Fangirl Fridays...a Flashback to The Princess Bride

 



We are here at another Fangirl Friday! In spending time pondering what I would write about, I thought about a trend that I’ve seen on Facebook called Flashback Fridays and I thought “OMG I’m going to do a smash up of the two!” If Glee can do smash ups of classics…so can I! So my Fangirl Friday piece is a Flashback Friday as well. I’m going to go back to the days of my childhood to something I love still today. The one consistent thing that has seen me through trends, first loves, other obsessions, and fads: The Princess Bride! Now before you can say “INCONCEIVABLE!” follow me through the jump!







It has been 26 years since The Princess Bride was released in theaters and what most people do not know is that it is based on a book. I have read the book, but I will be honest in confessing that, though we are a book blog, this is going to be about my obsession with the movie. Decades before Twilight’s Bella and Edward, there was The Dread Pirate Roberts, I mean Westley, and Princess Buttercup! Not only do I love the well written characters of the movie, but I also love the actors who portrayed them, who not only brought them to life but have also gone on to long careers. Follow me through the characters I love, the actors who played them, and the quotes I still use today in random conversations!


Westley/The Man In Black, played by Cary Elwes, stole my heart with his “As you wish!” The swoon factor just starts with his desire to please Buttercup while he is her Farm Boy, but continues to grow as we see the journey he took to win her heart and then return to her after he has made something of himself. The blonde Brit, Cary Elwes, stole many a woman’s hearts with the Princess Bride but he has gone on to play a more comedic Robin Hood in Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Fast forward a few decades and today you can catch him from time to time on shows like The Good Wife and Psych.


Inigo Montoya, played by Mandy Patinkin, pulls you in so that you root for him in his quest

to seek revenge on the six fingered man who killed his father! I mean, one of the most quoted lines from the movie is “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” In Inigo's quest to find the six fingered man he wields his only weapon, his beloved hand crafted sword that his father forged before his death. Inigo does not just use his beloved sword in his quest to avenge his father; he takes along some of the greatest side characters you could ever wish for in a journey! While Inigo may have had the quest to avenge his father’s death, Mandy Patinkin has gone on to great shows like Chicago Hope, Criminal Minds and Homeland as characters who are always on the lookout for capturing the guilty party!

The Princess Bride/Buttercup, played by Robin Wright, has the classic beauty that makes it easy to see why Westley, as well as Prince Humperdinck, would fall in love with her. Buttercup, with her rustic charm of a farm girl, cleans up well to be The People’s Princess. I have to say I love all the costumes of this movie, especially Buttercup’s dresses, and I have to send a small shout out to the costume designer! Let us get back to Buttercup. In the movie we watch her journey as she goes from the bossy woman Westley fell in love with, to the grief stricken woman who ends up in an arranged marriage to Prince Humperdinck, and then to the woman defying death in the Fire Swamp. Just as Buttercup goes through her growth, Robin Wright has been in the public not only for wonderful choices in movies and television but also because of her love life that was thrust into the public eye. Both Buttercup and Robin have aged well and gracefully.

There are many characters and actors I would like to give a shout out to but I will try to just do a handful in a small section. Please know that will not be enough room to do any of them justice but I would be remiss if I did not mention them. First would be Fezzik, played by Andre the Giant. Fezzik was chosen for his brute strength but having the heart of a teddy bear. Like his character, Andre was a giant in size but had the heart to match. Sadly, 6 years after the movie was released in theaters, before Andre turned 50, the world lost this great heart. Then we have the husband and wife duo of Miracle Max and Valerie, played by Billy Crystal and Carol Kane. I know I personally quote their lines more than any others in the movie…for it is Miracle Max who brings Westley back to life. Both Billy Crystal and Carol Kane are comedians that are so well known throughout TV and movies that this was just a fun blip in their resumes, but what a fun blip it was! Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon), Count Tyrone Rugen (Christopher Guest) and Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) are all great characters played by great actors who also have fantastic film and television resumes.

Now I could go on about all the characters in this movie and the actors who played them. However, I don’t want this post go on for miles as it so easily could because of my love for this film. I just want people to know that many actors have gone on to great movies and TV shows after starring in this classic film. Now to the meat of why this film is a favorite of mine and a classic… the massive number of quotes that came from it. I’ve listed a few of them above but now here they come rapid fire!

[Vizzini has just cut the rope The Dread Pirate Roberts is climbing up]
Vizzini: HE DIDN’T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Westley: I told you I would always come for you. Why didn’t you wait for me?
Buttercup: Well…you were dead.
Westley: Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.
Buttercup: I will never doubt again.
Westley: There will never be a need.

Miracle Max: You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.

 


Miracle Max: Get back, witch.
Valerie: I’m not a witch, I’m your wife, but after what you just said, I’m not sure I want to be that anymore.

The Impressive Clergyman: Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder today. Mawage, that bwessed awangement, that dweam wifin a dweam…
[cut to Westley, Inigo, and Fezzik]
The Impressive Clergyman: And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva…

[cut to trio again]
The Impressive Clergyman: So tweasure your wuv.
Prince Humperdinck: Skip to the end.
The Impressive Clergyman: Have you the wing?
[cut to the trio once more]
The Impressive Clergyman: …do you, Pwincess Buwwercup…
Prince Humperdink: Man and wife. Say man and wife.
The Impressive Clergyman: Man an’wife.

Inigo Montoya: Is very strange. I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it’s over, I don’t know what to do with the rest of my life.
Westley: Have you ever considered piracy? You’d make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts.

The Grandson: A book?
Grandpa: That’s right. When I was your age, television was called books. And this is a special book. It was the book my father used to read to me when I was sick, and I used to read it to your father. And today I’m
gonna read it to you.
The Grandson: Has it got any sports in it?
Grandpa: Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…
The Grandson: Doesn’t sound too bad. I’ll try to stay awake.
Grandpa: Oh, well, thank you very much, very nice of you. Your vote of confidence is overwhelming.

Buttercup: You can die too for all I care.
[she pushes him down a high hill]
Man in Black: As…You…WISH.
Buttercup: Oh, my sweet Westley! What have I done?

Westley: We are men of action, lies do not become us.

Buttercup: We’ll never survive.
Westley: Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has.

Valerie: Bye, bye, boys!
Max: Have fun storming the castle!
Valerie: Think it'll work?
Max: It'd take a miracle.

[as Buttercup prepares to commit suicide with a dagger]
Westley: There’s a shortage of perfect breasts in the world. It would be a pity to damage yours.

Miracle Max: Go away or I’ll call the Brute Squad.
Fezzik: I’m on the Brute Squad.
Miracle Max: [sees Fezzik] You *are* the Brute Squad!

Inigo Montoya:
I – am – waiting – for – Vizzini…
Fezzik: You surely are a meanie.
Fezzik: [Inigo looks at him] Hello
Inigo Montoya: It’s you.
Fezzik: True!

 Are you a Princess Bride fan? In the comments tell us your favorite quote or memory from The Princess Bride!