October 24, 2012
The Story’s the Thing: The Princess Bride
We all know and love the power of story, and there’s nothing better than finding new ones to lose yourself in. Check back on the blog every Wednesday for an eclectic smattering of the bloggers’ favorite stories of all kinds. We hope you’ll discover new worlds, friends, and adventures–and maybe get re-acquainted with some old ones! Tell us what you think, and leave your own story suggestions in the comments.
“Heroes. Giants. Villains. Wizards. True Love. Not just your basic, average, everyday, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, ho-hum fairy tale.”
Image courtesy bluraymedia.ign.com
The Princess Bride (from 1987) is a classic fairy tale movie, both hilarious and heart-wrenching in the same stroke. The story starts off at the bedside of a young, modern-day boy playing a video game on his bed, various Christmas decorations scattered about the room. The boy’s grandfather comes to see him with a present: the novel Princess Bride. Disgruntled at first to being forced to listen to a book (oh, the horror!), he consents to listening to the story, so long as there are no kissing parts. Well…
Image courtesy galathys.com
The story of the Princess Bride is one of True Love. Buttercup and Westley are madly in love, and Westley goes off to find his fortune but is captured and killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts. Fast forward five years, and Buttercup is reluctantly engaged to be married to Prince Humperdink, though she will never love him.
Enter a very strange and convoluted cast of characters and their sad/hilarious back stories: Fezzik the Giant, Inigo Montoya the Spaniard, and Vizzini the Sicilian. Inigo has spent his entire life searching for the six-fingered man who killed his father, with the aim of dueling and defeating him. Fezzik and Inigo work for Vizzini, and have been hired out in a convoluted plan to kidnap and kill Buttercup, as she is the future bride of Prince Humperdink, the end result being to start a war between Guilder and Florin.
Fezzik- You never said anything about killing anyone.
Vizzini- I’ve hired you to help me start a war. It’s an prestigious line of work, with a long and glorious tradition.
Fezzik- I just don’t think it’s right. Killing an innocent girl.
Vizzini- Am I going mad, or did the word “think” escape your lips? You were not hired for your brains, you hippopotamic land mass!
Inigo Montoya- I agree with Fezzik.
Vizzini- Oh, the sot has spoken. What happens to her is not truly your concern. I will kill her. And remember this, never forget this: when I found you, you were so slobbering drunk, you couldn’t buy brandy! (turning to Fezzik) And you: friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless! Do you want me to send you back to where you were? Unemployed, in Greenland?
Buttercup is rescued by the Dread Pirate Roberts – who turns out to be her lost love, Westley – and they brave the dangers of the Fire Swamp: flame spurts, lightning sand (much worse than quick sand) and the R.O.U.S.’s – Rodents of Unusual Size.
Image courtesy entertainmentmaven.com
What is your favorite scene from the movie? Leave it in the comments!
Amber Surface
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I actually like the book better than the movie because the author William Goldman inserts hilarious commentary throughout the story. He has all of these “sidebar” moments that aren’t part of the story but are part of his experience with the original story and his experience shaping the story that we know and love today.
My favorite scene is probably the one with Vizzini and the Dread Pirate Roberts, in which they have a battle of wits. I also really love the “to the pain” monologue.
Anna Good
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I definitely agree that the book was amazing! I really need to re-read it, because now most of what I remember is the Buttercup’s Baby bit, but that might be simply because I knew the movie first.
My favorite scene is the one where they’re on the boat and Fezzik and Inigo are having the rhyming conversation.