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Title: The Princess Bride (1987)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Cary Elwes | ... | Westley | |
| Mandy Patinkin | ... | Inigo Montoya | |
| Chris Sarandon | ... | Prince Humperdinck | |
| Christopher Guest | ... | Count Rugen | |
| Wallace Shawn | ... | Vizzini | |
| André the Giant | ... | Fezzik (as Andre the Giant) | |
| Fred Savage | ... | The Grandson | |
| Robin Wright | ... | The Princess Bride | |
| Peter Falk | ... | The Grandfather | |
| Peter Cook | ... | The Impressive Clergyman | |
| Mel Smith | ... | The Albino | |
| Carol Kane | ... | Valerie | |
| Billy Crystal | ... | Miracle Max | |
| Anne Dyson | ... | The Queen | |
 |
Margery Mason | ... | The Ancient Booer |
An elderly man reads the book "The Princess Bride" to his sick and thus currently bedridden adolescent grandson, the reading of the book which has been passed down within the family for generations. The grandson is sure he won't like the story, with a romance at its core, he preferring something with lots of action and "no kissing". But the grandson is powerless to stop his grandfather, whose feelings he doesn't want to hurt. The story centers on Buttercup, a former farm girl who has been chosen as the princess bride to Prince Humperdinck of Florian. Buttercup does not love him, she who still laments the death of her one true love, Westley, five years ago. Westley was a hired hand on the farm, his stock answer of "as you wish" to any request she made of him which she came to understand was his way of saying that he loved her. But Westley went away to sea, only to be killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts. On a horse ride to clear her mind of her upcoming predicament of marriage, Buttercup... Written by Huggo
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I'm not exactly sure what exactly it is that makes The Princess Bride such a spectacular film. Or, at the very least, I just can't pinpoint a single characteristic about it that really rises above all others as the main reason that no one should miss it. Indeed, it has a title that should prove to be remarkably uninteresting to the typical action adventure fan (okay, MALE action adventure fan), but even the most die-hard Die Hard fan would love this film. It is extremely important not to judge this film just because it has such a flowery and dangerously (at the risk of sounding shallow) girly name, because it is full of wonderful adventure and even some good killing and violence. Does this belong in this kind of romantic comedy? Absolutely! The cover box of the film looks like that of a cheesy romance novel, but the film is truly great from start to finish. And, indeed, the film is very aware of the superficial impression that it leaves, and it even presents it directly through Fred Savage's initial response to his grandfather reading him the story. But as the film goes on, we begin to have the same reaction that Fred has. We can't get enough.
Cary Elwes delivers by far the most outstanding performance of his career as Westley, the love-struck servant to Buttercup, a beautiful blonde woman living in a misty romantic fantasy world. Sadly, Elwes' later career has been punctuated by roles that do not serve him well, especially after such a stunning performance in this role. Liar Liar and Twister come immediately to mind. Robin Wright also gives one of the best performances of her career in her film debut here as Princess Buttercup, but the real quality of the performances that makes the movie so great is the fact that they were able to pack the film full of comic relief (it was nearly nonstop from start to finish) without taking anything away from the tension or the overall respectability of the film. It is interesting to consider the polar opposite effect of the comic relief on the vast majority of the James Bond films. Wallace Shawn is absolutely hilarious as Vizzini, the bonehead villain who is completely convinced that he has the whole world figured out, Andre the Giant delivers a lumbering but highly impressive performance as Vizzini's enormous, idiot sidekick, and by far my favorite of all, Mandy Patinkin creates one of the most entertaining and likeable characters created in a film in the entire decade of the 1980s (`My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!').
This is great stuff. Told as a story read from a book, just like The Neverending Story, The Princess Bride provides a magical mix of romance and fantasy and action and comedy to provide an enormously entertaining film for moviegoers of all ages. The Princess Bride is an absolutely wonderful film that is truly not to be missed.