"I would not say such things if I were you!"

Yesterday, I attended the screening of The Princess Bride with music played by live orchestra. The seating was insane and the parking was a nightmare, but I made it. Damn good thing these things don't start on time.

- I'd heard about The Princess Bride with music by a live orchestra a few years ago. As much as my hometown sees, I feared it would be something I'd dream about, but never get to experience for myself unless I sacrifice hundreds of dollars in travel expenses (hint, hint, David Newman's Matilda).

- The conductor was an affable fellow, sharing stories about meeting Peter Cook (the Impressive Clergyman) and alternate casting choices like Arnold Schwarzenegger as Fezzik (...no) and Danny DeVito as Vizzini (as indelible as Wallace Shawn is in the role, I would actually like to see that). However, he totally reminded me of Elmer Fudd in "A Corny Concerto". 

- Mark Knopfler's music was re-orchestrated by Mark Graham, who's worked on a bunch of scores for Alan Silvestri and Alexandre Desplat, among others, so the sound was in good hands.

- Now, I'm not a hater of Knopfler's synthesized score nor am I a great fan, but there's something about the original execution that felt of the film, if that made any sense. In particular, I really missed the guitar trills for when Inigo shows off the scars that the Six-Fingered Man left him.

- Still, the sword fight music really popped with an orchestra, However...

- Maybe, it was the sound mixing or the placement of music where there originally was none, but there were moments of overscoring that drowned out the dialogue, in particular "I ought to be after twenty years.".

- "A few steps from here and we'll be safe in the Fire Swamp." Nicely played, Billy Goldman.

- During the Westley vs. Rodent of Unusual Size fight, I noticed two things: a) I kind of was hoping that the ROUS would've met the tip of Westley's sword sooner than it did and b) Buttercup was not much help in that fight. Maybe not useless the way, say, Tiffany Case was in the climax of Diamonds Are Forever, but still, she could've bashed the ROUS with the club. (Something to take away as a writer: just because the woman is a damsel, they don't have to be a damsel-in-distress.) Still, this was mitigated by the way she bargained for Westley's life with Count Rugen and Prince Humperdinck.

- Thinking about damsels reminds me of the double feature I did last year of 21st century movies where the young leads were cast as fairy tale villains. While Damsel had Robin Wright coldly glower (and not much else) as the wicked Queen, Ella Enchanted greatly benefited from Cary Elwes chewing the scenery as Edgar, though even now I'm forced to wonder given that he had a talking snake sidekick and an almost permanent sneer on his face, no one pegged the character as a bad guy earlier.

- Following Westley recognizing Count Rugen as the Six-Fingered Man and him getting knocked out, there was an intermission. Maybe not that relevant, but I felt it was worth mentioning, mainly because of the cute girls in line ahead of me and the king-sized Kit Kat I picked up.

- I kind of wish I had taken down track listings of the pieces used. It's kind of a quirk of mine.

- The audience was laughing at a lot of the movie, which I can't say I was terribly upset by; this is a very funny movie. Still, my biggest laugh: "Give us the gate key." "I have no gate key." "Fezzik, tear his arms off." "Oh, you mean this gate key."

- Likewise, there were a lot of cheers when Inigo ended Rugen. Thinking about it, it's not hard to share the kid's frustration that Humperdinck lived because he was arguably worse: planning to kill Buttercup and turning the machine up to 50 on Westley. Even Rugen was horrified at this; he only wanted to go as high as 5. Granted, stiffing Inigo's father on the sword and murdering him were awful, but he could not have imagined the son carrying that hate in his heart.

- Overall, the experience was a good one. The movie still holds the power to enthrall young and old. The music...the orchestral execution was an interesting one, but it only emphasized how thin the score was on a melodic front. Besides 'Storybook Love', there wasn't anything to grab onto in terms of themes. Maybe, the swordfight theme and the little comic idea for Inigo and Fezzik. I'm glad I went, though. Don't get it twisted.