William Goldman's quirky fairy tale The Princess Bride was only moderately successful in its theatrical release, but as the years have passed, it's grown to be a modern classic. 

Perhaps the lackluster box office was because the film was difficult to characterize, and thus to market.  Too funny to be considered a straight fairy tale, it is also too sweetly sincere to be considered a satire.

The fairy tale is framed by scenes of a grandfather (Peter Falk) reading a bedtime story to his grandson (Fred Savage), a story that has been passed down through his family for generations. 

The story itself begins on a farm, where farmer's daughter and our heroine Buttercup (Robin Wright) and farm hand Westley (Cary Elwes) profess their love for one another.  But farm hands are not marriage material, so Westley goes off to seek his fortune, promising to return.  But Buttercup soon gets the tragic news that Westley's ship was attacked by pirates and all aboard were killed. 

Five years pass, and Buttercup is now Princess Buttercup - she's been given the promotion because she's about to marry a prince.   This is a different Buttercup; her True Love dead, she is listless and indifferent.  But hey, you might say, she's going to marry a handsome prince - surely things are looking up for her. 

Not so fast.  Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) is a baddy, through and through.  His evil plot is to kill Buttercup, framing the neighboring country to give him an excuse to go to war.  Buttercup is kidnapped and carried off by a trio of henchmen. 

There is Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), the brains of the operation, world-class swordsman Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), and for muscle there's Fezzik (Andre the Giant). 

The three head for the border, where Vizzini plans to kill Buttercup and plant the fake evidence implicating the neighbors, but they're being chased by a masked man in black. 

The masked man - oh, come on, we all know it's Westley - takes on the henchmen one by one, befriending Montoya and Fezzik before defeating them, and escapes with Buttercup into the fiery swamp to do battle with the dreaded Rodents of Unusual Size. 

The  story, like all good adventures, is like that - one thing after another.  The Prince recaptures our hero and heroine, pitching Westley into the dungeon and scheduling Buttercup's wedding, but Montoya and Fezzik have switched sides, and aren't going to be deterred by the fact that Westley is now dead.  (Temporarily, of course - this is a happily ever after fable.)

The fights are fabulous, the scenery (filmed in England) is gorgeous, the characters are cheer-worthy or hiss-worthy or laugh-worthy, and you have to applaud when Montoya finally gets the chance to make the challenge he's been practicing for twenty years - "My name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die."

The Princess Bride was directed by Rob Reiner and scripted by William Goldman, based on the children's book by Goldman.   Watch this with your kids.  In twenty years or so, they'll be watching it with their kids.   And if you don't have kids, heck, watch it anyway.

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