The Princess Bride (1987)

 

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

If those words send chills down your spine, then you are one of the lucky ones who has already witnessed the awesomeness that is this fairytale. Infamously flopping when released, 'The Princess Bride' found its loyal and hardcore audience through television and has finally gained a status of brilliance which it well and truly deserves. 

It's not the most flashy or expensive fairytale ever made, but the writing is stellar and the characters are all extremely well fleshed out and memorable, even those that only appear for a few scenes. 

One would call that an art and one would be most emphatically right. 

Buttercup is a beautiful girl who is in love with a farmboy called Westley. He wants to make enough money so they can get married, but he apparently is killed by a pirate and several years later Buttercup is chosen to marry prince Humperdinck. She doesn't love him, but has little say in the matter. She is then kidnapped by a trio of thugs because Humperdinck wants to kill her in order to start a war with a neighbouring country. They are thwarted by a mysterious figure in black, who turns out to be Westley who has finally returned to his true love. 

But the story doesn't end there, as Humperdinck and his loyal general Count Rugen throw some spanners in the works. So in the end, two of the thugs (swordmaster Inigo Montoya and giant Fezzik) team up with Westley, because these guys are really decent and good at heart but just down on their luck most of the time. Along the way, Inigo gets closure for the murder of his father and everyone will live happily ever after.

This description really doesn't do the film justice. It's absolutely insane how well written and filmed this entire thing is and the cast is absolutely stellar. Cary Elwes has that Erroll Flynn swagger down to a T; Robin Wright is excellent as the feisty Buttercup and Chris Sarandon is a hoot as the understatedly funny Humperdinck. It's all in the delivery. 

Yet is the trio of Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn and André the Giant that are probably most fondly remembered. Heck, they often get the best lines and steal every scene they're in. 

The swashbuckling duel? Epic, especially as both Patinkin and Elwes did it all themselves. The fight between Elwes and André? Exceptionally funny and heartwarming, strangely enough. The duel of wits with Wallace Shawn? Hilarious. And then we haven't even gotten to Billy Crystal's depiction of Miracle Max, which will split one's sides. 

To top it all off, the quotes! So much dialogue is quotable and - dare I say it? - meme-able. 

"Inconceivable!"

"I am the Brute Squad."

"I would love to join you, but I have a wedding to plan, my wife to kill and Guilder to frame for it. I'm swamped."

And lest not forget that most immortal of all quotes, the one at the very beginning of this piece of text. 

Honestly, I could keep going on for hours about why you truly need to see this film, but I won't. See it and fall in love with it. See it again and discover why its lines stick in the brain. It is unequivocally an underrated masterpiece that finally gets the love and attention it totally deserves.