1. Who directed The Princess Bride?
Rob Reiner
Reiner read the novel as a teenager when his father, Carl Reiner, gave it to him, and came to it fresh from This Is Spinal Tap and Stand by Me. William Goldman adapted his own book after years of false starts; Mel Brooks is Carl Reiner's old comedy partner.
2. In which country does the story take place?
Florin
Florin and its neighbor Guilder are both named after old European coins, and Humperdinck's scheme is to murder his bride and blame Guilder to start the war he wants. Genovia and Zamunda are the invented kingdoms of The Princess Diaries and Coming to America.
3. Who plays Westley?
Cary Elwes
Elwes broke a toe joyriding on a cast member's all-terrain vehicle during the shoot and spent several scenes hiding the limp. He later wrote a memoir about the making of the film, named after Westley's catchphrase, which became a bestseller.
4. Which pirate does Westley turn out to have become?
The Dread Pirate Roberts
Roberts is a franchise rather than a man: each one retires rich and hands the name to a successor, because no one, as Westley points out, would surrender to the Dread Pirate Westley. The one who captured him is retired and living like a king in Patagonia.
5. Where does the masked Westley duel the Spanish swordsman?
The Cliffs of Insanity
The Spaniard waits at the top while Westley climbs the rope and lets him rest before they begin, being a sportsman as well as a swordsman. The two actors trained for months and fought the whole bout themselves, switching hands midway; a double did one flip.
6. According to Miracle Max, what state is Westley in when he is carried into the hut?
Mostly dead
Mostly dead is slightly alive, as Max explains, whereas with all dead there is only one thing to do: go through the pockets for loose change. The cure is a chocolate-coated miracle pill, and Westley spends the storming of the castle paralyzed and propped up.
7. What does Westley say instead of directly declaring his love?
As you wish
Westley the farm boy says it whenever Buttercup orders him about, and she realizes it means I love you. He says it again as he tumbles down the ravine after she pushes him, which is how she learns who is under the mask, and the grandfather signs off with it.
8. What is the name of the swordsman seeking revenge?
Inigo Montoya
Inigo has spent twenty years learning the sword so he can deliver one line to the man who killed his father, ending 'You killed my father. Prepare to die.' Vizzini is his employer and Count Rugen the man he is hunting.
9. Who plays Inigo?
Mandy Patinkin
Patinkin has said he drew on the loss of his own father to cancer, so that when Inigo finally kills Rugen he is killing the cancer. The only injury he took on the film was a bruised rib, from trying not to laugh during Miracle Max's scenes.
10. How many fingers does the man Inigo seeks have on one hand?
Six
Count Rugen, played by Christopher Guest, has six fingers on his right hand, which is how Inigo recognizes him at the castle gate. Rugen also runs the Pit of Despair and its life-sucking Machine, and the fight ends with Inigo demanding his father back.
11. What word does Vizzini keep saying?
Inconceivable
Vizzini is the Sicilian mastermind played by Wallace Shawn, and Inigo finally tells him: 'You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.' Shawn spent the shoot anxious after hearing Danny DeVito had been the first choice.
12. What is the giant's name?
Fezzik
Fezzik is the giant hired as Vizzini's muscle, and he spends much of the film rhyming with Inigo and asking whether anybody wants a peanut. Falkor is the luckdragon from The NeverEnding Story; the other two names are nobody at all.
13. Which wrestler plays Fezzik?
André the Giant
André had wrestled for years with a bad back and could barely lift anyone by the time of the shoot, so Robin Wright was held up on wires in the scene where Fezzik catches her. His size came from acromegaly, and he was billed at over seven feet.
14. What does ROUS stand for?
Rodents of Unusual Size
Westley has just declared he does not think they exist when one lands on him. The performer in the rat suit was arrested for drunk driving that morning and had to be bailed out; the swamp's other hazards are flame spurts and lightning sand.
15. Who plays Miracle Max?
Billy Crystal
Crystal improvised for days under old-age makeup, modeling Max on his grandmother and on the Yankees manager Casey Stengel, and Reiner had to leave the set because he could not stop laughing. Carol Kane plays Valerie, his wife.
