The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride is a 1973 comic adventure novel, with a touch of romance, by William Goldman.

Storyline

This plot summary is about the movie only. The book has several more scenes than the movie and a less optimistic ending.

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The heroine of The Princess Bride is the beautiful Buttercup (played by Robin Wright in the movie), who falls in love with her lowly stable boy Westley (Cary Elwes). Buttercup keeps asking Westley to do things for her and Westley's only answer is "As you wish". She soon realizes that when he's saying "As you wish", what it means is "I love you". Westley leaves to make his fortune, promising to return, but his ship is attacked at sea by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who is notorious for taking no prisoners. After several years of fearing him dead, Buttercup is forced by the law of the land to marry Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon), heir to the throne of Florin.

Related Topics:
Buttercup - Robin Wright - Westley - Cary Elwes - Dread Pirate Roberts - Prince Humperdinck - Chris Sarandon

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Buttercup is kidnapped by a bizarre trio of outlaws—the stunted genius Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), the expert swordsman Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), and the enormous and mighty Fezzik (André the Giant)—who have been hired to murder her and frame Florin's enemy Guilder for it so that Humperdinck can start a war. A masked man in black clothing follows them across the sea to the Cliffs of Insanity, where Inigo Montoya is ordered to stop him. Inigo reveals himself as a man of honor who goes out of his way to arrange a fair fight with the stranger including a surprisingly pleasant conversation while the pursuer is allowed to get some rest before the duel. Inigo reveals in this conversation that he has been studying fencing all his life so as to gain the skill necessary to avenge his father, who was murdered by a six-fingered man. In the ensuing fencing match, the masked man wins, but leaves the Spaniard alive out of respect for his immense skill in swordplay and his honorable behavior, saying as he knocks Inigo unconscious with the hilt of his sword, "I would as soon destroy a stained-glass window as an artist like yourself. But, as I can't have you following me..." (WHACK)

Related Topics:
Vizzini - Wallace Shawn - Inigo Montoya - Mandy Patinkin - Fezzik - André the Giant - Cliffs of Insanity - Duel - Fencing - Spaniard - Stained-glass

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Vizzini, realizing that Inigo Montoya has failed to stop the man in black, leaves Fezzik behind with orders to ambush and kill him. Fezzik, also honorable, makes himself known to the masked man and challenges him to a wrestling match. Though Fezzik is powerful, he is slow and used to throwing his weight around against swarms of men. The masked man uses this fact and his own agility against Fezzik, eventually climbing onto his back and using a sleeper hold against him, thus non-lethally disabling him. His parting words to Fezzik are, "I don't envy you the headache you will have when you awake. But, in the meantime, rest well and dream of large women.".

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Finally, the masked man catches up with Vizzini, who is holding Buttercup hostage, and proposes a "battle of the wits to the death". Vizzini must choose between two cups of wine, one of which the man says has been poisoned with 'iocane powder'. After trying to cheat, Vizzini loses the battle of wits and dies: the masked man, having previously developed an immunity to iocane, has poisoned both cups. The masked man takes Buttercup with him as he flees from Prince Humperdinck, who is now in pursuit of his fianceè's kidnappers. Buttercup deduces that the man in black is the Dread Pirate Roberts, but it is only after she shoves him down a steep hill and hears him shout "As you wish!" that she realizes he is her long-lost love.

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It turns out that the former Dread Pirate Roberts had indeed attacked Westley's ship, but had made an exception and kept Westley alive after Westley said to him "Please, I need to live". Eventually, Roberts secretly retired, passing the name and the ship on to Westley; Roberts' name had originally been Ryan (it turns out that by then the name Roberts was just a nom de guerre), and he had inherited the ship and name from another faux Roberts, who was originally named Cummerbund, who had inherited the name and ship from the original Dread Pirate Roberts, who had retired 15 years earlier to Patagonia.

Related Topics:
Nom de guerre - Patagonia

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After surviving the three terrors of the Fire Swamp (Lightning Sand, spurts of fire from the ground and the ROUSs, or Rodents Of Unusual Size), the two are captured by Prince Humperdinck and the menacing Count Rugen (Christopher Guest), who, incidentally, has six fingers on his right hand. Buttercup is returned to the palace to await her wedding – which, now that she knows Westley is alive, is a fate worse than death. Westley is taken by Count Rugen to the Pit of Despair, where he is tended to by an albino (Mel Smith). He there learns that he is to be tortured - for the Count's "Pain research" purposes - by a device of the Count's own design, "The Machine," which functions by sucking life from its victim.

Related Topics:
Christopher Guest - Six fingers - Mel Smith

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Inigo Montoya and Fezzik meet up again, and Inigo learns of the existence of Count Rugen and the capture of Westley. They decide to go on a quest to avenge Montoya's father's death and prevent the marriage of Buttercup and Humperdinck. Finding that Westley has been tortured to death by the Prince, they turn to Miracle Max (Billy Crystal), a washed-up wizard who was fired by Prince Humperdinck, and his wife Valerie (Carol Kane), who pronounce Westley to be merely "mostly dead" and resurrect him. Westley comes up with a plan to invade the castle, which succeeds, putting the three of them inside. They are split up, Montoya meets and defeats his father's killer, and Westley bluffs his way out of a swordfight with Prince Humperdinck, despite hardly having the strength to stand. In classic fairy-tale style, the party rides off into the sunset on conveniently-provided white horses.

Related Topics:
Miracle Max - Billy Crystal - Valerie - Carol Kane

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