This is Rob Reiner, and welcome to my comments...
on The Princess Bride.
Act III Communications. That's Norman Lear's company.
Norman Lear, uh, who basically owned the rights to The Princess Bride...
and put his own money up so that we could make this film...
and a week before I went to London to start shooting...
we didn't know if we had the financing.
And, uh, we finally were able to get it, and it was put together.
Now this little boy, Fred Savage...
eventually became the boy who was in The Wonder Years.
And the whole film was shot in England at Shepperton Studios...
and even this scene was shot at Shepperton.
And there's a little thing... I don't think you can see it in this shot...
but I'll point it out when we get to it.
Um, Mark Knopfler, who did the music for the film...
a great, brilliant musician from Dire Straits...
uh, basically said he would only... he would only do the music...
if I had the hat that I wore in Spinal Tap somewhere in evidence.
And so... Like I say, you can't see it in this shot...
but there'll be a shot in this...
in these sequences with Peter Falk, who plays the grandfather...
where you'll see the hat that I wore.
Let's see. Maybe the camera's gonna move around here.
Nope. Not yet.
...used to read to me when I was sick, and I used to read it to your father.
At any rate, this... I read this book when I was about 25 years old...
Princess Bride... 'cause I had been a huge fan of William Goldman's.
My father gave me the book because Bill Goldman had given it to him.
They had become friends when Bill Goldman...
wrote a book about Broadway called The Season...
which looked at a particular season on Broadway...
and all the plays that had opened.
My dad had a play that opened called Something Different...
and Bill Goldman devoted a chapter in his book to that play.
And they became friends, and he gave this to Bill Goldman...
back when I think the first... The book first came out like in the early '70s...
and said, "What do you think about making a movie out of this?"
And my dad said, well, he wasn't really...
You know, he didn't really... hadn't read it...
but he gave me the book and said, you know, do you wanna read it?
I read it, and at the time it was the favorite book of my life...
that I'd ever read at that point, and probably to this point.
And so then, years later, when I was thinking about making movies...
I went back and reread it, and it again spoke, like, to me.
It was like as if Bill Goldman had been in my head...
and had written something that, uh... that was inside my head.
So I went to him and met with him, and he said...
"This is... This is the favorite book I have ever written in my life.
I want it on my tombstone. What are you gonna do with it?"
And I was shaking in my boots, thinking, you know...
he was gonna, you know, really criticize...
And there's Robin Wright, by the way, the most beautiful, you know...
[ Chuckles ] She's incredibly beautiful.
And, um, we had to find the most beautiful girl in all the land...
and I think we found it with her.
Who could not only... was beautiful, but acted...
and did a wonderful British accent...
and was the perfect embodiment of the Princess Bride.
At any rate, Bill Goldman was totally, um...
you know, challenging me as to whether or not I could pull this off.
Like when I told him that I basically wanted to honor his book...
and be as faithful as possible, he agreed to let me do it.
At that time, I'd only made Spinal Tap. That was the only picture I'd made.
And actually I'd finished this short thing, but it hadn't come out yet.
And he saw those two pictures, and then he agreed to let me... to let me do it.
So I got a chance to work with my favorite writer...
and he entrusted his favorite book to me, and, um, I was very grateful that he did that.
You still can't see that hat, so I'll have to...
maybe find the shot where it comes out.
At any rate, this was all shot on a country farm in Derbyshire...
which is in the northern part of England...
and we were up there for about five weeks.
Hear this now.
I will always come for you.
But how can you be sure?
This is true love.
[ Reiner ] Of course, this is Cary Elwes, who, um...
Again, we had the perfect match here with Cary and Robin Wright.
Cary is very reminiscent of Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
We needed somebody who had that swashbuckling image...
and Cary was perfect for this part.
In casting him, it was interesting.
We met him just after there was Chernobyl.
[ Chuckles ] And there was...
We had to go to Germany to meet him there...
and there was talk about being fallout in that area, and there was concern...
about people's, you know, getting... becoming radioactive.
But we-we-we, uh...
we risked being permanently contaminated...
just so we could meet with Cary Elwes.
And it was... I think it was the smart thing to do...
because I don't think anybody else could have played this part.
This was shot at Haddon Hall...
which is in Bakewell which is up in Derbyshire...
which is an abandoned castle that was built in 1086.
It was built by William the Conqueror for his illegitimate son.
And those... If you look up the... this...
this parapet that Humperdinck is now standing on...
we built actually for the film.
We added some extra structural architectural elements.
The one if you look right up above there.
That was all added to the existing Haddon Hall.
And this was a, um... a national monument...
and people would come and look at this and look through their guides...
and they'd find all kinds of things that were added to it that weren't there...
and they were confused because it didn't look like anything that they...
were in their guides.
And when there was a wedding...
I think it was either Fergie's wedding, or somebody had a wedding here...
they asked that all these things that we had added be kept there...
because it made the castle look better.
So, basically, Hollywood added a little touch to this castle.
It was...
We added a portcullis that wasn't there, which you'll see later as well.
And this was all at Haddon Hall here where we shot this.
And here we're gonna be introduced to Fezzik and Inigo Montoya and Vizzini.
We are but poor lost circus performers.
[ Reiner ] There's Wally Shawn, who's Vizzini...
who, needless to say, he's not Sicilian.
But, uh, in the vernacular of this film, it actually worked.
And there, of course, is Andre the Giant as Fezzik.
And again, it wasn't like there was a lot of options in casting this part.
It's not like you could throw a stick and find 50 giants.
Um, when Bill Goldman wrote the book...
he had always envisioned Andre the Giant playing Fezzik.
And so it took us again weeks to track down Andre...
'cause he was traveling around the world as a wrestler.
And finally we were able to pin him down, and we were accorded a meeting in Paris.
And Andy Scheinman and I had just been at a location scout...
to find the Cliffs of Insanity...
and we were in Ireland, and as we came back to our hotel room in London...
we walked in, there was a message saying Andre would be in Paris the next day at 2:00.
We went right back out the hotel, right to the airport and we went to Paris.
We stayed there overnight, and then the next day we met Andre.
We walked into the bar, and it was like it was described in the book.
There was a landmass sitting on a bar stool, and it was Andre the Giant.
And he was, you know, like I say...
the only person who could've played this part.
And I actually recorded his whole dialogue on a tape...
because he, you know... he didn't read and couldn't, you know...
And he had to memorize it that way, and he memorized his whole part that way.
And then of course, Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya...
who's absolutely brilliant in this film.
And, uh, you know, the most quoted line anybody has, uh...
"My name is Inigo Montoya.
You killed my father. Prepare to d... Prepare to die."
So that... everybody still quotes that.
Kids are still running around with swords saying...
"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
- ...charmed. - You have a great gift for rhyme.
Yes, yes. Some of the time.
[ Vizzini ] Enough of that!
[ Inigo ] Fezzik, are there rocks ahead?
[ Fezzik ] If there are, you'll be dead.
[ Vizzini ] No more rhymes! Now I mean it!
[ Reiner ] Is it okay that I tell these stories? Is that okay?
Okay, 'cause here's a great story about that-that line...
which is I once went to a restaurant...
in New York that Nick Pileggi and Nora Ephron took me.
And John Gotti would come there every Thursday night.
And we... At 8:00 he walks in. There was a group of wise guys with him...
and I'm sitting there, and we kind of recognized each other.
I didn't talk to him, but after the meal was over...
I went outside, and there was a huge limousine parked outside.
And there was a man standing in front of it...
that looked like Luca Brasi from The Godfather. Big plug of a guy.
Looks me right in the eye and said, "You killed my father. Prepare to die."
And I almost... I almost, you know, went in my pants right there.
But he said, "I love that picture, The Princess Bride."
So we know that...
When one of Gotti's wise guys is quoting your lines...
you know you've penetrated the culture.
And no one in Florin could've gotten here so fast.
[ Ship Creaking ]
Out of curiosity, why do you ask?
No reason. Suddenly, I just happened to look behind us and something is there.
[ Reiner ] This sequence was shot in a tank on a soundstage...
at Shepperton Studios.
This... That's a little miniature back there, so it looks...
It's a forced perspective to make it look like you're out on the high seas...
but it's actually inside a tank, and this was all shot in the tank.
I don't swim.
I only dog paddle.
[ Reiner ] And matter of fact, I remember a moment...
where I was actually out in the tank which is about three feet of water...
and I was in with hip waders, and there's a pit... an eight-foot pit.
It's a small area where you can dive into if you have to make a dive...
where Robin Wright just did that.
And I was looking for an angle...
and I walked around the boat, and I stepped into that hole...
and my pants filled up with water.
The hip waders filled up with water, and I just started sinking to the bottom.
And there was nobody there. [ Laughs ] I couldn't get back up.
And finally I was splashing around...
and somebody found me and they dragged me out.
So I almost... I almost drowned in the making of this movie.
Even inside of a controlled tank.
- [ Shrieking ] - And then this.
Of course the shrieking eel we have here...
was a nice effect.
And this is one of the things I liked about the movie and the book...
is the idea that we'd break away.
And people said, "You can't break away from the film like this.
People will lose the thread of the story. They won't be able to get reinvolved."
And I said, "No. I think it's just gonna make people get more involved."
The whole idea of the book and the movie...
was that The Princess Bride was only gonna be the good parts version...
that we were gonna skip past all the boring parts.
And so occasionally...
They would interrupt, and we'd move forward to another exciting part.
But what I love about this is it gets this boy...
who basically is not really interested in reading...
to be interested and care and excited about reading...
'cause his grandfather shares this book with him...
and makes it fun for him.
So... And it never disturbed the flow of the picture.
I mean, people stayed involved, and they tracked the relationship...
between the grandfather and the grandson...
and then they stayed involved in the story The Princess Bride, and it was...
Even though we kept reminding the people that it was just a book...
it was just a story, the audience still stayed involved...
in what was gonna happen with Westley and Buttercup.
I wonder if he is using the same wind we are using.
Whoever he is, he's too late. See?
[ Reiner ] And there's a matte painting of the Cliffs of Insanity...
which we used to replicate these cliffs that we found in Ireland...
called the Cliffs of Moher.
And part of the shots... This was shot on a soundstage.
We had matte paintings, and we also actually used the real Cliffs of Moher...
which you'll see when we show some shots of them climbing up.
And the interesting thing is...
I mean, we didn't have a lot of money to make the movie.
We literally had, like, $16 million to make this movie.
I mean, today if you made a movie like this...
you know, you'd spend 75, 80, $90 million.
This is actual... These are the actual Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, that shot was.
And here we're back on the tank. That's actual with...
That's a stuntman with dummies hanging on him.
And then we have matte paintings.
A combination of matte paintings. This is done on the stage.
That was actually done on the cliff there. That was also on the cliff right there.
That's the real cliff. You can see a bird go by.
And this... We're back on the stage here.
You were this great, legendary thing and yet he gains!
Well, I'm carrying three people, and he got only himself.
I do not accept excuses. I'm just gonna have to find myself a new giant, that's all.
Don't say that, Vizzini. Please?
[ Reiner ] The thing also that I love about this piece of material...
is that it's smart, it's funny, it's satirical.
It makes fun of this adventure, Robin Hood-type genre.
But it also is... does it with love and with respect.
So you can make fun of it at the same time you are honoring the genre.
And it has humor, and it also has action and fun in it.
It combines all of these things.
It's a brilliant book and a brilliant screenplay.
And one of the most difficult balances that you can find...
is to, you know, have real excitement, tension like this...
and then also be able to poke fun at it at the same time is a very hard thing to do.
And Bill Goldman strikes that balance perfectly.
And hopefully I was faithful to that.
Now there's... That was partly on the stage and also a matte painting...
that shot looking down at Westley.
You keep using that word.
I do not think it means what you think it means.
[ Reiner ] He's actually on a piece of rock on the stage...
and then we have a matte painting below.
You, carry her.
We'll head straight for the Guilder frontier. Catch up when he's dead.
If he falls, fine. If not, the sword.
[ Reiner ] The other thing that I like is that, you know...
it's a movie that adults can enjoy and children can enjoy.
And it's very rare when you can share an experience with your children...
and both the adults and the children get something out of it.
The adults don't have to be bored. They can sit and have a great time...
and the kids are getting it on a different level.
I'm waiting!
Hello there!
Slow going?
Look, I don't mean to be rude, but this is not as easy as it looks...
so I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't distract me.
- Sorry. - Thank you.
[ Reiner ] Now, this sword fight that's gonna be coming up soon...
is interesting in that I believe it is the only time...
in the history of movies where the principal actors...
are in every single shot where there's swordplay involved.
You know, in many of the Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone movies...
in the long shots, they would have stunt doubles...
and expert swordsmen do the swordplay.
But in this sword-fighting sequence coming up...
you'll see that it's both Mandy and Cary doing all the swordplay.
I mean, there are some physical stunts...
where they do some flips, and those are stuntmen...
but when it comes to the actual swordplay, it's only Mandy and Cary.
And what's specially interesting about it...
is they're fighting both left-handed and right-handed in the sequence...
and they had to study very hard to be able to do that.
Mandy actually worked for almost eight months taking lessons...
and Cary worked for about five or six.
And this sequence was shot towards the end of the movie...
so even during the making of the movie...
whenever they had a break...
they would be working with their Olympic masters and stunt people...
to work on their swordplay and also work on designing this sequence.
And it was a real painstaking effort to design this sequence.
And there was a tremendous amount of pressure put on me because...
as it's described in the script, when they start fighting...
Bill Goldman said, "What you're about to see...
is the second greatest sword fight in film history.
The first greatest is coming up later in the film."
So there was a tremendous pressure for me...
to make good on that stage direction.
And so we worked very hard...
to make it as exciting as possible and make it as fun as possible.
And like I say, the actual actors are doing, are doing the swordplay.
And it took us 10 days to shoot this whole sequence...
from the time that Mandy pulls Cary up by the rope, and they have this little scene...
where Mandy explains the history of this sword...
and the history of the revenge that he is seeking for his father's death...
and of course he explains how he got the scars...
and how the six-fingered man, Humperdinck, left him with those scars.
I love my father.
So naturally, I challenged his murderer to a duel.
I failed.
The six-fingered man leave me alive.
But he gave me this.
- How old were you? - I was 11 years old.
When I was strong enough...
I dedicated my life to the study of fencing.
So the next time we meet, I will not fail.
I will go up to the six-fingered man and say...
"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya.
You killed my father.
Prepare to die."
You've done nothing but study swordplay...
[ Reiner ] That line, as I said before, is probably one of the most quoted lines...
of any film I've ever... I've ever done.
The others would be my mother saying...
"I'll have what she's having," in When Harry Met Sally...
and Jack Nicholson saying, "You can't handle the truth," in A Few Good Men.
But certainly the line that Mandy just said is probably quoted more than any by kids.
And here we go into this-this sword fight.
And not only are they having to, you know, um, sword fight...
but they have to have dialogue during it.
And the dialogue is wonderful and it's witty, and it's so typically Bill Goldman.
That's what's so great about this.
Just the blend of action and humor and sophistication.
It's really a delicate balance, and he does it perfectly.
You are using Bonetti's Defense against me, huh?
[ Reiner ] Here they are. They're both fighting left-handed.
Naturally. You must expect me to attack with Capo Ferro.
Naturally. But I find that Thibault cancels out Capo Ferro...
don't you?
Unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa.
[ Reiner ] Now, this is the only moment... This is the one moment.
That's a stunt person that did that little flip.
But all the swordplay is the two of them.
Thank you. I've worked hard to become so.
- I admit that you are better than I am. - Then why are you smiling?
Because I know something you don't know.
- And what is that? - I am not left-handed.
[ Reiner ] Here's where Mandy switches hands...
and now he's fighting right-handed against Cary's left-handed swordplay...
and which is also difficult too.
- You are amazing. - I ought to be after 20 years.
- There's something I ought to tell you. - Tell me.
I'm not left-handed either.
[ Reiner ] Now here Cary switches hands.
Now, that again is a stunt person. But that's-that's Mandy.
And this will be a stunt person here for the flip.
But like I say, every single frame of the sword fighting is the two of them.
No one of consequence.
I must know.
Get used to disappointment.
Okay.
[ Reiner ] Now, that bit we did...
we had a stagehand standing by catching the sword...
and then dropping another sword into his hand.
But now watch what happens here when they switch positions here.
He switches hands in the middle of it.
He goes from left-handed to right-handed, Cary does.
- Kill me quickly. - I would soon destroy...
[ Reiner ] And there you have the second greatest sword fight in movie history.
The first greatest is supposed to come later...
but I think this one actually was better than the one that comes later.
The one that comes later has a more emotional weight to it...
because it's-it's Inigo Montoya avenging...
his father's death so it has all that emotional stuff to it...
but this one, I think, from a pure technical standpoint, is probably the best.
But I put this up against anything you would find in Scaramouche...
or any other sword-fighting movie.
My way. Thank you, Vizzini.
Which way is my way?
Pick up one of those rocks, get behind the boulder.
In a few minutes, the man in black will come running around the bend.
The minute his head is in view, hit it with the rock!
My way's not very sportsmanlike.
[ Reiner ] Now, this next sequence coming up is gonna have a...
a wrestling match between the man in black and Fezzik.
And we figured, well, this is one thing we didn't have to worry about with Andre...
because, you know, he's a professional wrestler.
But what we didn't know is that Andre had a terrible bad back...
and it was very hard for him to...
There's one scene... one part of where you'll see...
where Cary jumps on Andre's back and holds on to him...
and Andre literally couldn't hold him because his back was so bad.
We had to devise some ramps for Cary to be walking on...
to take the weight off of Andre's back.
So even with a professional wrestler...
we had to resort to Hollywood tricks in order to make this sequence work.
I could kill you now.
Frankly, I think the odds are slightly in your favor at hand fighting.
It's not my fault being the biggest and the strongest.
I don't even exercise.
[ Man In Black Grunts ]
[ Grunting ]
Look, are you just fiddling around with me or what?
I just want you to feel you're doing well. I hate for people to die embarrassed.
- You're quick. - And a good thing too.
Why are you wearing a mask?
Were you burned by acid or something like that?
Oh, no, it's just they're terribly comfortable.
I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.
[ Reiner ] Watch. Now he jumps. That's not Andre.
That we used is a double because...
And now that is Andre, but Cary doesn't have his weight on him.
He's actually standing on two ramps that we built.
And so it looks like Cary is actually hanging on him, but he's...
Now again we have a double. So it's not even Andre in those wide shots.
Probably shouldn't give that away, but hey.
You know, that's why you bought this thing to begin with.
Find out all these things. The magician's tricks.
When you're fighting half a dozen...
[ Reiner ] See, that's a double right there.
You can see he's even much smaller than Andre really is.
I do not envy you the headache you will have when you awake.
But in the meantime, rest well and dream of large women.
[ Reiner ] I love that line... "Dream of large women."
Look at that nice little flip he does with the sword.
Cary added those little things.
Chris Sarandon did a good job with Humperdinck.
And my good buddy Chris Guest you'll see here as Count Rugen...
the six-fingered man.
There's a good story about that in that Chris disappears...
so completely into his parts...
that I remember at a-a party...
after a screening that we had in Los Angeles...
We were all at a restaurant sitting around, you know, talking.
And Robin Wright was there...
and Bill Goldman, and a lot of the people from the movie were there.
And Chris was sitting there, and for a second I was wondering...
I said it's nice that Chris would come to this party.
He's such a supportive friend.
What a nice thing for him to do.
And I realize he was in the movie. I mean, again, he loses himself...
He completely immerses himself in a part to the point where I even forget...
that he's an actor in the movie.
But he's so good.
...and it is down to me.
[ Reiner ] And coming up is one of my favorite sequences in the movie.
The duel of... The battle of wits.
There's nothing to explain. You're trying to kidnap...
[ Reiner ] The tortured logic that Bill Goldman comes up with...
as to why Wally Shawn as Vizzini should or should not pick...
which goblet is just, you know, it's masterful, it's brilliant and it's funny.
And he winds up with this wonderfully hip, anachronistic line which is...
you know, the famous...
one of the most famous thing is never get involved in a land war in Asia...
which, uh... It's like...
It was a great comment on the Vietnam War that's thrown into the middle of this film.
To the death?
I accept.
Good, then pour the wine.
[ Reiner ] And here we got the iocaine powder.
Odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly.
I smell nothing.
What you do not smell is called iocaine powder.
It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid...
[ Reiner ] This was actually the first sequence we shot with Wally Shawn.
And he was so good in it, in this...
but he was so nervous about his performance...
that he was totally convinced after we finished the day's shooting...
that I was gonna replace him. [ Laughs ]
I don't know why, but he's so funny in it.
I mean, clearly, he's not Sicilian...
but like I say, it works so perfectly in this... in this film.
You know, it was just this kind of wacky casting where he was...
'Cause he is extremely intelligent. He's a very brilliant guy...
and Vizzini had to be the mastermind.
He was the mastermind for the... for the three bad guys.
And he had all the wit and intelligence...
and I loved that kind of, sort of lateral lisp that he had...
and it just... it seemed right.
...so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
But you must have known I was not a great fool.
You would've counted on it. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
- You've made your decision then? - Not remotely.
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.
Truly you have a dizzying intellect.
Wait till I get going. Where was I?
- Australia. - Yes. Australia.
And you must have suspected I would've known the powder's origin...
so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
- You're just stalling now. - You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?
You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong.
So you could have put the poison in your own goblet...
trusting on your strength to save you...
so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
But you've also bested my Spaniard, which means you must've studied.
And in studying, you must have learned that man is mortal...
so you would've put the poison as far from yourself as possible...
so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
You're trying to trick me into giving away something.
- It won't work. - It has worked!
[ Reiner ] Adding that little mustache to Cary also was a great touch.
That was his idea. You know, it makes him...
It gives him that Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckling flair.
It was a perfect little touch.
[ Chuckles ]
- What's so funny? - I'll tell you in a minute.
[ Reiner ] Also, as you'll notice later, we take the license...
that Buttercup would not recognize his voice.
Or later when she sees him with a mask on...
that she doesn't recognize that it's Westley from the farm.
It's that license that you're allowed to which was established by Superman...
which the mere adding of glasses...
would all of a sudden turn Superman into Clark Kent...
and completely confuse Lois Lane.
And we all accepted that reality that, uh...
that they look completely different... Clark Kent and Superman.
So here we have Westley and the man in black.
Even though we've added... just added the mask...
you know, we accept that he's completely somebody else.
And there's that great moment where Wally Shawn keels over.
My kids laugh every time they see that, so I know it has to be good.
I'm no one to be trifled with. That is all you ever need know.
To think, all that time it was your cup that was poisoned.
They were both poisoned.
I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocaine powder.
Someone has beaten a giant.
There will be great suffering in Guilder if she dies.
[ Reiner ] We shot this at a place called Higger Tor.
I remember that name. Don't ask me why.
But it was a bit of a trek to get to, and...
When you watch a movie, you never think about, you know...
the fact that behind the camera here...
there are trucks and equipment trucks and all kinds of things...
and it was very hard to find places to park things around here.
So, you know, we had to cart things up manually and with four-wheelers.
It was... It was difficult, but it was a great location...
and it gave that kind of storybook feel to it.
- He knows I do not love him. - Are not capable of love is what you mean.
I have loved more deeply than a killer like yourself could ever dream...
That was a warning, Highness. The next time my hand flies on its own.
Where I come from, there are penalties when a woman lies.
Iocaine. I'd bet my life on it.
And there are the princess's footprints. She is alive, or was an hour ago.
If she is otherwise when I find her, I shall be very put out.
Hah!
- Rest, Highness. - I know who you are.
[ Reiner ] Now, here you'll notice Cary...
when he walks, he's kind of walking kind of gingerly.
He had virtually almost broken his ankle the day...
A couple of days before we shot this.
He was riding around on some kind of, like, dune buggy kind of thing...
and it flipped over and he hurt himself.
But you'll see, you know. He said, "No, I can do it. I can do it."
And you'll notice he's walking... He walked on...
He was in such pain when he was doing this. Watch. You'll see.
He keeps his foot... His weight off that one foot there when he put it out.
And he made himself look elegant and suave when he sat down there...
but he actually couldn't put any weight on that foot.
- On the high seas... - [ Reiner ] It's amazing...
how many things you can remember when you watch a movie.
It's like... it's like home movies for me...
because I remember, you know, more than anything what was happening...
on the day when you shot something, and it brings back those memories.
So any time I see a movie of mine that I've made...
come on the screen to watch on television...
it's always like watching home movies for me.
You can see he's walking kind of gingerly.
And it was also freezing cold up there when we shot that.
He died well. That should please you.
No bribe attempts or blubbering.
He simply said, "Please. Please, I need to live."
It was the "please" that caught my memory.
I asked him what was so important for him.
"True love," he replied.
And then he spoke of a girl of surpassing beauty and faithfulness.
I can only assume he meant you.
You should bless me for destroying him before he found out what you really are.
- And what am I? - The faithfulness he talked of, madam.
Your enduring faithfulness.
Now tell me truly. When you found out he was gone...
did you get engaged to your prince that same hour...
or did you wait a whole week out of respect for the dead?
You mocked me once! Never do it again!
- I died that day! - [ Hoofbeats Approaching ]
You can die too, for all I care!
[ Reiner ] This sequence is one of my favorites.
We have... Now these are stunt doubles obviously rolling down the hill...
but the whole idea of people reuniting in this manner...
Two people just crazily rolling down a hill...
who are falling back in love with each other...
it's just such a wonderful kind of antiromantic...
then wonderfully romantic way of bringing them back together again.
...which might account for his panicking into error.
Unless I am wrong, and I am never wrong...
[ Reiner ] And the look Chris does when he says "Fire Swamp"...
whoa, he's scared.
He doesn't know... He doesn't want to go into that Fire Swamp.
Can you move at all?
Move? You're alive.
If you want, I can fly.
I told you I would always come for you.
Why didn't you wait for me?
Well, you were dead.
Death cannot stop true love.
All it can do is delay it for a while.
I will never doubt again.
There will never be a need.
[ Grandson ] Oh, no.
[ Reiner ] And this was perfect. It was just when they start kissing...
that's when the little boy would not wanna hear this part...
and so he wants to skip past the kissing parts and get to the action.
And that's what's so much fun about this.
- ...the Fire Swamp. That sounded good. - Oh.
You're sick. I'll humor ya.
So now, where were we here? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ah, okay.
"Westley and Buttercup raced along the ravine floor."
[ Reiner ] Now they're gonna start heading into the Fire Swamp.
And as you'll see when we get into it...
this was built on soundstages at Shepperton Studios.
All those trees in there are actually matte paintings put in there.
But here's the Fire Swamp, and we shot this...
This was the first sequence we shot in the film...
and on the first day of shooting, as you'll see...
Buttercup's dress catches on fire.
And we literally lit our first lady...
the leading lady, on fire the first day of the shoot.
[ Growling ]
It's not that bad.
Well, I'm not saying I'd like to build a summer home here...
but the trees are actually quite lovely.
[ Reiner ] I think this was... Like I said, this was early on in the shoot...
and Bill Goldman actually was on the set for these few days.
He came to the first few days of the shoot.
And I noticed, you know, while the take was going on...
he'd be like having his... He'd have his back to the action...
and he'd have his thumbs in his mouth and his arms were folded...
and I was saying, "What are you doing?"
And he said, "This is the way I... You know. It's like crossing your fingers.
I'm like hoping for good luck that this will work out okay."
I've never met anybody as brilliant...
and as talented and as superstitious as Bill Goldman.
But maybe he was right.
Maybe he was smart to put his thumbs in his mouth because...
it worked out pretty good.
Well, one thing I will say.
Fire Swamp certainly does keep you on your toes.
This will all soon be but a happy memory...
because Roberts' ship, Revenge, is anchored at the far end.
And I, as you know, am Roberts.
But how is that possible since he's been marauding 20 years...
and you only left me five years ago.
I myself am often surprised at life's little quirks.
[ Popping ]
See, what I told you before about saying please was true.
It intrigued Roberts.
[ Reiner ] And you'll see coming up in a little while, you'll have the R.O.U.S.'s...
the Rodents Of Unusual Size.
"All right, Westley. I've never had a valet. You can try it for tonight."
[ Reiner ] We had actually two little people that were doing this.
They were dressed up in these big rat suits.
And one of them could go very fast.
One of them was good just moseying and kind of sniffing around...
and the other one could actually move pretty fast in the costume.
Well, Roberts had grown so rich he wanted to retire...
so he took me to his cabin and told me his secret.
"I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts," he said.
"My name is Ryan. I inherited the ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts...
just as you will inherit it from me.
The man I inherited it from was not the real Dread Pirate Roberts either.
His name was Cumberbund.
The real Roberts has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.
Thank you. Then he explained the name was the important thing...
for inspiring the necessary fear.
You see, no one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Westley.
So we sailed ashore, took on an entirely new crew...
and he stayed aboard for a while as first mate...
all the time calling me Roberts.
Once the crew believed, he left the ship and I have been Roberts ever since.
Except now that we're together...
I shall retire and hand the name over to someone else.
Is everything clear to you?
[ Reiner ] And you'll see that she's gonna go into the snow sand here.
And we rigged a thing underneath the stage where you could fall through...
and there was a little trapdoor thing underneath...
but it required a really difficult thing.
This stuntman did this, but Cary, 'cause when you got right under the sand...
you have to tuck under to avoid hitting all these pipes and wires...
and things that were underneath.
And Cary of course wanted to do it himself.
Did it the first time. He just stuck with his head in the sand...
and we had to pull him out of there.
And then we said, "Please, Cary, let's let the stuntman do this.
See, that's the one guy who could kind of sniff and walk away. He was fine.
And then you'll see later when the action happens...
that we needed a more energetic R.O.U.S.
[ Buttercup Coughing ]
[ Gasping ]
[ Westley Coughs ]
[ Coughs ]
[ Gasping ]
[ Growling ]
[ Reiner ] The fight scene that's coming up with the R.O.U.S.'s...
the sounds that you hear coming out of the R.O.U.S.'s...
were actually made by me.
I actually looped all of those sounds.
We put it through harmonizers, and we double recorded them...
and added all kinds of effects to it, but essentially the base sound was mine.
And I did it...
The first time I did it, they didn't... They forgot to push the record button...
and I almost completely lost my voice doing it...
and was so upset that they had to do it over again...
'cause I was so hoarse after doing it.
All those... [ Growls ]
That's all stuff that I actually added myself, so...
The voice of the R.O.U.S.'s is yours truly.
- [ Snarling ] - Westley!
[ Whimpering ]
[ Groans, Shouts ]
[ Popping ]
[ R.O.U.S. Shrieks ]
[ Growls ]
[ Howls ]
[ Howls Continue ]
[ Reiner ] This is the one sequence that I've heard...
little kids sometimes get a little freaked out over.
But for by and large, you can watch this with kids of almost any age...
and that's one of the things I love about it.
[ Buttercup ] We did it.
[ Reiner ] Now they've come out of the Fire Swamp.
And coming up you're going to see the encounter between Westley...
and the six-fingered man.
And there's a moment where he gets conked on the head...
by the butt of the sword from the six-fingered man.
And he actually... Cary said, "No, hit me. Hit me. It's okay."
And Chris accidentally hit him on the head, and he had to go to the hospital.
Cary had to go to the hospital that day.
We had to stop for the afternoon while Cary had his cut attended to.
You'll see when it happens, but you don't see any blood.
[ Humperdinck ] ...will not happen. For the last time! Surrender!
- Death first! - Will you promise not to hurt him?
- What was that? - What was that?
If we surrender and I return with you, will you promise not to hurt this man?
May I live a thousand years and never hunt again.
He is a sailor on the pirate ship Revenge.
Promise to return him to his ship.
I swear it will be done.
Once we're out of sight, take him back to Florin and throw him in the Pit of Despair.
I swear it will be done.
I thought you were dead once, and it almost destroyed me.
I could not bear it if you died again...
not when I could save you.
Come, sir. We must get you to your ship.
We are men of action. Lies do not become us.
Well spoken, sir.
[ Reiner ] There's the six-fingered man.
- What is it? - You have six fingers on your right hand.
[ Reiner ] And here comes the sword.
Bonk. You don't see it. And he went to the hospital...
[ Chuckles ] with that shot.
And now here we've got...
In the book, Westley has to go through the Zoo of Death.
But in service of a limited budget, we created the Pit of Despair...
which is not in the book, but it was a lot cheaper and a lot more contained.
It almost did the job of the Zoo of Death.
Although the Zoo of Death is great in the book.
If you read the book, it's terrific.
This is a wonderful English comedian named Mel Smith playing The Albino.
- Where am I? - [ Hoarse Whisper ] The Pit of Despair.
Don't even think about...
[ Coughs, Clears Throat, Grunts ]
[ Normally ] Don't even think about trying to escape. The chains are far too thick.
[ Reiner ] I love that joke. It's such a cheesy joke, but it's great.
You know... [ Hoarse Whisper ] "The Pit of Despair."
And then he clears his throat, and of course he can talk normally.
Then I'm here till I die?
Till they kill you. Yeah.
[ Reiner ] First time I heard that joke, my father said it was done I...
It was a bit about a train conductor going...
Calling the next stop for the train and he'd be going...
[ Unclearly ] "Schenectady. Schenectady."
And nobody could understand it, and then he would go...
[ Clears Throat, Speaks Clearly ] "Schenectady."
And it was like that. And Chris Guest used to do that same joke.
It was the Indians going around the campfire and doing the war dance...
and they'd go... [ Incoherent Chanting ]
And then he'd go... [ Clears Throat ] "Hey, a-hey, a-hey."
It was... It's that same joke, so, basically.
It's been around, but it worked good in this sequence.
She's been like that ever since...
[ Reiner ] Now what this brings up is so ridiculous...
I don't even wanna... I don't even know if it's worth mentioning.
But there was... We shot this on a stage at Shepperton...
and there was a fire guard 'cause we had these torches that were lit in the castle.
And the fire guard, fireman was a guy that looked just like Captain Kangaroo.
He was a British guy, but he looked exactly like Captain Kangaroo.
And every time Chris and I would walk by him, we'd go...
♪♪ [ Humming Captain Kangaroo Theme ]
...which was the theme song for Captain Kangaroo.
This guy had no idea why we were humming that...
but of course, for us, that was, you know... kept us going.
Well, who says life is fair?
Where is that written? Life isn't always fair.
I'm telling you, you're messing up the story. Now, get it right!
Do you want me to go on with this?
- Yes. - All right, then. No more interruptions.
"At noon, she met her subjects again, this time as their queen."
My father's final words were:
"Love her as I loved her, and there will be joy."
I present to you your queen...
[ Reiner ] And here's the courtyard of Haddon Hall.
Queen Buttercup.
- [ Murmuring ] - ♪♪ [ Fanfare ]
[ Woman ] Boo!
- Boo! - Why do you do this?
Because you had love in your hands, and you gave it up!
But they would have killed Westley if I hadn't done it.
Your true love lives, and you marry another!
True love saved her in the Fire Swamp, and she treated it like garbage.
And that's what she is... the Queen of Refuse.
So bow down to her if you want. Bow to her.
Bow to the queen of slime...
the queen of filth, the queen of putrescence!
Boo! Boo!
Rubbish! Filth! Slime! Muck! Boo!
Boo! Boo!
[ Gasps ]
[ Grandpa ] "It was 10 days to the wedding.
The king still lived, but Buttercup's nightmares were growing steadily worse."
[ Grandson ] See? Didn't I tell you she'd never marry that rotten Humperdinck?
[ Grandpa ] Yes, you're very smart. Shut up.
It comes to this: I love Westley. I always have.
I know now I always will.
[ Reiner ] This was an actual room inside Haddon Hall that we shot in.
And one of the strangest things in doing a film like this is here you are...
shooting a sequence in a place that was built in 1086...
and to imagine what was going on back then.
And there would be obviously no way they could imagine that, you know...
almost, you know, 900 years later...
that there would be a movie company in there filming, you know, a sequence.
I mean, the surreality of it all was palpable for me.
And at one point, Chris Guest and myself and Mandy Patinkin...
got inside this room actually.
The room that we're seeing here had a great echo and a great sound to it...
and we started harmonizing an old doo-wop song.
♪ What's your name? ♪
♪ Is it Mary or Sue? What's your name? ♪
That song. And we all harmonized this.
And I... And I thought, "Wow. This is bizarre."
I mean, here's these guys harmonizing this song in a place where, you know...
people were eating and throwing, you know, turkey legs over their shoulders...
and dogs were, you know...
It just... The whole idea of it was just amazing.
You have to step back every once in a while...
and think about what you're doing and where you are in the world.
Because this was a place, like I say... was from 1086.
This we built also.
Oh, no. This was actually at a place called Burnham Beeches...
which was a...
It's a wonderful medieval-type forest that's right next to Heathrow Airport.
And every 30 seconds you'd have a plane go over, which was...
made it tough to film, but it's a great location.
And we added our own...
a few of our own trees into the existing... trees.
You know, there's no tree that has a door that opens like that at Burnham Beeches.
At least, we couldn't find one, so...
Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work.
But I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange...
my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it.
I'm swamped.
Get some rest. If you haven't got your health...
[ Reiner ] Again, this beautiful tone that Bill Goldman strikes...
with this dialogue is just great.
And I loved the art department and their inventiveness...
coming up with this, um... this... what's called the Machine...
and it basically sucks the life out of you.
I mean, the idea of these suction cups hooked up to a water wheel...
as a torture device is, to me, it was very inventive and funny.
...how the Machine makes you feel.
This being our first try, I'll use the lowest setting.
[ Reiner ] This is a scene where I'm talking about...
how Chris completely gets lost in a part.
Um, you know, he's so brilliant in every movie he does.
But like I say, he's so immersed that he loses himself, and there's no...
You don't know where Chris... You can't find Chris Guest anymore.
Only the character's there.
[ Grunting ]
[ Grunting Continues ]
[ Grunting Stops ]
As you know, the concept of the suction pump is centuries old.
Well, really, that's all this is, except that instead of sucking water...
I'm sucking life.
I've just sucked one year of your life away.
I might one day go as high as five...
but I really don't know what that would do to you.
So let's just start with what we have.
What did this do to you? Tell me.
And remember, this is for posterity, so be honest.
How do you feel?
[ Whimpering ]
Interesting.
[ Clears Throat ]
- Yellin. - Sire.
[ Reiner ] That little moment was nice that that actor added.
That's always what's great when you're making a film.
You have really talented, creative actors...
that give you little moments and things that, you know, you don't think of...
and makes you look good.
[ Buttercup ] Any word from Westley?
Too soon, my angel. Patience.
- He will come for me. - Of course.
She will not be murdered!
On the day of the wedding, I want the Thieves' Forest emptied...
and every inhabitant arrested.
[ Sighs ] Many of the thieves will resist.
My regular enforcers will be inadequate.
Form a brute squad, then!
I want the Thieves' Forest emptied before I wed.
It won't be easy, sire.
Try ruling the world sometime.
[ Clamoring ]
[ Reiner ] And here we are back at Burnham Beeches.
We created the, uh... the Thieves' Forest.
[ Shouting ]
- Is everybody out? - Almost.
There's a Spaniard giving us some trouble.
Well, you give him some trouble.
Move.
I am waiting for you, Vizzini.
[ Reiner ] And here we have Mandy again.
He was so brilliant in this movie.
I can't imagine anybody else playing the part.
...this is where I will stay.
I will not be moved.
Ho, there!
I do not budge. Keep your "Ho, there."
But the prince gave orders.
So did Vizzini. When a job went wrong, you went back to the beginning.
Well, this is where we got the job. So it's the beginning...
and I am staying till Vizzini comes.
- You, brute, come here! - I am...
waiting for Vizzini.
You surely are a meanie.
[ Reiner ] Look at the size of Andre's hands.
This is my favorite little moment. They put those...
He's checking his thumb against Andre's thumb...
to see if it's really Fezzik.
- True. - [ Groans ]
- You don't look so good. - [ Scoffs ]
[ Sniffs ] You don't smell so good either.
- Perhaps not. I feel fine. - Yeah?
[ Grandpa ] "Fezzik and Inigo were reunited.
And as Fezzik nursed his inebriated friend back to health...
he told Inigo of Vizzini's death and the existence of Count Rugen...
the six-fingered man.
Considering Inigo's lifelong search, he handled the news surprisingly well.
Fezzik took great care..."
[ Reiner ] When I auditioned Andre for this part...
I gave him a scene that was only three pages long.
And he read it, and I asked him... he was obviously perfect for the part...
and I said to him, you know... 'cause he had never been in more than...
in one place more than two weeks at a time because of his wrestling.
I said, "You know, this is going to require you to be, you know...
working on this film for 15 weeks.
This is a long shoot. I mean, you have to be there 15 weeks."
And he just thought that he was gonna...
For 15 weeks he was gonna do that three-page scene.
He didn't understand that there was a lot of scenes in the script that he had to do.
And I said, "No, no. There's a lot for you to do.
It's gonna take a while." And so he says, "No, I do it.
I can do it, boss. I do it." I said, "Okay."
- I need the man in black. - What?
Look, he bested you with strength, your greatness. He bested me with steel.
He must have outthought Vizzini...
and a man who can do that can plan my castle onslaught any day.
- Let's go. - Where?
Find the man in black, obviously.
- But you don't know where he is. - Don't bother me with trifles.
After 20 years, at last my father's soul will be at peace.
There will be blood tonight!
Rise and report.
- [ Blows ] - The Thieves' Forest is emptied.
- Thirty men guard the castle gate. - Double it.
My princess must be safe.
The gate has but one key.
And I carry that.
[ Footsteps Approaching ]
Ah, my dulcet darling.
Tonight, we marry.
Tomorrow morning, your men will escort us to Florin Channel...
[ Reiner ] It's amazing when you watch Robin Wright's performance...
because this is a girl who, um, grew up in...
was born in Texas and grew up in the San Fernando Valley of California.
And she's got this perfect way of carrying herself.
And she's got this perfect English accent, and, um, she's just...
And she's so beautiful.
And I can't imagine anybody else that could have done this.
It doesn't matter. Westley will come for me anyway.
- You're a silly girl. - Yes, I am a silly girl...
for not having seen sooner that you were nothing but a coward...
with a heart full of fear.
I would not say such things if I were you.
Why not? You can't hurt me.
Westley and I are joined by the bonds of love.
And you cannot track that, not with a thousand bloodhounds.
And you cannot break it, not with a thousand swords.
And when I say you're a coward...
that is only because you are the slimiest weakling ever to crawl the earth!
[ Object Slams ]
I would not say such things if I were you!
[ Reiner ] Here we are back in the Pit of Despair.
You truly love each other, and so you might have been truly happy.
Not one couple in a century has that chance...
no matter what the storybooks say.
And so I think no man in a century will suffer as greatly as you will.
- Not to 50! - [ Screaming ]
[ Screaming Continues ]
- [ Screaming Continues ] - [ Reiner ] That light right there on the castle...
just happened to be there when we shot that shot.
We got very lucky. There were clouds all around...
and then the sun poked through...
and it was almost like the castle got its own key light...
and we were lucky to get that shot.
His true love is marrying another tonight.
So who else has the cause for ultimate suffering?
Excuse me. Pardon me. It's important. Fezzik, please.
Everybody, move!
Thank you.
[ Inigo ] Where is the man in black?
You get there from this grove, yes?
[ Reiner ] Now the sequence coming up where Mandy prays...
for his father to help him find the man in black...
was a really difficult sequence to shoot.
This speech right here.
Not because it was tough for Mandy, but because we had...
See this smoke behind him and we had this camera move...
and like I say, literally every 10, 15, 20 seconds...
we'd have a plane going over at Heathrow Airport.
So to get a good performance from Mandy...
to get the camera move like that and then to get the, you know...
the halo kind of effect with the light behind him was a tough, tough thing to pull off.
But Mandy was incredibly patient. He stood there and did it.
His performance was great every time.
He did it 20 times in a row, and every time he was perfect.
But we had pro... You know, technical problems...
and finally we got one or two that were good.
He's dead.
Just is not fair.
Grandpa, Grandpa, wait. Wait.
What did Fezzik mean, "He's dead"?
I mean, he didn't mean "dead."
Westley's only faking, right?
You want me to read this or not?
- Who gets Humperdinck? - I don't understand.
Who kills Prince Humperdinck?
At the end. Somebody's gotta do it.
Is it Inigo? Who?
Nobody. Nobody kills him. He lives.
You mean he wins?
Jesus, Grandpa, what did you read me this thing for?
You know, you've been very sick...
and you're taking this story very seriously.
[ Reiner ] There's the hat, if you see it, in the background.
It's up on that light, that little...
The hat that Mark Knopfler asked that I put on the set.
Isn't that weird?
Oh, yes.
In the Pit of Despair.
Well, the Montoyas have never taken defeat easily.
- Come along, Fezzik. Bring the body. - The body?
- Have you any money? - I have a little.
I just hope it's enough to buy a miracle. That's all.
[ Reiner ] Here we have one of my favorite sequences in the whole film...
and that's the sequence with Miracle Max.
And Billy Crystal is just absolutely incredible in this-this performance.
He's funny. He had his own ideas. He added his own lines...
this thing about the paper cut.
Why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it? We're closed.
[ Reiner ] That was his line.
But the character is a Bill Goldman character that's kind of loosely...
kind of taken from Mel Brooks' 2000 Year Old Man.
And Billy was absolutely so much fun to work with.
And it was just the right piece of comic acting right here at the mo...
at this point in the movie, and he's just absolutely great.
I've seen worse.
- [ Miracle Max Muttering ] - Sir?
- [ Muttering ] Huh? - Sir?
We're in a terrible rush.
Don't rush me, sonny. You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.
- You got money? - Sixty-five.
Sheesh! I never worked for so little...
except once, and that was a very noble cause.
This is noble, sir.
His wife is crippled.
His children are on the brink of starvation.
Are you a rotten liar.
I need him to help avenge my father, murdered these 20 years.
Your first story was better. Where's that bellows cramp?
He probably owes you money, huh? Well, I'll ask him.
- He's dead. He can't talk. - Ooh!
Look who knows so much, huh? Well, it just so happens...
that your friend here is only mostly dead.
There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.
Please, open his mouth.
Now, mostly dead is slightly alive.
Now, all dead... Well, with all dead...
there's usually only one thing that you can do.
What's that?
Go through his clothes and look for loose change.
Hey!
Hello in there! Hey!
What's so important? What you got here that's worth living for?
True... love.
True love. You heard him. You could not ask for a more noble cause than that.
Eh, sonny, true love is the greatest thing in the world...
except for a nice M.L.T...
a mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, when the mutton is nice and lean...
and the tomato is ripe. [ Smacking Lips ]
They're so perky. I love that.
But that's not what he said. He distinctly said...
[ Reiner ] That's all Billy's stuff... mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich.
And "look for loose change," all of those things are...
Liar! Liar!
[ Reiner ] things that he added, and that's what's so great working with him.
And of course, here's Carol Kane who plays the perfect nagging wife.
And they were great together.
She took I think seven or eight hours to get into makeup every day.
By the time we got her into makeup, she had to go home.
"I got to go home." But they were great together.
- What, Humperdinck? Humperdinck! - [ Yells ]
Humperdinck! Humperdinck! Humperdinck!
- Humperdinck! Humperdinck! - I'm not listening!
True love lies expiring, and you don't have the decency to say why you won't help!
- Nobody's hearing nothing. - Humperdinck! Humperdinck!
This is Buttercup's true love. If you heal him, he will stop Humperdinck's wedding.
- Humperdinck! - Shut up! Wait, wait.
I make him better, Humperdinck suffers?
Humiliations galore.
♪♪ [ Singing, Indistinct ]
That is a noble cause. Give me the 65. I'm on the job.
Ha-whoo!
That's a miracle pill?
[ Reiner ] Here's the miracle pill. Looks like a Godiva chocolate.
This is also a great little Billy line... "Give it an hour. A good hour."
- Thank you for everything. - Okay.
- Bye-bye, boys! - Have fun storming the castle.
- Think it'll work? - It would take a miracle.
[ Together ] Bye!
[ Grunts ]
Inigo, there's more than 30.
What's the difference? We've got him.
Help me here. We'll have to force-feed him.
[ Reiner ] And you also have to really appreciate Cary Elwes' performance.
I mean, here's this great-looking young man who is a wonderful actor...
and he has a great sense of comedy timing...
but he's also great physically.
This whole next sequence where he plays this, you know...
almost-dead, mostly-dead person with the flopping and the moving around.
I mean, it's so rare that you can find an actor who looks like this...
who is so physically adept and has such great comedy timing.
Why am I on this wall? Where is Buttercup?
Let me explain.
No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
Buttercup is marrying Humperdinck in a little less than half an hour...
so all we have to do is get in, break up the wedding...
steal the princess, make our escape, after I kill Count Rugen.
That doesn't leave much time for dillydallying.
You just wiggled your finger. That's wonderful.
I've always been a quick healer. What are our liabilities?
There is but one working castle gate. Come on.
And it is guarded by... 60 men.
- And our assets? - Your brains...
- Fezzik's strength, my steel. - That's it?
Impossible.
If I had a month to plan, maybe I could come up with something, but this...
You just shook your head. That doesn't make you happy?
My brains, his steel and your strength against 60 men...
and you think a little head jiggle is supposed to make me happy, hmm?
If we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.
Where did we put that wheelbarrow the Albino had?
Over the Albino, I think.
Why didn't you list that among our assets in the first place?
[ Sighs ] What I wouldn't give for a holocaust cloak.
- There we cannot help you. - Will this do?
- Where did you get that? - At Miracle Max's.
It fit so nice, he said I could keep it.
All right, all right. Come on. Help me up.
[ Reiner ] One of my favorite shots in the movie.
It's pretty, and you see that English countryside back there.
Thank you. Now, there may be problems once we're inside.
I'll say. How do I find the count?
Once I do, how do I find you again? Once I find you again, how do we escape?
- Don't pester him. He's had a hard day. - Right.
Right. Sorry.
- Inigo. - What?
I hope we win.
[ Humperdinck ] You don't seem excited, my little muffin.
- Should I be? - Brides often are, I'm told.
I do not marry tonight.
My Westley will save me.
♪♪ [ Organ ]
[ Reiner ] This is one of my favorite performances.
This is Peter Cook, who was originally with Beyond the Fringe...
and he and Dudley Moore were partners for many years together.
One of the most brilliant British comedians...
and this is one of my favorite moments in the movie.
"Mawwiage."
[ Reiner ] You just have no way to know that when that man opens his mouth...
that this is the way he's gonna talk.
"Mawwiage..." that "bwessed awwangement;"
that "dweam" within a "dweam."
[ Yellin ] Stand your ground, men! Stand your ground!
[ Guests Murmuring ]
[ Reiner ] Of course here we have the Dread Pirate Roberts...
replete with his holocaust cloak.
There will be no survivors!
- Now? - Not yet.
My men are here and I am here...
but soon you will not be here.
- [ Straining ] Now? - Light him.
[ Reiner ] This is as low-tech as it gets when it comes to special effects.
We... Like I say, we didn't have much money to work with...
but it works because it's funny and it serves the story.
...will follow you...
forever.
The Dread Pirate Roberts...
is here for your souls!
- [ Yelling, Shouting ] - Stay where you are!
Stay where you are!
So "tweasure" your "wuv"...
- Skip to the end. - Have you the "wing"?
- [ Rumbling ] - Here comes my Westley now.
Fezzik, the portcullis!
[ Grunting ]
[ Reiner ] Like I say, this portcullis that you see here...
this was added to the existing castle...
and from what I understand, they decided to keep it.
- Give us the gate key. - I have no gate key.
Fezzik, tear his arms off.
Oh, you mean this gate key.
And do you, "Pwincess Buttercwup"...
Man and wife! Say, "Man and wife!"
Man and wife.
Escort the bride to the honeymoon suite. I'll be there shortly.
He didn't come.
[ Reiner ] This coming up is one of my favorite sequences in the whole movie.
Here you've got these three people...
who are trying to storm the castle and save the day.
And their leader is the guy who's nodding his head in which direction they should go.
Can barely stand, can't really walk, and he's the one that's...
He's their leader.
And this is a great little bit of swordplay that you see coming up.
Of course, one of the great fake-outs...
and funny moments in the movie comes after it.
But this little bit of swordplay where he dispatches four people...
in one swoop.
And then this unexpected moment which gets one of the biggest laughs...
when it's played in the theater.
My name is Inigo Montoya.
You killed my father. Prepare to die.
[ Reiner ] And he just runs.
In this whole chase through the castle, we used sets on a stage, which this was.
And then we cut to existing actual rooms...
in-in two or three different castles.
Fezzik!
I'll be right back.
Thank you.
- Strange wedding. - Yes.
A very strange wedding.
Come along.
What was that for?
Because you've always been so kind to me.
And I won't be seeing you again...
since I'm killing myself once we reach the honeymoon suite.
Won't that be nice, hmm? She kissed me! [ Giggles ]
[ Reiner ] This was an actual castle.
I think this was Penshurst Castle.
And now we're back on the set.
[ Groans ]
Sorry, Father.
[ Reiner ] Like I say, this was described in the script...
as the greatest sword fight in film history.
Now, technically, it probably isn't, but like I say...
the emotion of what's underneath all this makes it a really good scene.
And that's after all these years... 20 years he's been tracking this guy...
only to get knifed in the stomach, and then you'll see, and we all know...
that he is able to fight through that pain and emerge victorious.
There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world.
It would be a pity to damage yours.
Westley! Oh, Westley, darling! [ Kissing ]
Westley, why won't you hold me?
- Gently. - At a time like this?
That's all you can think to say? "Gently?"
[ Reiner ] You gotta admit, these are two of the better-looking humans on the planet.
They're totally storybook in the way they look...
and aside from the fact that they're terrific actors.
And here we have Inigo regrouping and pushing through the pain.
And this is one of my... It's one of the favorite scenes in the whole film.
You've got an overdeveloped sense of vengeance.
It's going to get you into trouble someday.
[ Reiner ] The way in which Mandy just casually deflects the sword...
even though he's been stabbed.
And he just summons the strength.
His performance in this is just magnificent.
You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya.
You killed my father.
Prepare to die.
Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya.
You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Stop saying that!
[ Grunts ]
- [ Grunts ] - Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya!
- You killed my father! Prepare to die! - No!
- Offer me money. - Yes.
- Power too. Promise me that. - All that I have and more. Please.
Offer me everything I ask for.
Anything you want.
I want my father back, you son of a bitch.
- [ Grunting ] - [ Reiner ] This always got a big cheer...
when we played it in the theater.
You know the story's working when that happens.
Oh, Westley, will you ever forgive me?
What hideous sin have you committed lately?
I got married. I didn't want to. It all happened so fast.
- Never happened. - What?
- It never happened. - But it did. I was there.
- This old man said, "Man and wife." - Did you say, "I do"?
Well, no. We sort of skipped that part.
Then you're not married.
If you didn't say it, you didn't do it.
Wouldn't you agree, Your Highness?
A technicality that will shortly be remedied.
But first things first.
- To the death. - [ Westley ] No!
To the pain.
I don't think I'm quite familiar with that phrase.
I'll explain, and I'll use small words so that you'll be sure to understand...
you warthog-faced buffoon.
That may be the first time in my life a man has dared insult me.
It won't be the last.
"To the pain" means the first thing you lose will be your feet, below the ankles.
Then your hands at the wrists. Next, your nose.
And then my tongue, I suppose. I killed you too quickly the last time...
a mistake I don't mean to duplicate tonight.
I wasn't finished!
The next thing you lose will be your left eye, followed by your right.
And then my ears. I understand. Let's get on with it.
Wrong! Your ears you keep, and I'll tell you why.
So that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness...
will be yours to cherish;
every babe that weeps at your approach;
every woman who cries out, "Dear God, what is that thing?"...
will echo in your perfect ears.
That is what "to the pain" means.
It means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever.
I think you're bluffing.
It's possible, pig.
I might be bluffing.
It's conceivable, you miserable, vomitous mass...
that I'm only lying here because I lack the strength to stand.
Then again...
perhaps I have the strength after all.
[ Reiner ] And this is a great moment where he bluffs him, totally bluffs him.
Just has enough strength to stand, but he has no strength for nothing but that...
and totally bluffs him here.
Drop your sword.
[ Sword Clatters ]
Have a seat.
Tie him up.
- Make it as tight as you like. - [ Humperdinck Groans ]
[ Panting ] Where's Fezzik?
- I thought he was with you. - No.
- In that case... [ Groans ] - Help him.
- Why does Westley need helping? - Because he has no strength.
I knew it. I knew you were bluffing. I knew he was bluffing.
[ Reiner ] That's a great shot, just the... the pulchritude in that shot.
The level of pulchritude.
[ Fezzik ] Inigo, where are you?
Oh, there you are.
Inigo, I saw the prince's stables, and there they were... four white horses.
[ Reiner ] This bit coming up...
where Princess Buttercup jumps out the window and Fezzik has to catch her.
And again we had such problems with Fezzik... with Andre's back...
we had to rig a thing where we dropped her just from out of frame...
and we put him on a slant board so he'd be leaning backwards...
so there would be no strain on his back when he catches her...
because we tried it, and it was just too hard for him.
There's... The wide shot was a stunt guy.
See there? There you have it.
You can actually even see it.
There's a little board up there if you look carefully.
You know, it's 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.
Have you ever considered piracy?
You'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts.
[ Reiner ] And we have this great, wonderful moment...
where the four heroes ride out on the four white horses.
[ Grandpa ] "And as dawn arose, Westley and Buttercup knew they were safe.
A wave of love swept over them.
And as they reached for each other..."
[ Reiner ] And I love this moment...
because now the boy is so hooked into the book...
that he even wants to hear the kissing part at the end...
and it's so sweet.
Okay.
"Since the invention of the kiss, there have been five kisses...
that were rated the most passionate, the most pure.
This one left them all behind.
The end."
Now, I think you ought...
[ Reiner ] Now coming up is the only shot we shot in Los Angeles.
We did one pick-up shot of Peter Falk saying, "As you wish."
A close-up of him saying, "As you wish," at the door.
And we shot that in Los Angeles.
This is the only shot in the whole film that was not shot in England.
Grandpa?
[ Reiner ] And that's it.
Maybe you could come over and read it again to me tomorrow.
[ Reiner ] That shot.
As you wish.
[ Reiner ] And now we're back in England again.
And the song at the end was written by Willy DeVille...
and it got nominated for an Academy Award.
And, uh, it was the only Academy Award nomination we got for the movie.
And I like these kind of credits at the end.
It's... They're old-fashioned.
In the old days they used to do these...
what they would call "curtain call" type credits...
where, you know, the actors would be shown in a bit of the movie...
and they'd put their names and characters' names in there...
real names in there, and I just kind of like this.
For this type of movie, it just felt so appropriate...
to have these kind of curtain call-type credits.
Well, as of...
What's today's date?
As of January 24, 2001...
these were the thoughts that I had on The Princess Bride.
Call me in 10 years. Maybe there'll be others.
Have fun storming the castle.
♪ Come, my love I'll tell you a tale ♪
♪ Of a boy and girl and their love story ♪
♪ And how he loved her oh, so much ♪
♪ And all the charms she did possess ♪
♪ Now, this did happen once upon a time ♪
♪ When things were not so complex ♪
♪ And how he worshipped the ground she walked ♪
♪ And when he looked in her eyes he became obsessed ♪
♪ My love is like a storybook story ♪
♪ But it's as real as the feelings I feel ♪
♪ My love is like a storybook story ♪
♪ But it's as real as the feelings I feel ♪
♪ It's as real as the feelings I feel ♪
♪ He said, don't you know I love you oh, so much ♪
♪ I lay my heart at the foot of your dress ♪
♪ She said, don't you know that storybook loves ♪
♪ Always have a happy ending ♪
♪ Then he swooped her up just like in the books ♪
♪ And on his stallion they rode away ♪
♪ My love is like a storybook story ♪
♪ But it's as real as the feelings I feel ♪
♪ My love is like a storybook story ♪
♪ But it's as real as the feelings I feel ♪
♪ It's as real as the feelings I feel♪♪