The Princess Bride (1987) on Netflix
PG19871h 38mAdventureComedyFamily
A grandfather reads a novel to his sick grandson: Buttercup loves Westley, loses him to the Dread Pirate Roberts, and is betrothed to Prince Humperdinck before kidnappers take her.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb8.0/10491,160 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes96%
Trailer
Plot summary
Sick in bed, a boy listens as his grandfather reads him a novel called The Princess Bride, a book the family has handed down through generations. The boy doubts he will enjoy a tale with romance at its heart, preferring action and no kissing. The novel follows Buttercup, a young woman on a farm in Florin, and Westley, the farmhand who answers her every command with the words "As you wish" until she understands he means that he loves her. Westley goes overseas to make his fortune so that they can wed, and the Dread Pirate Roberts attacks his ship. Five years afterward, Buttercup remains in mourning and is betrothed to Prince Humperdinck against her will. Before the wedding, the Sicilian Vizzini and his two companions, the giant Fezzik and the swordsman Inigo Montoya, seize her.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Princess Bride (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- William Goldman wanted Andre the Giant for Fezzik back in the early 1970s, when wrestling kept him unavailable. His fallback was the then almost unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger, who by the time the film was greenlit had become a star the production could not afford.
- Liam Neeson auditioned for Fezzik and was turned down for being too short, one of several tall men, among them Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lou Ferrigno, who tried for the part before Andre the Giant became free.
- Andre the Giant had come through major back surgery and could not take anyone's weight. When Cary Elwes appears to hang on his back, Elwes was walking on ramps hidden below the camera, and Robin Wright was held up on cables when Fezzik seems to carry her.
- Mark Knopfler agreed to score the film on one condition: that Rob Reiner put in the baseball cap he had worn as Marty DiBergi in This Is Spinal Tap. Reiner could not find the original, so a similar cap turns up in the grandson's bedroom. Knopfler later said he had been joking.
- Robin Wright was cast about a week before shooting, ahead of Uma Thurman, Meg Ryan, Sean Young, Courteney Cox and Whoopi Goldberg, after her agent heard of the casting call and pushed her to audition.
- Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin spent three weeks learning to fence left- and right-handed and did the duel themselves apart from two somersaults. They were trained by Bob Anderson and stunt coordinator Peter Diamond, who had taught the original Star Wars cast, and each learned the other's choreography to avoid an accident.
