sure. Well never mind, never mind us Stallone's
27:52
judge judge, Yeah, chef, let me tell you about that movie.
27:56
Oh my gosh. But but that's that's the thing I have to ask,
28:03
like, do you I don't look at the Princess Bride. I'm like,
28:07
oh, yeah, that's the guy that did the Mummy, or that's the
28:11
guy that did k That's a chameleon. He can he can adast whatever is
28:15
needed. I mean, I've always felt like this is a storybook. It
28:22
really, it's almost a pop up book. And now as you're going from
28:26
scene to scene, like the scene where Wesley is like drop your sword and
28:32
has the sword going to oh my favorite shot, I almost wanted to pause
28:34
and just screenshot it. Um when Indigo is looking for the Pit of Despair
28:41
and he pauses and he kneels and he's holding his sword aloft. It is
28:45
like so beautifully framed. It's like a tapestry. Painting and he's like praying
28:52
to his father, is like I need your help, and he was like,
28:55
oh man, Indigo, You're like you're going for it. That shot,
28:57
like those are hosts are just happened. It's not just like, oh
29:00
yeah, put the camera over there, we'll be fine. Like, no,
29:03
that is a composition. Fun fun side note is he also was a
29:14
where his career started directing um for commercials and apparently he worked on the nineteen
29:22
eighty four commercials for app nineteen eighty four commercial, the one of the most
29:26
famous commercials of all time, was shot by this guy. So wow,
29:32
that's funny that he did nineteen eighty four for Ridley Scott but then did aliens
29:37
for Cameron. I don't know. That just feels funny to me. I
29:40
don't know why he didn't do alien for Ridley as well. But but but
29:42
let me but let me ask this because this is this is one of those
29:45
things where the Princess Bride is imprinted onto my brain. I think it's imprinted
29:49
on everybody's brain. Who's ever come across it? You just watched this a
29:55
lot. It's it's a background. No, you don't need any have it
29:56
on the background. While you're doing something else, right, I actually to
30:03
speak to Biddle being a chameleon. I look at Aliens that looks like a
30:08
James Cameron movie. I look at the Princess Bride. It it's visual sensibility
30:18
through a good portion of it feels a lot closer to the sure Thing than
30:23
it does to spinal tap or stand By Me. Do you think that works
30:30
to its benefit or do you think that's just Biddle as a guy who goes
30:33
to his director and says, what do you want? And Rhiner doesn't,
30:41
you know, he doesn't communicate in that same language. So like in stand
30:44
By Me, you have a director of photography. He's like, Rob,
30:47
I got this. I know how to shoot these things, whereas this one,
30:49
Rob, what do you want from me? And that's why it winds
30:52
up looking like a TV set When Grandpa is talking to Fred Savage. I
30:59
think that's that's pretty pretty astute, because I feel like Biddle is he's talented.
31:04
Of course he knows what he's doing, but it sounds like, just
31:08
by looking at his resume, he kind of feels like someone who would go
31:15
to the director and say, like, what do you want? But then
31:15
every once in a while he'd be like, oh wait, I have an
31:18
idea for this kind of shot, and that's when you get and you go,
31:21
you know, like praying to his father or like, you know,
31:22
if it was up to Rhiner, it probably would just be that wonner in
31:26
the back with the wide shot where he's just kind of wandering around the forest
31:30
and then he finds it. But then Biddle's like, no, no,
31:33
no, we'll get down low, we'll get the sun, you know,
31:36
and everything like that. And that's why you have stand by Me. That
31:38
feels like it was completely taken over. But there's a lot of this film
31:44
that isn't composed really well. I mean, I think there was a lot
31:47
of um, you know, six even in nineteen eighty seven, sixteen million,
31:52
you know, like that you can only go so far with this tail
31:56
a lowish budget movie. It's not but like it's it's not you know,
32:00
this isn't Kingdom of Heaven. You know, this isn't Like that was really
32:07
really that was really really dark, and like you could tell that they were
32:09
hiding it, like when they were climbing the Cliffs of Insanity. Um,
32:14
good lord, that was a horrible psych surrounding the set and you know,
32:19
like there was a lot of those moments where you could really, really really
32:22
tell you were on a set and it felt like you were watching theater.
32:28
And I think certain times I'm trying not to weezle out of it, but
32:34
I think at certain times it definitely adds to the aesthetic of it and the
32:38
vibe and the feeling of this is a story, this is a story told
32:44
by a grandfather, and so this didn't actually happen, and so there's there's
32:50
several different times when you don't need to be super real glasses over it a
32:53
little bit. Yeah, yeah, I think it allows you to be in
32:58
this arena of it's okay that it's not perfect. It's okay that it's not
33:04
pristine, like there's, um, there's this one thing that there. In
33:09
two thousand and the Sci Fi Channel produced miniseries of Frank Herbert's Dune, and
33:16
it was very divisive. Some people loved it, a lot of people hated
33:20
it. I personally loved it. But it was basically shot in a lot
33:23
of scenes like it was live theater, and so some of the background you
33:29
could tell was like only six feet from them and didn't change colors with the
33:32
lights. And it just you know, some people said it looked cheap.
33:36
I was like, actually it kind if you just kind of feel like you're
33:38
going if you just go with it, it's actually okay. And so you
33:42
I feel like you kind of have to do that with Princess Bride. I
33:45
think a lot of the locations and Princess Bride as well, like they shot
33:50
all over England and so like you sometimes had a beautiful forest or the Cliffs
33:54
of Insanity, Like you actually had these beautiful locations, and it's almost too
34:00
beautiful because then when you cut to it was obviously a set. I mean
34:06
we we I don't think there's a single person that thinks the duel at the
34:08
top of the Cliffs Insanity took place outdoors. Like it's my favorite is every
34:14
time they land on the ground and you have a little square poof of sand
34:17
as the mat. But you know what I think, you know, I
34:22
think of like another movie kind of around this time was Monty Python Search for
34:25
the Holy Grail, which again sets that kind of standard in its own movie
34:31
of Oh that's a model. Oh this is like like you're not supposed to
34:36
care that it is not obviously a beautiful location. So I think, yeah,
34:42
like you said, Tristan, the framing device, you know that this
34:45
is a story. It's it's kind of meant to be in your imagination.
34:49
I mean, there's giant rodents, there's you know, it's it's obviously they're
34:52
fantastical elements to it. There's a little bit of magic, a little bit
34:55
of you know, humor. So yeah, it but it does feel midish
35:02
budget like, which again I don't think it's a ding. It's just what
35:07
it is. And it was able to overcome that limitation and still be a
35:13
beloved movie. It wasn't like people were like, oh, yeah, but
35:15
it looks like garbage. Like it doesn't look like garbage. It looks like
35:20
it just had sixteen million in nineteen eighty seven. Yeah, I mean,
35:25
sixteen million isn't the worst budget you could have gotten for something like this in
35:30
eighty seven. You know, you adjust her inflation and stuff like that.
35:32
And keep in mind we've all been warped in terms of movie budgets because a
35:38
couple of years later, Batman by Tim Burton got hammered for having a budget
35:46
of north of thirty million dollars like people were just a gas And then that
35:52
was only two years before James Cameron said and give me a check for one
35:57
hundred million dollars, So things inflate radically after this movie. I want to
36:07
believe that all of these choices about showing the artifice were on purpose. I
36:14
don't. I don't know if they were, though. I mean, maybe
36:19
there's a commentary out there I haven't listened to. But I would love to
36:22
sit down with Hiner and with Biddle and say, so, was it on
36:28
purpose or did you just benefit from the fact that it wasn't your primary focus
36:36
to make this look ultra realistic in these moments? I mean, because really,
36:40
I would say, if I had to guess, the primary focus is
36:45
the characters, and it's by far the most memorable part. It's where all
36:49
the quotes come from. I mean, everybody has a favorite line or a
36:52
favorite moment. And yeah, I think only podcasters talk about how fake the
37:00
background look, so it had all type. I want to chime in.
37:04
I want to chime in here real quick, just because I looked it up
37:07
and sixteen million today would buy you forty two million. Now, it's not
37:12
a lot that's for today, like, especially if you're going to be doing
37:16
a swashbuckler fantasy film, like the kind of like the kind of movies that
37:22
um that you see, like like somewhat modern ish movies that had a budget
37:29
around that you're going to get straight out of Compton million dollar Baby, Silver
37:32
Linings, Playbook to help forty year old virgin hangover Bridesmaids, you know,
37:37
like these kind of movies that like don't have a lot of special effects.
37:40
Yeah, they're not fair, don't have a lot of locations, they don't
37:43
have to bo magical things that didn't exist happen. But then like sometimes you'll
37:49
get stuff like you'll have like the Notebook and things like that and serendipity.
37:52
But every once in a while you'll have something that'll break out that was made
37:57
for that much like like District nine had a budget like that and um V
38:01
for Venda I think, But how many years did District nine take to make
38:07
like that? Was? I mean? I mean the thing is though,
38:12
the only thing I'd say in response that is you can't go dollar for dollar
38:15
inflationary because of the fact that just the sensibility of what you could spend on
38:22
a film. That was why I brought a batman in Terminator two was like
38:25
in nineteen A. Right, you just don't when this is made for sixteen
38:30
million dollars. If you flew into the set, like I get a time
38:35
machine and I go in and I sit down with the production company, I'm
38:37
like, hey, guess what in what what? What's the bath on this?
38:40
Real quick? In about four years, somebody's gonna make a movie for
38:44
one hundred million dollars have a great day by They'd look at me like I
38:46
was just nuts. They'd be like, yeah, okay, that's a comedian
38:51
right there, because the sensibilities all change. I mean, they're spending half
38:54
a billion dollars making jungle clicks and one hundred million dollars Like what does that
38:59
have to return to be profitable? Like yeah, we're now getting into the
39:05
argument of why Hollywood is is all tent poles and it's going to die and
39:08
ten hear true horribly, Well it's committing suicide there. You go. Yeah,
39:15
Well we're around in second. So you know, I think we've covered
39:19
a lot of the key points. But you know, I gotta hear each
39:24
of you who is your favorite character from this movie? And what is your
39:29
favorite quote? Because and it doesn't have to be from the same person.
39:32
It could be, and I'll go first, and I'll go first, you
39:36
have time to think. But I think my favorite quote is again, you
39:42
know, not to go for the low hanging fruit, because we know all
39:45
of those. But I always loved life is pain highness. Anyone who says
39:51
differently is selling something. I feel like I maybe not the entire quote,
39:55
but I'll you know the whole. If it's too easy or too good to
40:00
be true, they're trying to sell you something like that inferred quote is so
40:04
easy to bring into life. Although I will say, for a while after
40:08
watching this movie, had a really hard time anytime somebody said it's possible.
40:14
I really really wanted to just say pig, but I really I knew it
40:20
was. It was not like it would not go over well, So I
40:22
just gotta hunkered down and held that inside. Oh I say that all the
40:28
time. I'll say, like, it's possible, it's possible, Pig.
40:32
Well, yes, but you know you're you're more secure in your job than
40:36
I am, Tristan. But no, so i'd have to say that's one
40:39
of my favorite lines. And then for favorite character, I mean, again,
40:45
I know it's low hanging, but I love an ego. I think
40:47
he's so well acted. It's such a it's so fun watching this fantasy story
40:55
where people have honor and they're life. You know, he has a code
41:01
and he granted the that guy doesn't, and he kind of you know,
41:05
used that to his advantage. But the whole fight with the black you know,
41:07
the man in black, is such it's so funny because they're like,
41:13
oh, well, I'll give you a moment to get your breath there.
41:15
Oh you know, I'm not left handed. And it's just it's such like
41:19
fights aren't like that. The fights are only like that in storybooks, which
41:22
is what makes it such a gem. And the fact that besides the somersaults
41:28
they acted that entire sequence is just that it's just the two of them.
41:32
It's just just the two of them and Patinkin, and I love that,
41:37
and I love how ridiculous it is and how over the top it is and
41:40
how like like she just hands store fight though, like it's actually really good.
41:45
It's my it's my my favorite sword fight of all time, like absolutely
41:50
love it, which of course I feel obligated to point out. You know,
41:55
Peter Diamond and Bob Anderson, who worked on the Star Wars films right
42:00
came up with the sword fighting, and so I'm just trying to imagine Vader
42:04
and Obi Wan having this fight around some rocky shoal. It's not it's not
42:10
entirely out of place in terms of the style. It really isn't um And
42:19
yeah, you know, favorite character give me is actually well, it's actually
42:24
kind of tough, and it we don't shy away from the hard questions.
42:29
But but the thing is, it's not tough because it's so overwhelming. It's
42:31
tough because and this is here's our first controversial statement. I don't really have
42:37
a favorite character. And it's not because I love character, got it,
42:40
okay? Writing, Yeah, that's it's it's more because there's no like it's
42:51
it just exists, like take a least least favorite. No. No,
42:55
see like I'm not saying that either. I'm saying like, these characters don't
43:00
really exist. Like the whole point of the story is that it's a storybook
43:06
story. As that song that's been drilled into my skull gets across but who
43:15
come through this microphone. Absolutely just I'm gonna just please listen to that song
43:24
because I'm not gonna stop at that moment. Listen. It's a good song.
43:30
It really is a very good song. I heard it so many I'm
43:35
just okay, that's okay, all right. What about quote give me?
43:43
I mean it's gotta be uh m Wallas Shawn's whole speech about you know,
43:47
never get involved in a land warren Asia the second and lesser known, but
43:51
equally important it is never going against the Sicilian when death is on the line.
43:53
Like that's just absolutely brilliant. I think that everything he said as it's
44:00
you know, I love stuff inconceivable. You keep using that word. I
44:04
do not think it means what you think it means. You know, like
44:07
those are terrific moments. But that's what I'm saying is like there are these
44:09
terrific moments, but there's nothing that's like a like I can sit down and
44:15
I can be like Hans Solo is super cool. It's true. I mean,
44:20
the movie is a collection of moments, it's a collection of lines,
44:22
it's a collection of scenes like that. That's that's definitely true. But I
44:27
get what you're saying, like it's you're not like well at the end,
44:30
like it's got to be character X because of what they were part of the
44:35
story, whereas if you took them out, it would not be that story,
44:37
and if you double them up, it wouldn't be that story. It's
44:40
just how I think I get what you were saying. It's just that it's
44:45
this is an ensemble cast, Like there's no one person who completely runs the
44:50
entire gambit. And at least that's what I'm choosing to take from. From
44:54
that hesitation that you had there, you go for me, but those words
45:00
striston. For me. Growing up, it was Wesley hands down, like
45:04
he was my absolute favorite character. I wanted to be like him. I
45:07
wanted to dress like him, sharpie mustache, you know, for Halloween and
45:12
the Man in Black. Well, my favorite fictional characters growing up were Luke,
45:16
Skywalker, Batman, and Zoro. And so I'm just like, well,
45:22
yeah, like, add Wesley to that and you got a common theme.
45:28
And so like I have, like if I like gun to my head.
45:31
If I had to choose today as an adult, I probably would say
45:35
Wesley. But I love everyone so much, like Fezik in Ago, even
45:39
Prince Humberdy, like with Chris Sarandon, even though I hear you know,
45:43
Jack Skellington every single time he talks now. But I like Robin Wright,
45:49
Like this started my lifelong obsession with Robin Wright. And I just think like
45:54
Peter Falk as the natary narrator was such a genius choice because his voice is
46:00
not something that you would you would normally associate with the typical narration voice in
46:06
movies, but we like but if it's a grandfather telling us in that specific
46:10
instance, it's exactly that is exactly what the point I was trying to make.
46:15
And so for quotes last chapter, one more thing nod. For quotes
46:23
i'd have to say, like when Inigo and Wesley are fighting and he goes,
46:29
He's like, why are you He's like, no one a consequence.
46:31
He's like, I must get used to disappointment. I say that almost weekly.
46:37
I'll tell people get used to disappointment, said John's counter. Okay,
46:40
good. Yeah. And there's so much of this movie that I've work into
46:46
my daily life, even like really really tiny things like when Peter falk at
46:51
the end when he closes up the book and the grandson is getting tucked in
46:55
and he's sitting there and he goes, okay, okay, okay, like
47:06
my wife and I will do that whenever we're like we turn off the TV,
47:08
or like it's time to go to bed, and or like we we
47:12
decide that we need to leave a place. We'll just start it off with
47:15
Okay, it's just in direct reference to this film. It's this is in
47:21
my bones, It's in my blood. Yeah, it's Wesley Well. I
47:25
feel like, I mean, Humperdinck's obviously got a lot of great lines,
47:30
but I got to hand it to christ understand for delivering them, because he
47:34
has the most ridiculous lines I think of any character, and he has to
47:37
say them completely straight, Like when he's talking to the six Fingered Man and
47:43
they're talking about like their health and like I've got you know, my wife's
47:47
to murder and anniversary and Gilda to frame for it. I'm swamped, Like
47:53
how how do you say that and not crack a smile? Like he does
47:59
it so well. And the little moments that he creates with that character,
48:05
Like there's there's one moment when um, the the gatekeeper, you know,
48:08
like comes in and then like you know, getting down on one knee and
48:12
he has this he has his arm on the armrest and Sarandonis looks at him
48:16
and then he immediately used his arm and then he puts it. He puts
48:20
his own arm on this on the armrest. You know that that was discovered
48:22
in rehearsal, Like that just had to have been discovered in rehearsal. And
48:27
I love those those kind of moments. Mhmm. Now I think, I
48:31
mean, we didn't even get into you know, Billy Crystal popping in with
48:37
like this is definitely I mean, we all know Billy Crystal was saying,
48:40
given, here's the gist of what you gotta say, say whatever you want,
48:45
and I mean we can all agree that that was an ad libbed like
48:50
scene. Apparently they had to use a dummy for Wesley because Carrie always could
48:58
not stop laughing, and so they had to shoot around. They kicked him
49:00
off set and they had to shoot around him. Same with Rob Reiner.
49:04
He had to watch everything on a closed circuit television in another room because he
49:07
could not stop laughing at Billy Crystal. I mean, I believe it.
49:12
I dead. Okay. That's one of the things I don't love about this
49:21
movie is the Billy Crystal stick is not I don't think it's particularly successful as
49:29
a comedy bit. It's cute but when you say to me, oh,
49:32
they were just laughing so hard, I guess maybe if you were on set,
49:38
it probably that the laughing so hard were maybe the in between line jokes
49:44
that he just kind of ran off. I get that's I don't I don't
49:47
feel like what he specifically said on camera that ended up in the movie was
49:52
gut busting. I feel like when he's just in between takes, keeping it
49:57
going, and people are laughing, so he keeps going, I think that
50:00
is more likely what happened. It's kind of like when Robin Williams was Genie
50:04
in the Booth, you know, like they're like, they just keep recording
50:07
because he doesn't. He just kept recording, kept riffering and wouldn't stop.
50:10
But then there's a couple of moments when they're like, remember it's Disney.
50:15
So I'm sure that there was a few moments that Crystal kind of popped out
50:19
some stuff that there's no way they could put into the film. Probably,
50:22
But I mean, I want to ask you guys point blank, I think
50:27
that's the weakest part of the movie. Am I yeah, am my own
50:30
job. I would say Billy Crystal is the shining pinnacle of the movie.
50:36
He is definitely a bit part at best. Yeah, I think I think
50:42
out of everything that could be cut, I think that scene could be lifted,
50:46
you know, even though there's there's some moments in there where like people
50:50
or someone else could have been Miracle Max more straightforward. Yeah, yeah,
50:53
because somebody else could have been Max or Valerie. But like when he says
50:57
like mostly alive, you know, like everybody knows that line, everybody says
51:00
that line. He's only mostly dead, mostly dead but slightly alive, exactly
51:05
that kind of thing, and then like I'm not a witch, I'm your
51:08
wife. It's like those those moments are funny, Like those lines are great,
51:13
but overall for a scene, it could have been reworked in a different
51:17
way, um where that could have been lifted. So basically what what,
51:22
I wouldn't cut it, But I John, I think I absolutely agree with
51:25
you. It's it's definitely the weakest scene out of the entire picture. Yeah,
51:31
I just I think it it just sort of messes with the flow of
51:37
everything. Yeah, it's sort of like just just messes up the tempo.
51:40
It is a different tempo than the rest, even the scene before, which
51:44
is very slow of like physic nursing and ego Back to Health, which it
51:51
has its own funny bits with the buckets of water and the you know,
51:54
the soup and you know they have a little bit of narration by Peter Falk
51:59
and then it cuts to Mirror Max and it's like it's very different. Yeah.
52:07
I mean the thing is, I'm not dragging the movie because of it
52:09
there you know, Oh you hate it, you wish you could burn every
52:13
copy. We get it, we get it. Well. I mean I'm
52:15
just stuck in my head because you you both reference you know, Chris Surrandon,
52:21
and it's like, oh, how do you deliver lines like that?
52:22
Well, I would say you should see Fright Night Um, which also stars
52:27
Chris Surrandon, because that is a delightful case of somebody going crazy with some
52:35
humor on that one. If anybody hasn't seen that, it's about to have
52:37
a vampire living next door, it's very good. Speaking of line delivery,
52:42
there's a few scenes one in particular, like like with um Physics fight with
52:47
Wesley Um to this day and I it's it's almost gonna become an insight joke
52:52
just with myself where I won't turn on subtitles. I won't look up the
52:57
script, but there's things that he says in the I still have no idea
53:00
what he's talking about. I have no idea what he's actually mentioning, Like
53:05
at the end, like towards the end of all I don't want either of
53:07
you to answer this, but like towards the end is like put on jaypies,
53:10
you know, Like I have no idea what that is. I don't
53:13
know what if he's saying it right, but it's just there's so many lines
53:16
in that where I'm just like, you're talking about the way he's slowly being
53:19
choked, and he's like, yeah, it takes I think I literally only
53:23
this last viewing fully understood what he was saying because I was focusing really hard
53:29
because he is like kind of having a discussion about how difficult it is to
53:36
fight one person versus a group. That's all he's talking about. But yeah,
53:39
it's in his accent and all of that, it's very difficult to understand
53:43
what he is actually saying. Like with having such a large vocal vocal box
53:49
and having an accent on top of that, and also pretending to be strangled
53:53
at the same time, they have all those things working against you. Well,
53:58
was this the movie that he rememorized all his lines by tape? And
54:02
then yes, Robert French speaking, I think Andre the Giant is so yeah.
54:09
Andre the Giant was again not known for his eloquence. No. I
54:15
mean it's quasi tragic but also kind of good and cool that he found a
54:24
home in pro wrestling. I mean, the guy is a literal pro wrestling
54:30
legend. You say, Andre the Giant. You guys might think of the
54:37
Princess Bride first, but I think of WrestleMania three. I think of you
54:42
know, Andre turning heel and turning hero. And I can promise you that
54:47
k Fabe was not the strongest Andre the Giant bit. It was simply his
54:54
size that got him through there. Like he couldn't he couldn't walk on and
54:58
do like the macho man the preem rises to the top sort of thing.
55:01
Like when Andrea went on and did he did his bit, and you know,
55:07
his his his promos with me and Geane and everything. You're like,
55:09
okay, let's just get to the ring. Let's let's not worry about this
55:15
part about it. Um, But I mean the guy was a literal legend
55:21
is a literal legend, and it's it's it's weird, and I know I'm
55:27
sort of going down like a little bit of a rabbit hole. But I
55:29
was big into pro wrestling with my brother back in the eighties. He was
55:32
he was the pro wrestling fan, and I idolized my big brother, so
55:37
I got into it too. And Andre was just a like an amazingly uh
55:52
unique human being who I don't think, even in the modern world, would
55:58
have found a home. And I, for some reason, what I think
56:02
of when I think of Andre the Giant is I think of Lucas reflecting on
56:07
how hard it was to find somebody to play Chewbacca back in nineteen seventy seven,
56:13
and then when he came back looking for Wookies in the early two thousands,
56:16
he said, I could just go to any basketball team and just find
56:21
a bunch of people that height, and just how much the world had changed.
56:24
And so in one sense it's for the better. But in another sense,
56:30
I don't think Andre the Giant manages to be who he is or even
56:36
land this role, except for when the movie is made like that that is
56:44
the only spot in time where Andrea the Giant is going to get this role
56:50
and probably it goes to Schwarzenegger if The Terminator doesn't wind up being the massive
56:57
home video hit that it. Yeah, that's what actually in looking at casting,
57:02
they were saying that, Yeah, Swarzenegger was an initial thought. I
57:07
think, you know, like we were saying this movie was trying to be
57:08
made several times, but by the time, but by eighty seven, Schwarzenegger
57:14
was huge and or big enough that he couldn't be afforded by a sixteen million
57:19
dollar budget. So yeah, no, Andre, Yeah, no, that's
57:23
that's good to hear though, because again I don't have a huge, you
57:28
know, pre knowledge of pro wrestling, but yeah, I mean, he's
57:31
definitely iconic in this role for sure, and maybe maybe a lot of maybe
57:37
there were some people who became pro wrestling fans after seeing this, and they're
57:40
like, hey, let's let's see what else this guy's been in. Somehow
57:45
I doubt it, but pro wrestling fans were thrilled to see one of our
57:49
one of our idols up there on screen, were like, hey, legitimate,
57:52
awesome, Yay that that was a very good moment. There's a really
57:57
good HBO documentary about on the giant called Andrew the Giant. That is,
58:02
if anyone listening to this is it all interested in his life or what life
58:08
was like for him with wrestling, and a little bit of Princess Bride too,
58:13
because I pretty I think Carrie Alwis, Robin Wright, Billy Crystal and
58:15
Rob Bryner were all interviewed for the documentary. Now they play small parts,
58:20
but yeah, it's it's a very good and well put together documentary. Excellent.
58:28
Well, the Battle of has begun, gentlemen, and we will be
58:31
giving our ratings. So Tristan, final thoughts and how many goblets of Ia
58:39
Kane powder would you rank the Princess Bride from ninety five goblets? Easy?
58:45
This is This is a five star film. I love this movie. I
58:49
love this movie since the first time I saw it. I love this movie.
58:52
Yesterday when I watched it, I was grinning like an idiot ear to
58:58
ear to this day, and I know that there's so much nostalgia with it.
59:01
I know I have rose colored glasses on it, like it's it's hard
59:05
to be objective when you have something that's just so ingrained in in your own
59:10
personal history. But watching it as a thirty almost thirty seven year old man,
59:20
you know, and something that was made in eighty seven. And I've
59:22
seen a billion times and I'm still laughing at every line. I'm still smiling,
59:29
I'm still intrigued. I still you know, like gasp at certain things.
59:32
You know. It's just this is There's I don't think there's anything that
59:36
I would change about this movie. I think it's it's so great. It's
59:39
like it's like I said, it's lightning in a bottle. The casting is
59:43
perfect, and I never get tired of seeing that and introducing Robin Wright,
59:49
like because I followed her career for a very long time and I love I
59:52
love earn lots of different things, and it's just the framing device is perfect,
59:59
and it's intrusive enough to you know, like like the there's so much
1:00:05
delaying of the action in this movie to kind of build suspense, like when
1:00:08
when the eel is going towards um Robin Wright and then you know we cut
1:00:15
to him and he's just like just so you know, she's okay, you
1:00:17
know, like nothing's nothing's going to happen to her. It's like yeah,
1:00:20
no, and it's fine, you know, like like that's that's it.
1:00:22
Kind of makes me think of um or or like when like during the scene
1:00:27
where it's just like he's like, no, no, no, when you're
1:00:29
ready, and then we get integroes backstory, like we constantly get like this,
1:00:32
like you know, they're going up the rope, the music, the
1:00:36
music is like and then they cut the rope. More delayed action. He
1:00:43
gets up there, more delayed action. And it just kind of makes me
1:00:47
think of when, um, when John Travolta and um Sam Jackson our right
1:00:54
like our impulse fiction and they're about to go up to the to the apartment
1:01:00
a knock on the door, but then they're like, wait a second,
1:01:01
let's talk for a second, and they go off down the hallway. The
1:01:05
camera stays and they're going they talk a little bit something about completely unrelated to
1:01:09
the plot. But then it comes back and says, okay, let's get
1:01:12
into character and knock on it. Like it's all about that building of suspense
1:01:15
and this is this movie is really great on that, So like, not
1:01:17
only is it a great story, great filmmaking, great acting, great one
1:01:22
liners, it's just an overall great picture. Easily five stars for me.
1:01:28
All Right, well, that was the mistake you made John the poison was
1:01:31
in both goblets. But yes, no, But what would you rank this
1:01:37
movie the classic storybook story My Heart Is like it from nineteen eighty seven.
1:01:45
Well, I believe that in some states it is in fact illegal to rate
1:01:51
this less than five stars. And you know, I mean, hey,
1:01:57
you know that that's fine. Y'all can live life the way that you do,
1:02:00
that's fine. I would say nostalgia wise, it's a five easy,
1:02:06
right, like, because there are moments that I love and that I quote
1:02:12
and I go back to. There are also moments that I don't love that
1:02:17
I get through to get to the ones that I do love, and they're
1:02:22
not long enough that I fast forward anything. But when I hit Billy Crystal,
1:02:28
I'm like, Okay, all right, we'll get through this. It's
1:02:30
fine, We'll get to the next thing. Or when we get to you
1:02:34
know, certain other moments, I'm like, oh, okay, all right,
1:02:37
Well, you know this isn't necessarily got the same energy. And I
1:02:42
think that there is a little bit of an issue with the energy of an
1:02:45
ego's quest versus Wesley's quest, and I mechanically it makes sense, but it
1:02:54
doesn't mesh as well as I think it could, and I think that the
1:03:02
visual sensibility. I get what everybody is saying, but there are films that
1:03:07
are shot for about the same basically. The only way I can look at
1:03:10
this I can't look at it and say, well, it's only sixteen million
1:03:14
dollars. I have to look at it and say they did it on purpose,
1:03:19
because if you tell me it was simply a budget limitation, I know
1:03:22
for a fact there are other films that had similar budget limitations that pulled off
1:03:27
more realism in certain scenes than the sword fight at the top of the cliffs,
1:03:32
those sorts of things. Now still love the movie. I will always
1:03:38
love. I will always come back to, I will always rewatch. But
1:03:44
given those things where in a grumpy enough day, I'd give it a four.
1:03:47
In a day where I don't want to get shot by Tristan, I'll
1:03:51
give it a five. I'll split the difference and give it a four and
1:03:53
a half. That's hilarious, because I thought you were gonna say, like
1:03:58
three, no half of Max, like you did all that talk and justification
1:04:02
and you like I would have accepted a four for you if you said four,
1:04:05
be like, yeah, that tracks. I think that's great. I
1:04:09
was very I was very much on the fence as to whether it's a four
1:04:13
or a four and a half. But ultimately, because there are moments in
1:04:17
this film that I consider absolutely stone cold iconic comic moments from the history of
1:04:26
film. Like there are scenes in this where I would point to them and
1:04:30
say, that is how you do comedy on screen. Now, how you
1:04:34
do comedy on screen perfectly is something like plane strains and automobiles. This isn't
1:04:40
that. But like I said, on a grumpy enough day, it's a
1:04:44
four, but today I'm given it a four and a half. Well,
1:04:47
I would not say such things if I were you, But yeah, no,
1:04:51
I mean talking about, you know, fast forwarding parts or skipping parts.
1:04:57
There is one part that I will routinely skip, and it's not because
1:05:00
it's a bad part, but I cannot hear if I listen to the not
1:05:09
to fifty part, it stays in my mind like for weeks. Like that
1:05:16
cry of pain and despair from Wesley in that moment is haunting. It is
1:05:23
so good that, like again, I love that scene, but I will
1:05:28
purposely choose to skip or mute at least that moment because I know I cannot
1:05:32
get that sound out of my head for a long time after because it is
1:05:38
so haunting, and you know, the albino won't let me. But yeah,
1:05:44
and then I love the you know again because people always talking about Princess
1:05:47
Bride because it's such a great five star movie. John. But I look
1:05:54
and I know in the movie that Wesley talks about in the aisle kene powder,
1:05:58
He's like, oh, both were poison than I built up in immunity.
1:06:01
There's a little fun theory that people have been floating around, which I
1:06:04
think also could be a possibility, even though he doesn't say that exactly,
1:06:10
is that there was no poison in the goblets, but the poison itself was
1:06:14
the I cane powder he had Vessini sniff, and so he was dead from
1:06:19
that point on. That was the trick, is He's like, you know,
1:06:23
inhale but don't touch, and that inhale of the odorless, tasteless io
1:06:29
cane powder is now Vessini's gonna die and literally everything else is just a charade
1:06:34
until he drops dead. And I'm like, oh, that actually makes a
1:06:39
little more sense than built up an immunity. Again, it's a story.
1:06:42
Anything could happen, but I kind of like that alternate thought as well,
1:06:47
to no one's surprised, I am also giving this a five. I will
1:06:51
also fully acknowledge that that last point from four to five is full nostalgia,
1:06:59
you know, whether you know, are we saying it's a perfect film.
1:07:01
Are we saying it's without flaw? You know? No, but it is
1:07:05
a highly quotable, memorable, fun movie comedy, and it just has so
1:07:14
many great characters that John couldn't even pick one. But no, I definitely
1:07:18
give this a five overall. And my even before when I was watching it
1:07:26
today, my daughter came in and she's like, oh, you're watching The
1:07:29
Princess Brian. I said, yeah, we're gonna podcast about it. And
1:07:30
they like listening to my podcasts and we've been listening through our two thousand and
1:07:35
one one and so she said, oh, I can't wait to listen to
1:07:39
you guys talk about it. So I made sure I kept the swearing down
1:07:43
so she'd be I'm sorry, honey that I didn't give it a five.
1:07:45
Please forgive me? All right? Well, John, if someone wanted to
1:07:51
find you and ask you about your favorite Matt painting backdrop, where would they
1:08:00
Where would they find you? Oh, drop a note in the or the
1:08:04
you know, the swamps of Despair, whatever it is, and just address
1:08:09
it to kestl chunky k s s l j u n kie. That's where
1:08:12
you can find me online. I think you combined fire, swamp and pit
1:08:15
of despair, but that's okay because those are bare locations. Yeah, and
1:08:20
Tristan, if someone wanted to find you to ask about your storybook story,
1:08:26
where would they go? Just go to the Insane Robin on letterbox and Twitter.
1:08:31
You can find me at those places. That's most likely where I'm going
1:08:34
to be. And if someone wanted to ask me about Humpty Humperdin Kumperdink,
1:08:40
they can go to doctor sci Fi dot com Dr sci Fi and you'll catch
1:08:45
us next week as we talk about the last film from the eighties with Rob
1:08:50
Reiner, when Harry met Sally here on Houselights, Join the Revolution, Join
1:08:58
the Net Party, kept up the