I saw The Princess Bride with my family when it first came out 20 years ago. I remember liking it at the time, but I never got on board with the cult following, so I only saw the film from beginning to end just that once. Of course, I caught snippets on cable about 100 times in the years after that, so I still remembered pretty much the entire story when I sat down to watch my 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition DVD the other day.
Plot summary (with possible spoilers): When a young boy (played by Fred Savage) stays home from school because he is sick, his grandfather (Peter Falk) comes over to babysit and read him a book. The book is the tale of The Princess Bride, which will be the main plot in the film. At first, the grandson is reluctant to hear the story because it has kissing in it, but as soon as the swordfights start up, he gets into it.
The Princess Bride is the story of Buttercup (Robin Wright), a beautiful young woman who falls in love with a farm boy named Westley (Cary Elwes). The two want to marry, but Westley has no money, so he decides to go off to sea to make his fortune, and then return for Buttercup.
Westley is gone for five years, during which time word reaches Buttercup that he was captured by The Dread Pirate Roberts, a man so vicious that he murders every captive he takes. Buttercup can only assume that Westley fell victim to the Dread Pirate Roberts and is now dead. As such, she has no choice but to marry the evil Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) of Florin. Buttercup doesn’t love him, of course, but can’t defy the Prince’s orders.
Prior to the wedding day, Buttercup is kidnapped by a villain named Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) and his two henchmen Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) and Fezzik (Andre the Giant). Unbeknownst to Buttercup, these men are actually following Prince Humperdinck’s orders. He wants to blame Buttercup’s abduction — and murder — on Florin’s enemies so that he has an excuse to go to war with them.
But as Vizzini, Inigo, and Fezzik are sailing away with Buttercup, they noticed that they’re being followed by another ship. It turns out that it’s the Dread Pirate Robert’s ship, and a Man in Black starts trailing them on foot when they alight. The Man in Black defeats Inigo in a swordfight, Fezzik in a test of strength, and Vizzini in a battle of intellect. He then takes Buttercup for himself — and reveals that he is Westley, her farm boy.
The reunion doesn’t last long, as Prince Humperdinck and his accomplice Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) are right on their trail. The Prince’s soldiers surround Westley and Buttercup, prompting Buttercup to surrender on the condition that Westley be set free unharmed. Humperdinck agrees, but as soon as Buttercup is out of earshot, he orders Rugen to kill Westley.
The rest of the film then deals with Westley’s attempts to escape Rugen’s clutches and rescue Buttercup before she marries Prince Humperdinck. Westley joins forces with Inigo and Fezzik for this purpose, and, this being a fairy tale, the rescue is a success.
My Reaction: While I’m certainly not one of those obsessive fans who can quote every line in the movie, I found that I still enjoyed The Princess Bride quite a bit even after all these years.
My favorite scenes are from the beginning when Westley is dressed up as the Man in Black and gets past Inigo, Fezzik, and Vizzini to rescue Buttercup the first time. The swordfight with Inigo was truly magnificent, as was the setup where Inigo graciously waited for the Man in Black to catch his breath before starting.
Unfortunately, the action slowed considerably once Westley was captured and taken to the Pit of Despair. It’s pretty tough to generate excitement when your hero is not even able to stand under his own power, and I have to wonder why the screenwriter wanted to go that route. I felt there should have been another swordfight between Westley and Humperdinck at the end, but that’s obviously not what we got.
Nevertheless, The Princess Bride is an entertaining film that overcomes a few slow spots to arrive at a satisfying conclusion after a mostly fun journey. I give this movie 6.5 stars out of 10 and recommend that you see it again if it’s been a while since your last viewing!