The Princess Bride is a 1987 American fantasy-adventure-comedy film directed and co-produced by Rob Reiner and starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, André the Giant, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, Peter Falk, Fred Savage, Billy Crystal and Carol Kane. Adapted by William Goldman from his novel of the same name, it tells the story of a swashbuckling farmhand named Westley, accompanied by companions befriended along the way, who must rescue his kidnapped true love Princess Buttercup from the evil Prince Humperdinck. The film preserves the novel's metafictional narrative style by presenting the story as a book being read by a grandfather to his sick grandson.
The film was first released by 20th Century Fox in the United States and by Interaccess Film Distribution in international markets on September 25, 1987, and received widespread critical acclaim. After having only modest initial box office success, it has over time become a cult film and gained recognition as one of the greatest films of the 1980s as well as one of Reiner's best works. The film is number 50 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies", number 88 on The American Film Institute's (AFI) "AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions" list of the 100 greatest film love stories, and 46 in Channel 4's 50 Greatest Comedy Films list. The film also won the 1988 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the People's Choice Award at the 12th Toronto International Film Festival. In 2016, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
Plot
In the frame story, a grandfather reads a novel called The Princess Bride to his sick grandson, who reluctantly listens.
Buttercup is a young woman living on a farm in the kingdom of Florin. Her farmhand Westley obediently follows her stringent commands, always responding with "As you wish." Buttercup eventually realizes Westley is saying he loves her, and she reciprocates his feelings. Westley leaves to seek his fortune overseas so they can marry, but his ship is attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who infamously leaves no survivors.
Five years later, Buttercup, still grief-stricken, is forcibly betrothed to Florin's arrogant Prince Humperdinck. Before the wedding, she is kidnapped by crafty Sicilian criminal Vizzini and his accomplices: gentle giant Fezzik, and expert Spanish swordsman Inigo Montoya, who seeks a six-fingered man that killed his father. A masked man in black pursues them across the sea, as do Humperdinck and his soldiers.
Atop the Cliffs of Insanity, the man in black defeats Inigo in a sword duel and knocks him out, chokes Fezzik into unconsciousness, and kills Vizzini by tricking him into drinking poison. He absconds with Buttercup ahead of Humperdinck's party. When Buttercup identifies him as the Dread Pirate Roberts, she rebukes him for killing Westley and shoves him into a ravine. While tumbling down, he shouts, "As you wish!" Realizing he is Westley, Buttercup tumbles after him and they reunite. The couple then flees into the dangerous Fire Swamp to avoid Humperdinck's party.
In the Fire Swamp, Westley explains that the "Dread Pirate Roberts" is an inherited title. The previous Roberts spared and recruited Westley, then retired and passed the mantle on to him. Having found Buttercup, Westley intends to do the same. Humperdinck captures the couple at the Fire Swamp's exit, but Buttercup agrees to return with Humperdinck after he promises to release Westley. Humperdinck then secretly orders his advisor Count Rugen, the six-fingered man, to take Westley to his torture chamber, the Pit of Despair.
After a nightmare, Buttercup threatens to kill herself if Humperdinck marries her. He placates her by promising to find Westley, then privately confides in Rugen that he plans to murder Buttercup, which Vizzini failed to do, and subsequently declare war on the neighboring country of Guilder. To maintain the ruse, Humperdinck has his enforcers organize a "brute squad" to clear out the nearby thieves' forest. Fezzik, as part of the brute squad, finds Inigo drunk in the forest, sobers him up, and informs him of Count Rugen's existence. Recalling Westley's versatility and intelligence, Inigo and Fezzik search for him to help them kill Rugen.
Buttercup discovers Humperdinck's duplicity and labels him a coward. Enraged, he imprisons her and tortures Westley seemingly to death. Inigo and Fezzik follow Westley's screams to the Pit, discover his lifeless body, and take it to Miracle Max, a folk healer whom Humperdinck recently fired. Max declares that Westley is only "mostly dead", and after Inigo promises that Westley can humiliate Humperdinck, Max and his wife concoct a pill to revive him.
Fezzik and Inigo revive Westley with the pill, rendering him conscious but barely able to move. By impersonating the Dread Pirate Roberts, the three infiltrate the castle as the wedding begins and encounter Rugen, who flees with Inigo in pursuit. Despite an ambush from Rugen, Inigo kills him. At the wedding, Humperdinck impatiently rushes the ceremony, then sends Buttercup to her chambers. Before she can commit suicide, Westley intercepts Buttercup and reminds her that she never gave her vows, invalidating the marriage. Humperdinck discovers them and challenges Westley to a duel, but Westley intimidates Humperdinck into submission. Inigo reunites with the couple, and Westley offers him the title of Dread Pirate Roberts. The three escape on horseback with Fezzik, and as dawn breaks, Westley and Buttercup share a passionate kiss.
The sick grandson eagerly asks his grandfather to read him the story again the next day. His grandfather replies, "As you wish."
Cast
Additional cast members include Betsy Brantley as the mother of Savage's character; Margery Mason as the Ancient Booer who heckles Buttercup in her dream; Willoughby Gray and Anne Dyson as the King and Queen of Florin; Malcolm Storry as chief enforcer Yellin; Paul Badger as an assistant brute; and Anthony Georghiou and Danny Blackner as the Rodents Of Unusual Size.
Production Development Rob Reiner was gifted a copy of The Princess Bride by his father. The 1973 fantasy romance novel is a fairy tale metafictionally presented as an abridgment of a longer work by the fictional S. Morgenstern, and Goldman's commentary asides are constant throughout. He decided he wanted to make the film adaptation after successfully demonstrating his filmmaking skill with the release of This Is Spinal Tap in 1984. During production of Stand by Me, released in 1986, Reiner had spoken to an executive at Paramount Pictures regarding what his next film would be, and suggested the adaptation of The Princess Bride. He was told they could not, leading Reiner to discover that several studios had previously attempted to bring Goldman's book to the big screen without success.
Those previous attempts included 20th Century Fox, which paid Goldman $500,000 for the film rights and to do a screenplay in 1973. Richard Lester was signed to direct and the movie was almost made, but the head of production at Fox was fired and the project was put on hiatus. Goldman subsequently bought back the film rights to the novel.Goldman, 2000 pp. 25–26 Other directors had also attempted to adapt the book, including François Truffaut, Robert Redford and Norman Jewison, and at one point, Christopher Reeve was interested in playing Westley in one planned adaptation.William Goldman, The Big Picture?: Who Killed Hollywood and Other Essays, Applause, 2000 p 189 Reiner found success by gaining financial support from Norman Lear, whom Reiner knew from All in the Family and who had funded production of This Is Spinal Tap, with the production to be distributed by 20th Century Fox.Goldman, 2000 p. 27 Reiner worked closely with Goldman to adapt the book for the screenplay.
In a 2011 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reiner acknowledged that then-20th Century Fox head Barry Diller also had a prominent role in the film's production, instructing him to make it a film which, like The Wizard of Oz, could instead find greater success over time rather than immediately after its initial release.
Casting Reiner had quickly decided on Cary Elwes for Westley, based on his performance in Lady Jane; however, during the casting period in Los Angeles, Elwes was in West Germany on set for Maschenka. Reiner flew out to West Berlin to meet with Elwes, confirming his appropriateness for the role. While Reiner and casting director Jane Jenkins auditioned other actors for Westley, they knew Elwes was perfect for the part. Elwes had read the book in his childhood and was enamored with the character of Westley, but never imagined that he would ever have the opportunity to play him.
Robin Wright was cast late in the process, about a week before filming. Uma Thurman, Meg Ryan, Sean Young, Suzy Amis, Courteney Cox, Alexandra Paul and Whoopi Goldberg all auditioned for the role. Wright's agent had heard of the casting call and encouraged Wright to audition. Though initially shy, Wright impressed Jenkins, and later Reiner. They invited Wright to come meet Goldman at his house. Jenkins recalls: "The doorbell rang. Rob went to the door, and literally, as he opened the door, [Wright] was standing there in this little white summer dress, with her long blonde hair, and she had a halo from the sun. She was backlit by God. And Bill Goldman looked across the room at her, and he said, 'Well, that's what I wrote.' It was the most perfect thing." Moreover, Wright adopted a British accent for her role, reflecting the convention in medieval-set fantasy films of using British accents to evoke a historical European setting. Mandy Patinkin and Wallace Shawn were early choices for the cast; Shawn in particular was chosen as Vizzini due to his diminutive size to contrast that of the giant Fezzik. Danny DeVito was considered for the role of Vizzini.
When Goldman originally shopped his novel in the early 1970s, his first choice for Fezzik was André the Giant, whose wrestling schedule left him unavailable for filming. Goldman's second choice was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who at that time was almost unknown as an actor. By the time The Princess Bride was finally green-lit, Schwarzenegger was a major film star and the studio could not afford him. Jenkins contacted the World Wrestling Federation to ask about hiring André, but was told that the filming conflicted with a wrestling match in Tokyo that would pay him $5 million. Jenkins auditioned other tall men, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lou Ferrigno and Carel Struycken, but these did not pan out. André was hesitant to take the part on the account of the fact that the film's dialogue was in English while he was French and because he was a professional wrestler, not an actor. Furthermore, André was suffering much pain resulting from his acromegaly, which was to eventually lead to his early death. Liam Neeson also auditioned for the role, but he was turned down due to height. Near the end of casting, the World Wrestling Federation told Jenkins that André's match in Tokyo had been cancelled, clearing him to play the role of Fezzik. For his part, André found his participation was a gratifying experience considering that no one stared at him on set during production as a kind of freak, but instead simply treated him as a fellow member of the cast.
Filming
The film was shot in various locations in England and Ireland in summer and autumn 1986: Carl Wark, Sheffield, England Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, England Lathkill Dale where it meets Cales Dale, Derbyshire, England (the "battle of wits" scene) Cave Dale, Castleton, Derbyshire, England Bradley Rocks and Robin Hood's Stride, Birchover, Derbyshire, England Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland (for the Cliffs of Insanity) Haddon Hall, Bakewell, Derbyshire, England