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Composed, Co-Performed and Produced by:
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Mark Knopfler
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Co-Performed by:
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Guy Fletcher
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Release Date:
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January 1st, 1987
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you, like many others in your generation, hold the film
dear to your heart and remember the romantic acoustic guitar music.
Avoid it... if you are turned away by the prospect of a rather corny,
albeit lovable score performed by just two men.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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The Princess Bride: (Mark Knopfler) For an entire
generation of teens and pre-teens, The Princess Bride was the
ultimate slumber party flick. Seen countless times by anyone in that age
bracket in the late 1980's, the Rob Reiner film lives on in the history of
movies as one of the wackiest and dumbest success stories in the romantic
comedy genre. With a decent cast, the film wasn't ashamed of its own campy
low-budget feel, catering to that teen logic and leaving parents shaking
their heads and searching for something more intelligent with which to
distract themselves. Several lines from the film, with the endlessly
repeating "You killed my father; prepare to die..." quote leading the pack,
would be imitated by comedians for several years to follow. As that
generation grew up, however, the film lost its unique appeal, and while it
served its film well at the time, the same can be said of the score for
The Princess Bride. Reiner recognized immediately that the film was
ridiculous and hearty enough to require a musical departure from the
norm.
Having enjoyed the Mark Knopfler scores for Dire
Straits and Local Hero, Reiner (who defined the film as an
"oddball") claims that his only choice for the assignment for The
Princess Bride was Knopfler. Known for his electronic and
guitar-dominated works, Knopfler's music would be a perfect fit for the
project, infusing a younger sounding, synthesized warmth to a similarly
directed film. Little did Knopfler know at the time that The Princess
Bride would end up being his best known composition... the career
defining piece that young girls everywhere would snatch up and sing along
to. The reception from the established film score community was one more of
distant amusement than anything else. The reason for this slight distance
between score fans and Knopfler's The Princess Bride is the same as
their reason for laughing off the film when they still see it in video
rental stores. The music is such a slice taken right from the center of the
corny Princess Bride cake that you can't help but remember the
ridiculous circumstances of the film (and the age at which we all saw
it).
Performed by only two individuals (Knopfler and Guy
Fletcher), the score won't blow you away. Instead, it steals your heart with
two opening cues of sweet and romantic (traditional) guitar performances.
The wishy-washy, echoing recording of the guitar, with its soothing
synthesized accompaniment, puts the listener into almost a dreamy state. The
same occurs with the keyboarding in the "Morning Ride", "Friend's Song," and
"Guide my Sword" cues, which often blind the listener with their shiny
major-key goodness. It is film score easy listening at its easiest during
much of its length. Unfortunately, the album is broken up by a handful of
unlistenable cues for action scenes, including the "Cliffs of Insanity,"
"Rodents of Unusual Size," and "Revenge" cues. The "Florin Dance" is another
extremely difficult listen. These troubles arise mostly because the
electronics can't produce varied or powerful enough action music without
becoming silly and dumb, and they can easily get on the nerves of the
album's listener. Nevertheless, the album still contains at least twenty
minutes of highly enjoyable, soft romance, and is capped off by a song
rendition of Knopfler's theme, performed by Willy DeVille. The album is
readily in print even though it was a very early Warner Brothers CD venture
(with all the usual warnings about how to correctly place your CD back into
its case --typical for the time). Overall, The Princess Bride is a
piece of late 80's film music history, albeit for just the younger
generation, but anyone who is a kid at heart could easily find enjoyment in
this album. ****
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Once Upon a Time... Storybook Love (4:00)
• 2. I Will Never Love Again (3:04)
• 3. Florin Dance (1:32)
• 4. Morning Ride (1:36)
• 5. The Friends' Song (3:02)
• 6. The Cliffs of Insanity (3:18)
• 7. The Sword Fight (2:43)
• 8. Guide my Sword (5:11)
• 9. The Fire Swamp and the Rodents of Unusual Size (4:47)
• 10. Revenge (3:51)
• 11. A Happy Ending (1:52)
• 12. Storybook Love - Willy DeVille (4:24)
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Insert includes a note from the director and still photography of the score's performers.
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