Inconthievable!

[Guy Profumo]

William Goldman, author of "The Princess Bride" has died at the age of 87.

[Snake Plissken]

As he didn't wish.

Bloody brilliant film. RIP, sir.

[adams house cat]

Wrote "Butch Cassidy..." and scores of others. And a fine book on screenwriting. RIP.

[Hot Pepsi]

Sorry to hear that.

I just listened to the Audible version of The Princess Bride, read by Rob Reiner. Excellent short book and excellent film. And of course he did a lot of other stuff too - some great and some not so great - but it was diverse and ambitious.

[Guy Profumo]

As he didn't wish.

Bloody brilliant film. RIP, sir.

The book is better.


And as he rightly said in the introduction to the later editions, "dollars for donuts if you bought this book because you've seen the film"

My mate was in the film as well.

[jwdd27]

As well as Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (his original screenplay), he also won an Oscar for All The President's Men, and came up with the "follow the money" line, which didn't appear in Woodward and Bernstein's book/notes. He claimed to be unhappy with the end product because of re-writes and interference, but that's Hollywood I guess.

The Princess Bride is on the rather long list of films I've never seen. I don't even remember it coming out.

[Hot Pepsi]

The Princess Bride is a classic. I don't remember it coming out either. It was one of those that built an audience by word of mouth after it was released on VHS.

[Lucy Waterman]

Fucking sad, even at 87. My unimaginative choice as best screenwriter ever. This is as sad for me as Bowie. Not many on the tier above.

1. Butch Cassidy
2. The Princess Bride (book)
3. The Princess Bride (film)
4. Which Lie Did I Tell
5. All The Presidents Men
6. Adventures In The Screen Trade
7. Marathon Man
8. Misery
9. The Ghost And The Darkness

To have Misery at 8 in your life’s work is some pretty good going. Oh, and the book/film order on the Princess Bride isn’t an affectation. The film is spectacularly, spellbindingly wonderful. The book is better.

Come back to life, Bill. Take that big pill and don’t go swimming for half an hour afterwards.

[Hot Pepsi]

I don't know if the book is better. The film has the "maaaawwwage" bit and the book doesn't.

[Lucy Waterman]

I’d i can encourage people to see any of his work it’s The Ghost And The Darkness. Indifferently directed, badly miscast. But the story and the writing is just peerless.

[Lucy Waterman]

Yeah but the book has the Zoo Of Death and the film doesn’t. I love Cook, but...

[Amor de Cosmos]

As well as Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (his original screenplay), he also won an Oscar for All The President's Men, and came up with the "follow the money" line, which didn't appear in Woodward and Bernstein's book/notes. He claimed to be unhappy with the end product because of re-writes and interference, but that's Hollywood I guess.

Supposedly Carl Bernstein and his main squeeze Nora Ephron were very difficult over the screenplay of AtPM. Writers vs writer I guess. Anyway farewell Mr Goldman, and thanks for the good times.

[Hot Pepsi]

I felt bad for the animals in the zoo of death.

[Hot Pepsi]

Supposedly Carl Bernstein and his main squeeze Nora Ephron were very difficult over the screenplay to AtPM. Writers vs writer I guess. Anyway farewell Mr Goldman, and thanks for the good times.

Yeah. This is discussed on the Rewatchables podcast, which I recommend.

[Lucy Waterman]

His screenplays are often superficially unimpressive because he is relatively uninterested in dialogue, especially compared to similarly venerated screenwriters like Robert Towne or Aaron Sorkin (possibly explaining why unlike those others, he never worked with Warren Beatty, to whom dialogue was everything). Goldman said he was all about structure - I think he’s all about action, in the simplest and most literal sense rather than meaning gunfights etc. He’s a writer of stuff happening.

[Hot Pepsi]

I’d like to read more of his books.