More Fantasy Favorites
Labyrinth came out in 1986 and The Princess Bride came out in 1987, but I saw both of them around 1988. I wasn’t aware that Labyrinth even existed until I was reading up on George Lucas. After the movie Willow, I was eager see more of his work aside from Star Wars, of course. After I read about Labyrinth, I went to the video store downtown—Rack O Videos—and rented it. I’m not sure how I came upon The Princess Bride, but it has remained a favorite.
I immediately was taken with the teenage girl Sarah playing dress-up, as I loved playing dress-up and pretend at the time as well. For ages I wondered if there was an actual book called Labyrinth that she was reading from, but I found nothing. The words she spoke from her favorite book rang true for me. “Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom is as great…You have no power over me.”
I knew that the famous Greek Labyrinth might have been inspiration for the fantasy adventure. I never could find much information on what inspired the story. There was a reference to Brian Froud’s artwork is all. I liked that it was live action mixed with Muppets. It was an interesting change-up from the fantasy cartoons of the era. I liked Jennifer Conley and thought she was pretty. David Bowie as the Goblin King was cool. Perhaps it was un-cool of me, but I enjoyed telling people to go to the eternal bog of stench. I thought it was a creative way of saying go to hell. lol.
The Princess Bride was funny. The Wonder Years was huge back in 1988 and I thought it was cool to see Fred Savage in something besides his new TV show. Princess Buttercup was beautiful and I loved her long hair and wonderful white gown. I liked to imagine I was traveling with the dashing Dread Pirate Roberts into the Fire Swamp, where I met Rodents of Unusual Size. It was also incredibly fun to repeat, “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!” I would re-enact the sword fighting scene at the top of the cliff with friends. Throwing the word “Inconceivable,” into conversations every now and again was also known to happen.
I did read The Princess Bride book by William Goldman. It was published in 1973, but I didn’t read it until something like 1990. It was laugh out loud funny just like the movie. I was surprised to find out the William Goldman has had a long career in Hollywood. He won awards for his work on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as well as All the President’s Men. Not to mention all the unaccredited writing he’s done on movies such as Good Will Hunting, Indecent Proposal, Last Action Hero and A Few Good Men. He’s even done work on several Stephen King movies including; Dolores Claiborne, Dreamcatcher and Hearts in Atlantis.
carilynn27 