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alt title(s): Princess Bride
The poster says: Scaling the Cliffs of Insanity, Battling Rodents Of Unusual Size, Facing Torture in The Pit of Despair. True Love has never been a snap.
Grandson: Has it got any sports in it?
Grandpa: Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...
A 1973 book and 1987 movie by William Goldman (author and screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Marathon Man) The Princess Bride is about the trials of true love in the Renaissance European nation of Florin. The story stars Buttercup, a simple yet incredibly beautiful farmgirl, and Westley, the farmhand she enjoys ordering around. Although they realize that they share the incredibly rare thing called "true love", fate conspires to keep them apart, as Westley is lost at sea.
Five years later, Prince Humperdinck, who rules Florin in place of his elderly and doddering father, decides to celebrate the kingdom's 500th anniversary by marrying Buttercup, who is still the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. Buttercup, knowing that the Prince is well within his rights and believing she can never love again anyway, reluctantly agrees. However, she soon realizes her mistake, as Humperdinck and his right-hand-man Count Rugen have less than noble intentions.
Buttercup is quickly captured by the criminal trio of Vezzini (the mastermind), Fezzik (the dumb muscle) and Inigo Montoya, the world's greatest fencer, traveling to avenge his father - but their steps are hampered by a mysterious man in black who seems determined to stop them at all costs. The subsequent adventures are madcap, iconic and brilliant.
The movie uses a Framing Device of a grandfather telling the story to his sick grandson (Fred Savage, a mild example of The Scrappy) with the boy complaining about the story at various points. ("They're kissing again.") The book uses a similar device with the author "abridging" an older story in order to turn a very satirical (and rather cynical) adult novel into the adventure tale for children that he remembers his father reading to him as a kid.
Both the book and movie are inexpressibly well done (albeit in very different ways) and very funny (the movie won " Funniest Movie Ever " at The Sluggite Zone), as a sort of romantic-comedy-adventure. If this summary does not do The Princess Bride justice, then the sheer number of tropes named after lines from the movie should.
The Princess Bride is the Trope Namer for:
And provides examples of:
- Acquired Poison Immunity: The Man in Black has been building up an immunity to iocane powder for several years.
- Adaptation Displacement: Many who can quote the movie from end-to-end don't even realize there is a book.
- Adaptation Distillation: See Author Filibuster below. The non-existent original book that the story was told from was a long, boring political satire that the narrator distilled into just the good parts for his son. The movie dispenses with this entirely and just tells us the story.
- Affably Evil: Inigo and Fezzik, before the Heel Face Turn
- Anachronism Stew: According to the book, the setting is "before Europe", yet "after America". Also, there is a mention of Australia being populated entirely by criminals, and Westley is described as wearing blue jeans.
- It's stated that this seems to be intentional, possibly to keep the readers from taking it too seriously.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Prince Humperdinck and Count Rugen; the King, however, is merely senile.
- Author Filibuster: Parodied in the book; the original version *
which does not in fact exist was apparently riddled with these, but the 'editor' didn't realize until adulthood because his father only told him 'the good bits' as a child. The editor promptly cuts as pretty much all of them from his annotation, as they apparently completely bog the novel down in irrelevant minutiae and pompous tangents.
- That's what the author originally claimed; he later confessed to having lied about that whole scenario (as well as supposed interest from Stephen King to make the "annotated version" into a movie; a duplicitous blonde lawyer that had complicated that situation; and an excerpt from a "sequel" that was in fact a tribute to the late Andre the Giant that had played Fezzik in the movie).
- The most extreme example: In the special edition he includes a chapter from the 'sequel' where, after a huge buildup to a fight, the conclusion is a perfunctory few sentences mixed in with several pages about the positive qualities of a certain type of tree.
- Arranged Marriage: Buttercup to Prince Humperdinck.
- Badass Spaniard: Inigo Montoya all the way.
- Best Served Cold: Inigo's quest for vengeance against six-fingered man Count Rugen.
- Better Than It Sounds: The title is "The Princess Bride."
- Catapult Nightmare: Buttercup in the movie.
- Catch Phrase: "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, etc." Also "As you wish" and "Inconceivable!"
- Cold Blooded Torture
- Complaining About Shows You Dont Watch: Many guys hear the title and instantly scoff, refusing to ever watch it.
- This troper watched it as a child, because the guy holding a sword on the cover convinced him.
- This troper first saw it in elementary school when a rainstorm cancelled our end-of-year party. The boys in the class threw a fit when they heard the title. An hour later, they had another when it was said we didn't have time to finish the whole film.
- That was exactly this troper's reaction for at least a year, just in case you think the OP is making this up.
- I confused this with the Princess Diaries in 8th Grade when we had a movie day. I wish I never made that mistake.
- In a case of "Complaining About Books You Don't Understand", Stephenie Meyer is on record as saying:
"Bella and Edward's love story is better than Westley and Buttercup's. When I was in college, I wrote a lot of papers from a feminine perspective (it's an easy way to write) on the Princess Bride. Buttercup is an idiot and it doesn't bother anyone, all that matters is that she's beautiful, at the end she became a little more smart, but the female characters are very weak in that story. Westley is brave and smart and fights, Buttercup is just beautiful, it's her only thing, her brain means nothing, her personality means nothing to him, they have the kind of love where they can't live without each other. It's not a great example to me." * Face Palm* * Head Desk*
- Cool Horse: Four of them, in fact, the white horses Prince Humperdinck breeds in the book (seen briefly in the movie toward the end).
- Cool Mask: The Man in Black. It's just terribly comfortable!
- Costume Porn: Spoofed in the book.
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome: Guess. I dare you to get it wrong.
- Crowning Moment Of Funny Many, many, many hilarious moments, but one that comes to mind:
Valerie: Bye-bye boys!
Miracle Max: Have fun stormin' the castle!
Valerie: Think it'll work?
Miracle Max: It would take a miracle. Bye!
- Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming: At the end, the once skeptical Grandson asks his Grandfather is he can read the story to him again tomorrow, to which the Grandfather simply replies, "As you wish."
- Cruel Mercy
- Cuffs Off Rub Wrists: Buttercup after being untied.
- Distressed Damsel: Buttercup.
- The Dreaded: The dread pirate Roberts. Didn't the name clue you in?
- Dreaming The Truth: Buttercup and the Ancient Booer.
- Dumb Blonde: Buttercup, again. Hinted in the film, really driven home in the book.
- Electric Torture: Vacuum, actually, but the trappings apply.
- Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: The Impressive Clergyman.
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Inigo Montoya, thanks to us tropers.
- Everythings Better With Princesses: Buttercup actually gets promoted to princess, because she was born a commoner but Humperdinck wants to marry her. The book even explains how she had to attend royalty school for three years.
- Evil Albino
- The Evil Prince
- Excuse Me Coming Through: Well, he is called The Giant for a reason.
- "Go away, or I'll call the Brute Squad!" "I'm on the Brute Squad!" "You are the Brute Squad!"
- Fakeout Opening: The film begins with the boy playing Nintendo.
- He might be using a Nintendo controller, but the game is Hardball (looks like C64 version), which never came out for the NES.
- Fingertip Drug Analysis: Parodied.
- Flynning: The duel on the Cliffs of Insanity in the film is basically an homage.
- Although the fencing techniques they mention while Flynning are all real- presumably this means they were actually using them and fencing properly in the novel.
- It all makes sense when you realize that what we're seeing is what's being visualized by a young boy as he's read the story. He wouldn't know what the real techniques look like, so they just look like guys dashing around excitedly with swords.
- Fractured Fairy Tale
- Framing Device
- Genre Savvy: The entire story, book and film both.
- Gentle Giant: Fezzik.
- Get It Over With
- Good Scars Evil Scars: Inigo has Good Scars.
- Goes To Eleven: Count Rugen, played by Christopher Guest. Actually a literal Goes To Eleven — he has eleven fingers.
- Green Eyed Monster: In the book, Buttercup realizes she's in love with Westley because Countess Rugen (who isn't in the movie) has the visible hots for him.
- Hair Of Gold: Both Buttercup and Westley.
- Happily Ever After: They get this in the movie. The book leaves it a bit more open-ended.
- Heel Face Turn: Inigo and Fezzik, technically.
- Henpecked Husband: Buttercup's father, in the book.
- Hey Its That Guy: Hey! It's... Andre the Giant!?
- Home Sweet Home: Westley wants to settle down with Buttercup.
- Ho Yay: Humperdinck and Count Rugen anyone? And Inigo and Fezzik.
- Hypocritical Humor: The Novel mentions supposedly removing sections of the original text that were boring and unsuitable for children... in the midst of a section of text that is boring and unsuitable for children. Understandably cut from the movie.
- The Igor: The Albino.
- I Gave My Word
- I Know You Know I Know: "...so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me! But you would have counted on my thinking that, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you!..."
- "You're stalling."
- "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?!"
- Incendiary Exponent: Fezzik during the storming of the castle.
- Legacy Character: The Dread Pirate Roberts.
- Literary Agent Hypothesis: See Author Filibuster — the supposed original version of the book is, in fact, nonexistent.
- Look Behind You
- Marathon Man: Fezzik's arms never get tired.
- Mobstacle Course: Inigo in a crowd until Fezzik shouts "Everybody MOVE!"
- Narm Charm:
Most of The entire goddamn film.
- Completely intentional, of course.
- The Napoleon: Vizzini.
- Neutral Female: Buttercup is hilariously useless.
- Never Say That Again: Humperdinck! Humperdinck! Humperdinck!
- Also, Count Rugen: "Stop saying that!"
- No Ending: In the book only, and heavily Lampshaded.
- Older Than They Think: Parodied in the book, with an explanation that a scene with Fezzik and Indigo going on minor quests to save Westley was 'cut' because it seemed like a ripoff of The Wizard Of Oz, even though the 'original version' came out first.
- One Scene Wonder: The Impressive Clergyman, Miracle Max and Valerie.
- Our Hero Is Dead
- Out Gambitted: Go ahead and go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line if you are immune to a poison you are using.
- Passing The Torch: Suggested in the film that Inigo will take Westley's place as the Dread Pirate Roberts.
- The Pirates Who Dont Do Anything: The Dread Pirate Roberts, when he's on screen anyway.
- Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: Part of Vizzini's Batman Gambit that revolves around the aforementioned I Know You Know I Know.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: Interesting case since the author himself adapted it to a screenplay. The book had far more characters (who were usually only important to one other character) who had great lines transplanted on to movie characters. ("Life hurts. Anyone who tells you different is selling something." was said by Fezzick's mother to her son in the book, not Wesley to Buttercup.) However, William Goldman has a long and storied career as a Hollywood screenwriter, so he is better suited than most writers to adapt his work. In particular, it seems like he had a Fridge Logic moment near the end that he added into the screenplay — presumably Buttercup didn't say "I do" either in the book, but Wesley's response there is, "Well, that's okay, you won't be married to him very long."
- Precision F Strike: Inigo's CMOA.
- Prepositional Phrase Equals Coolness: Ah, so very many: The Cliffs of Insanity, the Man in Black, the Rodents of Unusual Size, and the Pit of Despair, just to name a few.
- Pressure Point: Fezzik uses a Vulcan Neck Pinch on Buttercup.
- Prince Charmless
- Punch Clock Villain: Inigo and possibly Fezzik
- Punch Punch Punch Uh Oh
- Quicksand Sucks
- Rags To Royalty: Buttercup.
- Red Right Hand
- Scheherezade Gambit: Westley's relationship with the previous Dread Pirate Roberts.
- Scare Chord
- The Scream
- Screw The Money I Have Rules: "I want my father back, you son of a bitch!"
- Shout Out: Westley's "man in black" outfit is a dead ringer for the costume Douglas Fairbanks Sr. wore in the original Mark of Zorro.
- This troper thought this movie was something like 'Zorro somehow traveled to the past' because she surfed channels and found it broadcasting during the moment when he appeared in said outfit
- The Slow Walk: Inigo during his final duel with Count Rugen. Justified because he was seriously injured at the time.
- Succession Crisis: In the book, the whole thing gets started when Prince Humperdinck learns that his father is dying and he has to marry to produce an heir.
- Tap On The Head: The Dread Pirate Roberts to Inigo (swordhilt) and Fezzik (stranglehold), Count Rugen to Westley (swordhilt), and Fezzik to the albino (fist) and the shrieking eel (fist).
- Tempting Fate
Buttercup: [While in the Fire Swamp] Westley, what about the R.O.U.S.'s?
Westley: Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist...[Westley is attacked by a R.O.U.S.]
- It should be noted that he had already spotted the R.O.U.S. prior to this conversation, and only claimed they didn't exist to try to quell Buttercup's fears.
- Terrible Trio: Vizzini, Inigo, and Fezzik are either an example of this or Three Amigos. Because Vizzini is a cad, but Fezzik and Inigo are mostly good, but on the other hand Inigo and Fezzik both help to kidnap Buttercup and, oh Nevermind!
- Theme Naming: Florin and Guilder are different names for the same medieval European coin.
- Currency with those names is still in use today.
- Thicker Than Water
- This Is Sparta: Drop. Your. Sword.
- Try And Follow
- Undead Author: The Dread Pirate Roberts leaves no survivors.
- You Fight Like A Cow: The famous Inigo/Westley duel, but with compliments instead of insults. (In most DVD editions, that chapter is titled "The Chatty Duelists.")
- You Were Trying Too Hard: Inigo looking for the entrance to the Pit of Despair.
- Your Eyes Can Deceive You: Part of Inigo's training in the book.
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