77
votes
Accepted
Why does Westley say Rodents of Unusual Size don't exist?
He says this to keep the Princess calm and moving forward -- which is their best chance of surviving. He is concerned she might do something irrational like go back or take off in some random ...
- 8,406
70
votes
Accepted
Why is the swordfight in The Princess Bride so good?
Cary Elwes's As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride gives a lot of detail about why the sword fight turned out so well. Neither Elwes nor Mandy Patinkin had a sword-...
- 1,383
65
votes
Why is the swordfight in The Princess Bride so good?
Other answers have focused on the technical side of the fencing. As you'll no doubt find on YouTube breakdowns, a number of elements of this are clearly not pure combat. Most obviously, if they ...
- 2,413
54
votes
Why did the Dread Pirate Roberts kill Vizzini?
The reason for this is because the Dread Pirate Roberts was actually a good man and a man of honor.
When meeting Inigo he is promised that he will not be killed before reaching the top, with Inigo ...
- 2,377
41
votes
Why does Westley say Rodents of Unusual Size don't exist?
It's a White Lie.
He knows they exist, as you said, he's just seen one, but he lies to Buttercup to make her feel safer.
Wikipedia Definition:
White lies are minor lies which could be considered ...
- 128k
24
votes
Meaning of "Never get involved in a land war in Asia" in The Princess Bride?
"Never fight a land war in Asia" is one of those weird aphorisms that is widely known, but on which nobody agrees who originally said it. It has variously been attributed to Bernard Montgomery (...
- 923
17
votes
Why does Westley say Rodents of Unusual Size don't exist?
The ROUS that he saw before was much smaller than the one that attacks right after he says the quoted line. So he sees a largish, but not dangerous rodent and assumes that the tales of the deadly ...
- 8,843
13
votes
Why did the Dread Pirate Roberts kill Vizzini?
A.bakker has a great answer, but misses an important point. The Dread Pirate Roberts is a pirate, and one with a very specific reputation.
Fezzik and Inigo are obvious underlings and just following ...
- 783
13
votes
Meaning of "Never get involved in a land war in Asia" in The Princess Bride?
Getting involved in a land war in Asia is a classic blunder in the real world. Examples from before The Princess Bride include:
The Korean War
The Vietnam War
The Russian War in Afghanistan
All ...
- 8,843
11
votes
Why is the swordfight in The Princess Bride so good?
Perhaps not sleeping on the couch, but they did employ the guy considered to be the best in the business.
From Wikipedia - Bob Anderson
Robert James Gilbert Anderson (15 September 1922 – 1 January ...
- 44.3k
9
votes
Meaning of "Never get involved in a land war in Asia" in The Princess Bride?
The other answers are correct about the general reference - there are numerous examples in real Earth history of disastrous land wars in Asia. But what the other answers seem to miss is that The ...
- 896
8
votes
Accepted
Does "to blathe" really mean "to bluff"?
Billy Crystal did quite a bit of improvisation in this scene:
From the first shot in which cantankerous Max appears, poking his head through a wooden peephole in the door (very much like the doorman ...
- 1,383
7
votes
Why did the Dread Pirate Roberts kill Vizzini?
Vizzini posed an immediate danger to Buttercup...
Fezzik and Inigo posed no immediate threat to Buttercup, and their behavior suggested to Westley that they probably would not kill her even if they ...
- 3,734
6
votes
What does Miracle Max mumble after Inigo says "Humiliations galore"?
It's unclear but it seems that this may just have been Billy Crystal ad-libbing a few words.
Certainly the original book by William Goldman has nothing and the same is true in his screenplay ...
- 128k
5
votes
What part of Buttercup's anatomy is Westley commenting on?
I didn't actually think that this particular scene could be understood in any other way....
The Scene in Question
And the Line
Westley: ...There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world...
From ...
- 4,774
4
votes
What part of Buttercup's anatomy is Westley commenting on?
I've always assumed he meant her chest as a whole.
Not in this instance.
Despite the knife placement Westley is referring to her mammary glands....it's tongue-in-cheek....I dare say "cheeky" humour.
- 128k
4
votes
Do any other episodes of The Big Bang Theory mention The Princess Bride when Kripke is present?
Raj referenced "The Prince Bride" in the episode The Workplace Proxemity (S7E5). In this episode, Raj tells Leonard that he and Howard were eating cookie dough while watching The Princess Bride.
These ...
- 107
4
votes
Why did the Dread Pirate Roberts kill Vizzini?
Looked at from a bird's eye view: Vizzini's death falls into the "just deserts" category. He's a difficult sort who could probably make Gandhi want to punch him in the nose (so very little ...
- 141
4
votes
Why is the swordfight in The Princess Bride so good?
As mentioned it took lots of training, and Elwes' behind-the-scenes provides more detail into the monumental effort that may be less visible, but incredibly important to support the leading actors.
...
- 925
3
votes
Meaning of "Never get involved in a land war in Asia" in The Princess Bride?
Vizzini is an idiot, but he is not uneducated. He has book knowledge, but not intelligence or wit, nor does he read context very well. That one quote paints this picture perfectly.
For him to know to ...
- 25.3k
1
vote
Was the HBC (Hudson's Bay Company) mug a deliberate prop in "The Princess Bride"?
The only thing resembling any sort of a connection is this:
There is a book "The Princess Story" which has one of the HBC's ships in it, which has a similar title to "The Princess Bride". No other ...
- 5,128
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible