MovieChat Forums > Silverado (1985) Discussion > The Princess Bride of Westerns

The Princess Bride of Westerns

posted 19 years ago by CheeryToes
16 replies | jump to latest

It's the dialogue - it has GREAT dialogue. Exceptionally quotable, great dramatic moments, and great light moments. Someone said it's a "spoof" of Westerns - but I think of it more like The Princess Bride - an homage to Westerns like The Princess Bride was an homage to all those Saturday afternoon action/adventure/costumed love stories we watched when I (which dates me) was a kid. It's also like The Princess Bride in, once again, the dialogue is just fabulous. When Emmett finds Paden in the desert resting with his head on the rock and he has to bend over to hear what he's mumbling "pleased to meet ya" or when Paden is reunited with his horse and he says "Can't you see this animal loves me" and the Sheriff says "I had a woman kiss me that way, didn't make her my wife" ...When Linda Hunt says "He can't hurt me if he's dead" ...just fantastic lines. When Mal tells Emmett "and Emmett - they took the boy" and he stands up and takes off his head bandage with that dramatic flare...what a hoot! It's a great movie. My only beef with this movie is the lame lame lame use of Rosanna Arquette, no offense, but she is not attractive and her personality, or lack there of, does not justify any of those guys being willing to follow her. Blech...(of course, I adore The Princess Bride and loathe the fire swamp scene...totally unbelievable ROUS's and what's with Buttercup just looking at Wesley like she is stoned out of her mind the whole time and not even moving to save herself or help Wesley...jeesh...what was my point...oh yes, you can still have parts of a movie you don't love and love the movie as a whole)By the way, I saw this movie on the big screen and the opening scene when Emmett has the gun fight inside the cabin and then opens the door - the way the door opens on that unbelievable landscape is stunningly beautiful. Ok - I'm done now.

"Anybody want a peanut"

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jacobmrley 19 years ago

the answer to your sig is red and any true ffan of the smurfs knows this.

[–] richardpaperboy 18 years ago

I think the best lines in the movie is when Hobart thinks that Emmitt and Paden are Baxter and Hawley, he asks Emmitt and Emmitt says that hes not Baxter and Padens not Hawley, Hobart asks Emmitt your not Baxter? Emmitt says no,then he asks Paden your not Baxter either? Paden says no I'm not Hawley. That still cracks me up even after 20 years. The only part of the movie I think is stupid is at the end of the gunfight at the ranch, Jake knows that Emmitt and the kid are in the ranch house, he fires several shots into the house not knowing who was where, he could have easily killed his brother or nephew,I was surprised they left that in there. After he finished shooting, Paden tells him that they are on the roof. But other than that it was a great movie.

[–] jfemaleder 18 years ago

What's all this then? Today, my territory ends here. (maybe misquoted, but I love John Cleese in a western, reminds of Rogue Herring)

[–] tooterturtle 17 years ago

I second, "What's all this then?"

It's one of those quotable lines around our house. I still laugh whenever I hear it.

[–] bigdays99-1 17 years ago

I like the look on Emmett's face when Mal is shooting at him in the [wagon train thieve's] hideout and Emmett looks back at him because he's shooting too close.

"Dude"...

[–] grantwparks 16 years ago

Tons of great lines.

One that I found notably poetic was the first night that all four of our heroes are camped together and Mal is telling his story - about his family's farm just outside Silverado:

"the letter took a long time to find me, but when it did, it was just the right time"

Cleese is wonderfully entertaining in his brief part; I wish there had been a way to make him more of the story. I love how he casually scratches his hairline while munching a pastry, leisurely swallows and says "I happen to know where that gentleman is".

[–] belacane 17 years ago

Jake knows that Emmitt and the kid are in the ranch house, he fires several shots into the house not knowing who was where, he could have easily killed his brother or nephew,I was surprised they left that in there.

Yeah, I just watched this tonight for about the 25th time and that's the first time I noticed that particular part. Bad editing, I guess.

"Hello, Melchett! Still worshipping God? Last I heard, he'd started worshipping ME!"

[–] essmeluke 16 years ago

I completly agree. At times i was like...Should I be laughing??? I jumped in halfway. Somtime I will have to watch the whole thing.

[–] rareandfirsts 15 years ago

Superb analogy. I have never thought about it before, but you are spot on.

So many great one liners and I will agree with the above posters in that Cleese's statement about his territory boundaries is classic. But, John Cleese & Company have SO many great one-liners.

I'm so tired of the club scene... So are the baby seals.

[–] BuckRogersTwentyFifth 15 years ago

I agree. One of my very favorite westerns. I would hardly call it a spoof, Blazing Saddles is a spoof. Great dialogue spoken by a top-notch cast, multiple story lines intertwined, humor, excitment, drama, what more could you want?

I don't have an opinion. The word "opinion" implies the possibility I'm wrong.

[–] lexyladyjax 12 years ago

Satirical homage is more the word for it IMO, but whatever it's called it's a great film.

[–] vestdennis 12 years ago

It might indeed be a "homage to the old Westerns" but I didn't really need that in a movie. It lacks the gritty elements of the actual old West, from the dialogue to the surroundings.

Things are too tidy for it to be taken seriously as a real Western, but it is a fun movie to watch. Just don't expect it to show the real Old West...

[–] MurphAndTheMagicTones 12 years ago

I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it The Princess Bride of Westerns. The Princess Bride belongs in the National Archives and I'm not so sure about this movie. But I will say it's The Abyss of Western movies: greatly unappreciated and well-crafted. Great dialogue, and I would have loved to see that opening scene in a theatre instead of on TV, not too unlike how people who saw Lost in Translation on TV lost a little something there. Same beef about Rosanna Arquette but the kid (Augie) was a bit on the annoying side, too.

I thought the scene where Emmett whipped off the bandanna was too cheesy, but I don't blame that on Scott Glenn. They overplayed the music, and there's no way to be subtle in a scene like that.

---
"You gotta look out for #1. But don't step in #2!"---Thornton Melon, Back to School

[–] Captain_Augustus_McCrae 12 years ago

Might be more accurate to say that the Princess Bride was the Silverado of fairy tale movies, since Silverado was released two years earlier.

"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae

[–] telepathic_barmaid 9 years ago

This thread has been here quite a while--just caught the movie the other night and was looking at its IMDB page for the first time.

I agree with your comparison, and just love this movie. The dialogue is great and there are so many good actors in it. One of my favorite Cleese roles, it's just so random.

When this was being filmed I was in high school and lived near the shoot in New Mexico. One of my mom's friends knew an artist working on the set, so she got to meet some of the people working on it. That, and the familiarity of some of the landscape guaranteed its place as one of my all-time favorites.

Someone on this thread mentions the beautiful valley that the camera pans over after those guys try to kill Emmett in the opening of the film. That was shot from Overlook Park in White Rock, a suburb of Los Alamos. Back then it was *the* place to go parking...or, so I heard.