The Princess Bride

1987

Directed By: Rob Reiner

Screenplay By: William Goldman

Starring: Cary Elwes; Mandy Patinkin; Chris Sarandon; Christopher Guest; Wallace Shawn; Andre the Giant; Fred Savage; Robin Wright; Peter Falk; Peter Cook; Mel Smith; Carol Kane; Billy Crystal

Based On: The Princess Bride by William Goldman

A grandfather visits his sick grandson, offering to read him a story, The Princess Bride. As his grandfather begins to read the first few paragraphs, the boy is hesitant: He doesn't want to hear a "gooey" love story. The grandfather stops reading, assuring the boy the story is an adventure with sword fighting, pirates, treasures, criminals, giants, and a brave hero, so the boy concedes to continue listening. These scenes persist in this fashion, each time with the grandfather supposedly convincing the boy to continuing listening, although the boy demonstrates obvious interest in the story's characters and plot.

As the grandfather reads to his grandson, the scene switches to a live version of the story. We meet Buttercup, a young woman living on a farm, and her farm boy, Wesley. Eventually, they realize they both love each other, so Wesley leaves in search of his fortune to garner his worthiness in the eyes of her parents and society; however, word reaches Buttercup that Wesley's ship is attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who is infamous for not leaving anyone he encounters alive. Years later, Buttercup agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck, but before the wedding she is kidnapped. The story unfolds with Buttercup encountering a variety of characters who each seem to have their own private intentions concerning her personal and romantic well-being. As Prince Humperdinck and a mysterious masked man dressed in black (obviously presented as Wesley finally returned but unnoticed by Buttercup) pursue the kidnapped Buttercup, we discover the true sentiments and motivations behind both of her relationships with each man.

The Princess Bride, despite its unimaginative and cliched plot structure, delivers tremendously humorous characters and quotable dialogue; it's a true example of are and art done well, by taking an overused formula (or art form), such as the predetermined happy-ending romantic storyline, and creating something wonderfully thought-provoking, poignant, and entertaining (remaining in said art form.)

I think most people would agree, The Princess Bride does not deliver one bad performance from its actors (even Andre the Giant--okay, maybe he wasn't the greatest, but he still succeeded in his role.) The story's fun and carefree nature allows the entire cast to remain rememberable, although Wesley's (Cary Elwes') touching and meaningful one-liner, "As you wish," Vizzini's (Wallace Shawn's) repetitive, "Inconceivable!", and Inigo Montoya's (Mandy Patinkin's) quotable dialogue have gained iconic status.  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Since this adaptation is one of the extremely few films achieving higher regard than the novel it is based on, I won't feature the novel on this blog; however, I would like to mention the unique convention William Goldman incorporated when he wrote the novel. Goldman created a fictitious author, "S (Simon) Morgenstern" who supposedly penned the original novel, The Princess Bride, of which Goldman presents as an "abridged" version. This pretext is ingenious in itself and rather complicated to explain in the scope of this post, so if it interests you, pick up a copy of Goldman's book. And, at the risk of sounding pedestrian, his novel and his employed technique are pretty downright cool.