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{{work}}
{{quote|
'''Grandpa''': Are you kidding? [[Flynning|Fencing]], [[Good Old Fisticuffs|fighting]], [[Cold
'''Grandson''': ''-sigh-'' It
A 1987 [[The Film of the Book|movie]] adapted by [[William Goldman]] from [[The Princess Bride (
Five years later, Prince Humperdinck, who rules Florin in place of his elderly and doddering father, decides to celebrate the
In a plot against the throne, Buttercup is kidnapped by the criminal trio of Vizzini (the mastermind), Fezzik (the dumb muscle) and Inigo Montoya (the
The movie uses a [[Framing Device]] of a grandfather ([[Peter Falk]]) telling the story to his sick grandson ([[Fred Savage]]) with the boy complaining about the story at various points. (
The movie was named to the [[National Film Registry]] in 2016.
{{tropenamer|page=The Princess Bride}}
* [[Climbing the Cliffs of Insanity]] ''(former trope namer)''
* [[I Am Not Left-Handed]]
* [[My Name Is Inigo Montoya]]
** [[You Killed My Father]]
*** [[Prepare to Die]]
* [[Only Mostly Dead]]
* [[Rodents of Unusual Size]]
* [[Skip to the End]]
* [[Storming the Castle]]
* [[To the Pain]]
* [[You Keep Using That Word]]
{{tropelist|page=The Princess Bride}}
* [[Acquired Poison Immunity]]: The Man in Black has been building up an immunity to iocaine powder for several years.
* [[Advantage Ball]]: Goes with [[Flynning]] as always. Westley’s [[To the Pain]] speech and its results also qualify.
* [[Affectionate Parody]]: Pulls off the tricky balancing act between joyful appreciation and subtle (and not so subtle) parody.
* [[And Now You Must Marry Me]]: The [[Scarpia Ultimatum]] version.
*
* [[Aristocrats Are Evil]]: Prince Humperdinck and Count Rugen; the King, however, is merely senile.
* [[Arranged Marriage]]: Buttercup to Prince Humperdinck.
* [[As You Know]]:
** [[Perfect Poison|
** Subverted.
* [[Badass Spaniard]]: Inigo Montoya plays this one [[Incredibly Lame Pun|to the hilt]].
* [[Battle of Wits]]:
* [[Best Served Cold]]:
* [[The Big Damn Kiss]]:
* [[The Big Guy]]: Fezzik.
* [[Bits of Me Keep Passing Out]]: Inverted and [[Played for Laughs]] as it takes a while for Miracle
* [[The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In]]: During his duel with Inigo Montoya, the Man in Black throws his sword. It spins end over end and impales itself in the ground point first.
* [[The Brute]]: subverted. Fezzik is really quite a nice guy.
{{quote|
'''Fezzik:'''
'''Miracle Max:''' ''([[Double Take]])'' You ''[[Deadpan Snarker|are]]'' the Brute Squad. }}
* [[Buy Them Off]]
* [[Catapult Nightmare]]: Buttercup.
* [[Catch Phrase]]:
* [[Choke Holds]]: The Man in Black knocks out Fezzik with a blood choke. It takes several minutes and they have a rather cordial conversation all the while.
* [[Clark Kenting]]: The Dread Pirate Roberts and {{spoiler|Westley}}.
* [[Cold
* [[Collapsed Mid
* [[Comically Missing the Point]]:
{{quote|
'''The King''': What was the for?
'''Buttercup''': Because
'''The King''':
* [[Confession Deferred]]: Inigo trying to convince Miracle Max to work cheap:
{{quote|
'''Miracle Max:''' Are ''you'' a rotten liar.
'''Inigo:''' I need him to help avenge my father, murdered these twenty years.
'''Miracle Max:''' [[Cassandra Truth|Your first story was better.]] }}
* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]]: Explained by Fezzik whilst going toe-to-toe with the Man In Black.
{{quote|
* [[Cool Mask]]: The Man in Black.
* [[Creepy Monotone]]: Count Rugen, in terrifying contrast to the [[World of Ham]] around him.
* [[Cruel Mercy]]: The [[To the Pain]] sequence.
* [[Cuffs Off, Rub Wrists]]: Buttercup after being untied.
* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: During the [[Storming the Castle]] sequence, four palace guards charge our heroes. [[Badass Spaniard|Inigo]] kills them in five. seconds. flat. Without ever taking his eyes off [[The Dragon|Count Rugen]].
* [[Damsel in Distress]]: Buttercup. She’s especially useless in the fight with the [[Rodents of Unusual Size|ROUS]]. C’mon, ''swing'' that branch, don’t just jab with it like a pool cue! Or, considering that the love of your life who you just found out wasn’t dead, might end up dead after all at the hands/teeth of this creature, you might want to ''pick up his sword, which is on the ground right next to you''.
* [[Derailed for Details]]: The kid in the [[Framing Device]], occasionally. Sometimes asking to skip romance scenes or [[Get On With It Already]].
* [[Determinator]]: Inigo in his fight with Count Rugen. Stabbed repeatedly and still keeps coming. He '''will''' avenge his
* [[Dirty Coward]]: Many of the bad guys:
** [[Big Bad|Prince Humperdink]], for starters. So much that, at the end of the movie, Westley says that [[Cruel Mercy| simply letting him live the rest of his life as a coward is enough of a punishment.]]
** [[The Dragon| Count Rugen]] as well. When Inigo Montoya finally confronts him, Rugen raises his sword as if to fight, then turns and sprints away. And then, on top of it, ambushes Inigo when he finally does catch up to him. But what do you expect from a guy whose idea of a "hobby" was [[Cold-Blooded Torture]]?
** Also, Yellin, Humperdink's Captain of the Guard, given how he reacts after his men flee:
{{quote|'''Westley:''' Give us the gate key.
'''Yellin:''' I have no key.
'''Inigo:''' Fezzik, tear his arms off.
'''Yellin:''' Oh, you mean ''this'' key.}}
* [[Double Take]]
* [[The Dreaded]]: The Dread Pirate Roberts.
* [[Dreaming the Truth]]: Buttercup and the Ancient Booer.
* [[Dueling Scar]]: Inigo Montoya has two scars down his cheeks, which is understandable, given his career as a swordfighter. They are later revealed to be a humiliation inflicted upon him at the age of eleven after the first time he tried to avenge his
* [[Dumb Blonde]]: Buttercup
* [[Electric Torture]]: Vacuum, actually, but the trappings apply.
* [[Elmuh Fudd Syndwome]]: The Impressive Clergyman.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Even ''Count Rugen'' is aghast when Humperdinck gets his hands on the machine to torture Westley.
{{quote|
** Though
* [[
* [[Evil Albino]]: Count
* [[The Evil Prince]]
* [[Excuse Me, Coming Through]]:
{{quote|
'''Fezzik:''' EVERYBODY ''MOVE''!
'''Crowd:''' ''*clears a path*''
'''Inigo:''' Thank you. }}
* [[Fairytale Wedding Dress]]
* [[Fake
* [[Faux Affably Evil]]: Prince Humperdinck and Count Rugen.
{{quote|
'''Humperdinck:''' I know, the people are quite taken with her.
'''Rugen:''' ''(looking for the secret passage in the tree)'' Now where is that secret knot?
'''Humperdinck:''' Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work, but
'''Rugen:''' Get some rest. If you
** Vizzini has shades of it too. He sometimes tries to come off as a smiling, magnanimous villain, but he's really just a slimy toad.
* [[Fingertip Drug Analysis]]: Parodied.
{{quote|
'''[[Scarily Competent Tracker|Humperdinck]]''' ''(sniffing the vial, later):'' Iocaine!
* [[Five
** The [[Big Bad]]: Prince Humperdinck
** [[The Dragon]]: Count Rugen
Line 101 ⟶ 122:
** The [[Evil Genius]]: Vizzini
** [[The Dark Chick]]: Inigo Montoya
* [[Flynning]]: The duel on the Cliffs of Insanity in the film is basically an homage. The screenplay explicitly says they’re Flynning as they have nothing personal driving their duel and are trying to have fun with someone who can fight as well as they can.
* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: The grandfather tells his grandson the ending of the story midway through the movie, although the specific details have been left out.
* [[Fractured Fairy Tale]]: Interruptions in between and the occasional [[Rodents of Unusual Size]].
* [[Framing Device]] / [[Separate Scene Storytelling]]: The kid and the grandpa, and the main scenes of the movie.
* [[Freudian Trio]]: Fezzik is the Id, Inigo is the Ego, and Westley is the Super ego.
* [[Genre Savvy]]: The entire story.
** A particularly good example from the film:
{{quote|
'''Westley:''' We are men of action. Lies do not become us.
'''Rugen:''' Well spoken, sir. }}
* [[Gentle Giant]]: Fezzik.
* [[Get It Over With]]: Inigo to the man in black.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]:
** One of the Brute Squad greets Inigo, who replies in the
{{quote|
'''Inigo:''' I will not budge. Keep your ''[[Precision F
* [[Give Me a Sign]]: While holding the sword his late father made, Inigo asks his
* [[The Good King]]: Unfortunately one so doddery that [[The Evil Prince]] is reigning for him.
* [[Good Scars, Evil Scars]]:
** Inigo has Good Scars.
** And Count Rugen gets Evil Scars! For bonus points they’re exactly the same wounds he’s inflicted on Inigo, from cheeks to gut. {{spoiler|(And then he dies ten seconds later)}}.
* [[Hair of Gold]]: Both Buttercup and Westley.
* [[Happily Ever After]]
* [[He Will Come for Me]]: No less than three Will Come For Me moments.
** A variation while Buttercup is held prisoner by the Man in Black.
{{quote|
'''Man in Black:''' You think your dearest love will save you?
'''Buttercup:''' I never said he was my dearest love. And yes, he will save me. That I know. }}
** While Buttercup is waiting for Westley to come take her away.
{{quote|
'''Humperdinck:''' Too soon, my angel. Patience.
'''Buttercup:''' He will come for me. }}
** A third variation, at the wedding.
{{quote|
'''Humperdinck''': Your Westley is dead. I killed him myself.
'''Buttercup''': Then why is there fear behind your eyes? }}
** Of course in the end, Westley
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Inigo and Fezzik, technically.
* [[Henpecked Husband]]: Miracle Max, to an extent.
{{quote|
* [[Heroic Second Wind]]: Inigo
* [[He's Just Hiding]]: Invoked.
{{quote|'''The Grandson:''' “Wait, what did Fezzik mean, ‘He’s dead?’ I mean, he didn’t mean ''dead''; Westley’s only faking, right?”}}
* [[Home, Sweet Home]]: Westley wants to settle down with Buttercup.
* [[I Am Not Left-Handed]]: The Chatty Duel is the [[Trope Namer]].
* [[I Don't Pay You to Think]]: Vizzini tells Fezzik “You were not hired for your brains!”
* [[I Gave My Word]]: Played straight by Inigo as Westley is trying to climb the Cliffs of Insanity. Twisted around when Prince Humperdinck promises not to hurt Westley if Buttercup goes quietly (planning to let Count Rugen do it), but ultimately subverted when Humperdinck {{spoiler|mostly}} kills Westley himself.
* [[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!…”
* [[Ice Queen]]/[[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Buttercup goes from one to the other and back again throughout the story. She starts out cold, then defrosts when she realizes she’s in love with Westley, then freezes up again after he’s murdered by pirates, then defrosts ''again'' when he shows up.
* [[Ignoring by Singing]]: Miracle Max’s response when his wife provokes him by reminding him of his treatment by Prince Humperdinck.
* [[The Igor]]: The Albino.
** Subverted: He starts speaking in a typical
* [[Incendiary Exponent]]: Fezzik during the storming of the castle.
* [[Indecisive Medium]]: The film is about reading a book.
* [[Informed Attractiveness]]: Princess Buttercup, while pretty, is far from the
* [[Insane Troll Logic]]: Visible throughout the Battle of Wits.
{{quote|'''Vizzini:''' Because iocaine comes from Australia, as everyone knows, and Australia is entirely peopled with criminals, and criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
'''Man in Black:''' Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.}}
* [[Instant Plunder, Just Add Pirates]]: The Dread Pirate Roberts, to be precise.
* [[Ironic Echo]]: “I swear it will be done.” (Prince Humperdinck and Count Rugen)
* [[Karma Houdini]]: {{spoiler|Prince Humperdinck}}.
* [[King
* [[Leaning
* [[Legacy Character]]: The Dread Pirate Roberts. Westley reveals that he is at least the third person to use the mantle in order to uphold the legend. Fezzik even briefly takes up the identity to scare a few guards in one scene. {{spoiler|At the end of the movie, Inigo wonders what to do now that he got his revenge, and Westley passes the name to him.}}
* [[Leitmotif]]: Skillfully done with
{{quote|
''Cue leitmotif as huge hands pick Inigo up''
'''Fezzik:''' [[Rhymes
* [[Let's Fight Like Gentlemen]]: Inigo Montoya and Westley have a most cordial conversation before they fight.
* [[Life Isn't Fair]]:
** In response to the
** A similar sentiment is the line in both book and movie (though in very different contexts):
{{quote|
* [[Living Legend]]: Less than the book. The Dread Pirate is the only legend present in the movie, though Inigo may inherit it
* [[Look Behind You!]]
* [[Marry for Love]]
* [[Metafictional Device]]: Used, lampshaded and parodied ''everywhere.''
* [[Mexican Standoff]]: Between Vizzini and the Man in Black, leading up to the battle of wits.
* [[Mickey Mousing]]: Used throughout the movie to varying degree and effect, but the most noteworthy instance has to be Inigo
* [[Minion
* [[Mobstacle Course]]: Inigo in a crowd until Fezzik shouts [[Excuse Me, Coming Through|
* [[My Name Is Inigo Montoya]]: [[Trope Namer|You see, there's this Spanish character...]]
* [[The Napoleon]]: Vizzini.
* [[Neutral Female]]: Buttercup is hilariously useless.
* [[Never Say That Again]]:
** Humperdinck! Humperdinck! Humperdinck!
** Also, Count Rugen:
* [[No Time to Explain]]: “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”
* [[Noisy Nature]]: ''Shrieking eels''.
* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: The Impressive Clergyman (British comedian [[Not Only... But Also|Peter Cook]]), Miracle Max, and Valerie.
* [[Only a Flesh Wound]]: In his final battle with Count Rugen, Inigo twice deflects sword thrusts into his shoulder and yet seems to show no visible effect from it.
* [[Only Mostly Dead]]: [[Trope Namer]]. After Humperdinck kills Westley, his friends take him to Miracle Max, who diagnoses him as
* [[Opposite Gender Protagonists]]: Buttercup and Westley. The two leads instantly fall in love in the first three minutes of the movie, and Westley's departure makes Buttercup worry about when he will return. Buttercup is put into an [[Arranged Marriage]] as Westley never returned and gets kidnapped, starting the conflict. Eventually, the two meet up again, and they help each other through their adventures, bringing them closer together, leading up to a [[Big Damn Kiss]].
* [[Our Hero Is Dead]]: {{spoiler|Well, it just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead.
* [[Out
* [[Overly Long Scream]]: Westley, when
* [[Paper
* [[Passing the Torch]]: Suggested in the film that Inigo will take
* [[Person with the Clothing]]: The Man in Black.
* [[Pet Rat]]: The goons hired by Prince Humperdinck whose job is to clear out the Thieves Quarter. Not to mention Vizzini and his crew.
* [[Physical Scars, Psychological Scars]]: Inigo Montoya has a scar on each cheek given to him by the man who killed his father which serves to strengthen his drive for revenge.
* [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything]]: The Dread Pirate Roberts, when he’s on screen anyway. Justified, as he spends a good deal of the time either ''not'' being the Dread Pirate Roberts, in the fire swamp, in the Pit of Despair, {{spoiler|mostly}} dead, or trying to rescue Buttercup.
* [[Pistol-Whipping]]: Sword whipping, actually.
* [[Plot-Powered Stamina]]: Fezzik’s arms never get tired.
* [[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. (
** The extraordinarily complicated stack of frame stories and unreliable narrations in the book, all focused on the reader-writer relationship (S.
* [[Precision F
** Fred
* [[Prepositional Phrase Equals Coolness]]: 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.
* [[Pretext for War]]: The plot behind
* [[Prince Charmless]]: And {{spoiler|Murderous!}}
* [[Psycho for Hire]]: Count Rugen
* [[Punch Clock Villain]]: Inigo and Fezzik.
{{quote|
* [[Punch
* [[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!]]: "Drop. Your. Sword."
* [[Quicksand Sucks]]: In the cave with the ROUS.
* [[Rags to Royalty]]: Buttercup.
* [[
* [["Reading Is Cool" Aesop]]
* [[Red Right Hand]]: It has six fingers.
* [[Resurrection Sickness]]
* [[Revenge]]
* [[Rhymes
* [[Robotic Torture Device]]
* [[Rodents of Unusual Size]]: The [[Trope Namer
* [[Scare Chord]]
* [[Scarecrow Solution]]:
* [[Scarily Competent Tracker]]: Prince Humperdinck!
{{quote|
* [[
* [[The Scream]]:
* [[Screw the Money, I Have Rules]]: [[Precision F
* [[Secret Test]]: {{spoiler|When Westley rescues Buttercup, his True Love, from her kidnappers, he
* [[Shown Their Work]]: In the duel between Dread Pirate Roberts and Inigo Montoya. Bonetti's Defense was once famous among English swordmasters, though mostly as a target of criticism. Capo Ferro, Thibault, and Agrippa are well known sword masters. Ridolfo Capo Ferro and Camillo Agrippa wrote books available at amazon.
* [[The Slow Walk]]: Inigo during his final duel with Count Rugen. Justified because he was seriously injured at the time.
* [[So Beautiful
* [[So What Do We Do Now?]]: {{spoiler|Inigo gets his revenge, but he spent all his adult life in pursuit of it. What should he do? Fortunately Westley passes on the mantle of The Dread Pirate Roberts to him.}}
* [[Something Only They Would Say]]: Roberts saying “{{spoiler|As you wish}}”, reveals himself to be {{spoiler|Westley}}.
* [[Sparing the Aces]]: The Man in Black would no sooner kill a genius than shatter a stained glass window.
* [[Stealth Pun]]: At the end of the movie, when Inigo wonders what to do with his life:
{{quote|'''Inigo:''' 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.}}
:Inigo appears to accept the offer, or at least be considering it. What the viewer has likely forgotten by this point, though, is that the Dread Pirate Roberts’ ship is named ''The Revenge'' — [[Don't Explain the Joke|which would put Inigo right back in the ''Revenge'' business]].
* [[Stop Saying That]]: Count Rugen, verbatim, to Inigo Montoya.
* [[Storming the Castle]]<ref>
* [[Stunned Silence]]: Buttercup to Westley after he praises the Fire Swamp.
* [[Swashbuckler]]: Not a completely pure example of the genre, but containing many, many of its elements.
* [[Sword Fight]]: The
* [[Take a Third Option]]: Vizzini attempts this during the battle of wits. Unfortunately for him, so did the Man in Black, and rather more successfully.
* [[Tap
** Averted during filming, as indicated on the DVD commentary: Cary Elwes encouraged Chris Guest to hit him hard when Rugen knocks Westley out; as a result production shut down for the day while Elwes was rushed to the hospital.
* [[Tempting Fate]]
{{quote|
'''Westley:''' Rodents of Unusual Size? I
** In this example, Westley is clearly just trying to assuage her fears, as
* [[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 [[Never Mind]]! Later becomes heroic when someone gets slapped with iocaine powder.
* [[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]]
* [[Try and Follow]]: The Fire Swamp ''and'' the Cliffs of Insanity.
* [[Two
{{quote|
'''Count Rugen:''' I swear it will be done. }}
* [[Unconscious Objector]]: {{spoiler|
* [[Undead Author]]: The Dread Pirate Roberts takes no prisoners. ([[All There in the Manual|In the original novel,
* [[Unreliable Voiceover]]:
* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|Unusually Uninteresting Sound]]: All of one person other than the main characters seems to notice the eerie, overlapping scream
* [[Up to Eleven]]: Count Rugen, played by Christopher Guest. Actually a literal [[Goes to Eleven]] — [[Incredibly Lame Pun|he has eleven fingers.]]
{{quote|'''Rugen:''' One day I might go as high as five, but I really don’t know what would happen.
''(later)'' ''[[Even Evil Has Standards|Not to ]]'''50!''''' }}
** Made especially awesome as Christopher Guest was the actor who portrayed Nigel Tufnel, who originated taking things to eleven with his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbVKWCpNFhY amplifier]. Rob Reiner was the director of both movies, but Rugen had eleven fingers in the book, long before ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'' came around.
* [[Uptown Girl]]: Buttercup, a commoner, and Prince Humperdinck, prince, to the extent that it counts as a romance.
* [[Video Credits]]
* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: As Inigo refuses to die, and slowly gains the upper hand on Rugen in their duel, Rugen first becomes shaken, then demands that Inigo
* [[Villainous Friendship]]: A Type I;
* [[Wall Slump]]: Inigo has a famous one after Rugen stabs
* [[Wham! Line]]:
** {{spoiler|
** Humperdinck is presented as a [[Jerkass]] for claiming Buttercup as a trophy wife - though he seems sincerely concerned that Guilder kidnapped her and plans to kill her - and later imprisoning Westley to get him out of the way. Then he reveals that he was behind
* [[Who Are You?]]
{{quote|
'''Man in Black:''' I am no one of consequence.
'''Inigo:''' I must know.
'''Man in Black:''' Get used to disappointment.
'''Inigo:''' ''(shrugs)'' Okay. }}
* [[You Fight Like a Cow]]: The famous Inigo/Westley duel, but with compliments instead of insults. (In most DVD editions, that chapter is titled
* [[You Were Trying Too Hard]]: Inigo looking for the entrance to the Pit of Despair.
----
{{quote|
'''Grandfather''': [[As You Wish]]. }}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Notable Quotables]]
[[Category:Fantasy Films]]
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[[Category:The Princess Bride]]
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:The Criterion Collection (LaserDisc)]]
[[Category:National Film Registry]]
[[Category:Films Based on Novels]]
[[Category:The Criterion Collection]]
[[Category:Memetic Works]]
[[Category:Cult Classic]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
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