davidsrose

The Princess Bride holds up 35 years later as fresh as the day it was released, with an insanely talented cast, hysterical script, and impeccable direction. This is a film that everyone must see at least once...or there will be a dozen cultural touchstones that you will never understand.

As those who have read the books and seen the prior films already know, there is zero relation between the the plots in the two genres. This Bourne is no exception, but here it is taken to the extreme. There is no plot whatsoever! Instead, we get two hours of really, really excellent chase sequences. While the trendy, shaky, hand-held, fast-cut camera work gets to be a bit much after a while, the non-stop action makes up for it. This is one of those 'suspend disbelief', 'indestructible superhero', 'the CIA is all-powerful' films, but it's a delicious summer confection nonetheless. It has nowhere near the nuance or thoughtfulness quotient of something like Scorcese's The Departed, but it's nevertheless a real crowd pleaser. I saw this at a small private screening, and *everyone*, young and old, conservative and liberal, action-junkie or drama- snob, came away liking it.

With a title like this one, you'd expect the usual, fluffy, ET-type of superficial clip flick. To my surprise, however, this retrospective/interview documentary, hosted (quite well) by former Bond girl Maryam D'Abo, turns out to be highly watchable, and not just for all the requisite clips of attractive women in bikinis. D'Abo, who co-wrote the script as well as hosted the interviews, does an excellent job of 'bonding' (ouch!) with her fellow eye-candy compatriots, and it really is fun (and interesting) to see the evolution of the role over time.

Since the film was made some 40 years after Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore rolled in the hay with Sean Connery, and that image is firmly fixed in our cultural consciousness, it is somewhat disconcerting to see her now, white-haired and pushing 80 (but still regal). On the other hand, most of the more recent vintage actresses seem to have aged surprisingly well, and (at least to my mind) come across even sexier today than they did in their films. This is not the least because they are allowed to speak their minds without a script. Surprise, surprise, instead of just being decorative, many of them come across as being thoughtful, gracious and eloquent.

The interviews with D'Abo were filmed casually, usually in public settings such as restaurants, bars or parks, but with extremely high production values. And since the film was made with the support of the franchise owners, there are more than enough clips from the original films to satisfy even hard core fans.

While this was shot in 2002, AMC is running it in rotation now with the Bond films themselves, so I'd suggest that you set your Tivo to record it for you so that you can watch it at your leisure.