The Princess Bride (soundtrack)

The Princess Bride is the fourth soundtrack album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released on 12 November 1987 by Vertigo Records internationally, and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album contains music composed for the 1987 film The Princess Bride, directed by Rob Reiner. The album features the song "Storybook Love", written and performed by Willy DeVille and arranged by Mark Knopfler. In 1988, the song received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.

Background
In his audio commentary of the film on the Special Edition DVD, director Rob Reiner said that only Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits could create a soundtrack to capture the film's quirky yet romantic nature. Reiner was an admirer of Knopfler's work but did not know him before working on the film. He sent the script to him hoping he would agree to score the film. Knopfler agreed on one condition: that somewhere in the film Reiner would include the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) baseball cap (modified to say USS Ooral Sea) he wore as Marty DiBergi in the film This is Spinal Tap. Reiner was unable to produce the original cap, but did include a similar cap in the grandson's room. Later Knopfler said he was only joking about the hat.

Critical reception
In his review for AllMusic, Johnny Loftus gave the album four and a half out of five stars, praising Knopfler's ability to capture the varied dramatic elements of the film in the music.

The editorial reviewer on Filmtracks gave the album four out of five stars, calling it "an important piece of late-80's film music history."

In 1988, the song "Storybook Love", written by Willy DeVille and arranged by Mark Knopfler, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.

Track listing
All music was written by Mark Knopfler, except where indicated.

Personnel

 * Music


 * Mark Knopfler – guitars
 * Guy Fletcher – keyboards
 * Willy DeVille – vocals


 * Production


 * Mark Knopfler – producer
 * Bill Schnee – mixing
 * Marc De Sisto – engineer
 * Bob Ludwig – mastering
 * Steve Jackson – engineer, mixing ("Storybook Love")
 * Deborah Feingold – photography