A gem among movies! I know all the lines, as my assembled friends discovered when I recited along with the first ten minutes or so of the movie before Robert ordered me to shut up. Repeatedly. It’s just so hard to resist the urge to talk along.
Buttercup loves a farm boy, is engaged to a prince, is kidnapped, is kidnapped by her farm boy who is now a pirate from her kidnappers, is recaptured by Prince Humperdink, has a nightmare, almost gets married, almost commits suicide, and is kidnapped again by her half-dead farm boy and some lovable misfits. She gets kidnapped a great deal.
Inigo Montoya is a revenge-driven Spaniard. The sadistic Count Tyrone Rugen (aka The Six Fingered Man) murdered his father when Inigo was a child. Inigo has sworn his revenge and has a memorable little speech prepared for the big moment: “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”. Impressive, isn’t it? Somehow Inigo found himself very drunk (“When I found you, you were so drunk you couldn’t buy brandy!”) and in the employ of the maniacal Vizzini (a Sicillian).
Vizzini is a crazy short man. He dies pretty early in the movie, but provides a lot of comic relief while he’s there. He’s part of a plot to kidnap and murder Buttercup to start a war between Florin and Guilder at the whim of Prince Humperdink. Vizzini thinks himself an evil genius and enjoys giving orders and the word “inconcievable” (“You’ve heard of Socrates? Plato? Aristotle?…Morons!”).
Fezzig, played by Andre the Giant, is a lovable giant who does a good job following orders from whoever’s ordering him. He’s good for intimidation purposes, not to mention knocking down doors and albinos. Fezzig seems to be optimistic about most things, and has a knack for coming into possession of items that the group needs (a Holocaust cloak, a wheelbarrow, four white horses).
Count Tyrone Rugen is one of my favorite characters. He’s writing the definitive work on pain and has various torture devices in his Pit of Despair, which is inhabited by The Albino. Rugen also has six fingers on his right hand and has a penchant for killing Spaniards. I personally think Rugen has something going on with Humperdink on the side. (“Tyrone, you know I love watching you work but I’m simply too busy. I’ve got my wedding to plan, my wife to murder, and Guilder to blame for it…”) Humperdink is pretty fruity, and has a very keen sense of smell * rolls her eyes *(“[sniff sniff] Iocaine powder. I’d bet my life on it.”).
I’m really rambling on with this review. The characters are all great, particularly Miracle Max and his wife, Valerie (played by Billy Crystal and Carol Cane!). It is important to note that Westley has some of the greatest lines in the whole movie, the pill to restore him to life is chocolate-covered Viagra, and that Robert is doing his best to memorize the entire “to the pain” speech (or may have memorized it all already).
Return to The Great Movie Marathon
Return to Nadia's Movie and TV Reviews
Return to Nadia's Reviews
Return to Something Blue