George R.R. Martin’s List of Top 10 Fantasy Films Ever Made

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1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy

I suppose I could list these as my Top 3, but they are really one long movie (very long if you watch the extended cuts with their extra footage, which are my preferred versions) just as the Tolkien "trilogy" was actually one long novel sliced into three parts by publisher fiat. Lord of the Rings was long thought to be unfilmable, and the various animated attempts from Ralph Bakshi and Rankin-Bass went a long way to proving the truth of that, but Peter Jackson's magnificent epic refuted all the naysayers. Elijah Wood was very good as Frodo and Sean Astin even better as Sam. Viggo Mortensen doesn't fit my own mental image of Strider, but soon won me over all the same. Sean Bean made an amazing Boromir, and Ian McKellan was the perfect Gandalf. The artistry that went into the making of Gollum still astonishes. Yes, they left out Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire. I missed the latter (the former, not so much). This was as faithful and reverent an adaptation as could ever have been hoped for. If you don't like these films, you don't like fantasy.

2. The Princess Bride (1987)

William Goldman's 1973 novel was a delight, and Rob Reiner's 1987 film version brought it masterfully to the screen. With Goldman handling the adaptation himself, the movie managed to capture all of the book's charm and wit--no easy task. The casting was perfect in this one. Cary Elwes as the Man in Black, the lovely Robin Wright as the beautiful Princess Buttercup, Andre the Giant, Billy Crystal, Peter Falk, and Fred Savage in the framing story (a rather different frame than the one in the novel, where Goldman himself is a character, but it worked wonderfully)… and of course Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya, everyone's favorite swashbuckler. The Man in Black's three duels are each classics in their own way, especially his confrontation with Inigo, which ranks right up with Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone as one of the great cinematic swordfights of all time. And Goldman's dialogue has never been crisper or funnier. "Why are you smiling?" It would have been inconceivable not to put this one on the list.

3. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
4. Ladyhawke (1985)
5. Dragonslayer (1981)
6. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
7. Dark City (1998)
8. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
9. Beauty and the Beast (1946)

10. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Yes, of course it's a fantasy film. Unless you believe that the Ark of the Covenant really does have the power to melt Nazis. All of the Indiana Jones films have their moments (well, except for the last one, maybe), but Raiders stands head and shoulders above the rest. Lawrence Kasdan's screenplay was much stronger than any of the sequels, the concept was fresher, and Harrison Ford actually seemed to be having a good time playing Indy. The scene where our hero faces the scimitar-wielding bad guy with all the flashy moves, draws his gun, and blows him away was so sudden, unexpected, and delightful that audiences seeing it for the first time always went wild. But there were plenty of other great moments, too. Drinking contests with sherpas. "Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?" Indy taking out that entire convoy full of Nazis, one by one by one. And of course the climactic opening of the Ark. The later Indiana Jones movies have rehashed so much of this that it is now hard to recall how fresh and exciting these sequences once were. None of sequel villains could match the urbane French archeologist Belloq (Rene Freeman), that sinister Peter Lorre-ish hench-Nazi (Ronald Lacey), or that treacherous little bastard of a monkey. None of Indy's later sidekicks was as good as John Rhys-Davies as Sallah. The biggest difference, though, was the female lead. Karen Allen was wonderful as Marion Ravenwood. She was the yin to Indy's yang, the pepper to his salt, and the chemistry between them was palpable. The leading ladies in the sequels were utterly forgettable in comparison. Indeed, I've forgotten most of them.

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