The Princess Bride — Index

The wiki for Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride (1987). Hub: The Princess Bride (1987).

Plot

• Plot Summary (The Princess Bride) — the film told straight through, anchored to the backbeats
• Backbeats (The Princess Bride) — the film in 40 numbered beats
• Plot Structure (The Princess Bride) — the Two Approaches structural map

Cast

• Cast and Characters (The Princess Bride) — full cast and character notes
• Cary Elwes — Westley / The Dread Pirate Roberts
• Robin Wright — Princess Buttercup
• Mandy Patinkin — Inigo Montoya
• Wallace Shawn — Vizzini
• André the Giant — Fezzik
• Chris Sarandon — Prince Humperdinck
• Christopher Guest — Count Rugen
• Billy Crystal — Miracle Max
• Peter Falk — The Grandfather
• Fred Savage — The Grandson

Production

• Production History (The Princess Bride) — development, casting, shoot, release
• Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride) — director
• William Goldman (The Princess Bride) — screenwriter / source novelist
• Mark Knopfler (The Princess Bride) — composer
• Adrian Biddle (The Princess Bride) — cinematographer
• Source Novel and Goldman's Self-Adaptation — the 1973 novel and how the screenplay distilled it
• The Inigo–Westley Swordfight as Stunt Choreography — Bob Anderson, Peter Diamond, four months of training
• The Practical Effects of the Fire Swamp — lightning sand, flame spurts, R.O.U.S. suits
• André the Giant's Pain Management on Set — acromegaly, rigging, accommodations
• Cary Elwes's Toe Injury — the ATV, the boot, the rescheduled shoot
• Physical Media Releases (The Princess Bride) — VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-ray, Criterion, 4K

Analysis

• Themes and Analysis (The Princess Bride) — true love, revenge, storytelling, honor, coalition
• Plot Structure (The Princess Bride) — Two Approaches structural map
• Backbeats (The Princess Bride) — the film in 40 numbered beats
• Critical Reception and Legacy (The Princess Bride) — 1987 reviews, the home-video reappraisal, NFR
• The Cult Status (The Princess Bride) — quotability, generational handoff, cable rotation
• 1987 in Family Cinema — the release year and the home-video pivot
• The Rob Reiner 1980s Run — Spinal Tap to A Few Good Men

Essays

• The Frame Story (The Princess Bride) — grandfather/grandson and the structural payoff of "as you wish"
• The Cliffs of Insanity Sequence — the Commitment beat and the first duel
• The Inigo Montoya Duel — the two duels and the line that breaks open at the end
• Miracle Max and the Resurrection — the midpoint pivot of the entire film
• The Storming the Castle Sequence — Escalation 2, the parallel duels, the courtyard reunion
• The Parallel Duels Climax (The Princess Bride) — strict-mission test on the corridor-and-bedroom parallel at b38
• As You Wish — Romance and Refrain — three syllables, three operations
• Fairy Tale Genre and Self-Aware Comedy — sincere fairy tale that is also a comedy about being one