# The Princess Bride 27 years later: Half a great movie! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570 "2014-10-06T18:09:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/1 "2014-10-06T18:09:05Z")
I saw _The Princess Bride_ when it first came out in 1987. I liked it. I think I saw it twice in theaters, and maybe once or twice on TV after that, but not for years and years. My wife and I ran across it on TV last weekend and started watching. It actually felt quite familiar after all these years, and still fresh and funny. I smiled at all of the classic lines and enjoyed the pitch-perfect tongue-in-cheek performances. But we had somewhere to be, so we turned it off about halfway through, immediately after the Vizzini poison scene, and DVR’d the rest for later. Then I got to thinking, what happened after that? Hmmm. I racked my brain and realized I had virtually no memory of the film after Wallace Shawn’s exit. I knew Billy Crystal showed up briefly toward the end, but that was about it. Well, I figured, watching the rest of it will probably jog my memory. It didn’t. We finished watching a couple nights later, and I realized that the second half of the movie just isn’t that great. All of the classic scenes, all of the quotable lines, everything that people still talk about 27 years later, happened in the first half, and then everything kind of peters out after that. The pit of despair? Meh. The wedding scene? Who cares? The Inigo/Tyrone duel? Not nearly as climactic as it should have been. In my opinion. Anybody agree? Anybody care to rip me a new one? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/2 "2014-10-06T18:16:56Z")
I don’t think I can agree. Quotable lines from after Wallace Shawn’s exit: “Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don’t believe they exist.” “I’m on the brute squad” (mishears) “You _are_ the brute squad?!” “Oh, you mean this gate key.” “Mostly dead.” “Have fun storming the castle!” “Think it’ll work?” “It’d take a miracle.” “Not to Fifty!” “Maiwage.” And probably the most-quoted: “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” I will agree that the swordplay between Inigo and Rugen is not as fun as between him and the Man in Black. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/3 "2014-10-06T18:20:45Z")
I can’t agree - I love it all. Maybe not as many quotes, but still fun as far as I’m concerned. Not gonna rip you a new one - just gonna gently tell you that you’re wrong. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/4 "2014-10-06T18:20:51Z")
Nah, you’re nuts. The second half is as good as the first. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/5 "2014-10-06T18:25:09Z")
The Fire Swamp. The torture scene. Miracle Max. Planning the castle attack. The final battle between the Count and Inigo Westley and Humperdink in the bedroom. > [@](#): > > and I realized that the second half of the movie just isn’t that great. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/6 "2014-10-06T18:31:26Z")
The second half would be memorable if only for the work of Christopher Guest. In a movie that is for the most part just silly, he makes his character chillingly evil. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/7 "2014-10-06T18:32:52Z")
I disagree completely. The second half is as memorable to me as the first part, probably more so. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/8 "2014-10-06T18:38:37Z")
I’m going to have to disagree as well. While certainly my favorite moment in the film, and in fact one of my favorite scenes in any movie, is the wine scene with Vizzini, I think there’s a lot of great lines and humor in the second half. I think part of the reason that it didn’t seem to work as well was precisely because you didn’t see the second half immediately following the first half. I think, perhaps, that watching it a few days later, without being familiar with it, you lost some of the setup that made it work well. For instance, I think a big part of what makes Humperdinck’s character work in the second half is seeing how strong and heroic he seems in the first half, but without that, it doesn’t make his sniveling cowardice as amusing in the second. If his character doesn’t work out, a whole lot of what’s going on kind of falls flat. I would say, give it another shot before you judge the second half as inferior, just make sure you watch the whole film in one sitting. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/9 "2014-10-06T18:40:13Z")
I have to agree (with caveats) with the OP. Starting at the Fire Swamp (and the Dread Pirate Roberts exposition, which is the most boring and woodenly-delivered scene in the whole movie), the pace of the movie starts to crawl. There are great scenes and lines that come after that, but they are fewer and farther between. One of my favorite movies (and one of my favorite books as well), but Act II is pretty plodding, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/10 "2014-10-06T18:45:29Z")
“Nowadays we go to see Shakespeare to hear the quotations.” - Oscar Wilde ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/11 "2014-10-06T18:49:58Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > We finished watching a couple nights later, and I realized that the second half of the movie just isn’t that great. How can I put this as tactfully as possible? WRONG! There, I think I did that pretty gracefully. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/12 "2014-10-06T19:01:25Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > I think part of the reason that it didn’t seem to work as well was precisely because you didn’t see the second half immediately following the first half. I think, perhaps, that watching it a few days later, without being familiar with it, you lost some of the setup that made it work well. This is an excellent and probably valid point. I submit, though, that it could work in reverse as well: Perhaps you can better forgive the drop in the second half immediately after being utterly charmed by the first. Anyway, I’m not saying that the second half is awful. Christopher Guest is great, as he always is. The Miracle Max scene is pretty funny. But everything that cemented the film as the classic it deservedly is had happened long before then. Plus, far too much of Robin Wright pouting that Westley is about to come rescue her and that she’ll kill herself if he doesn’t. Nice strong female lead there. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/13 "2014-10-06T19:21:03Z")
I think there are some plodding bits, especially in the middle of the movie–say, from the capture of Roberts to “Have Fun Storming the Castle!” But once the mawwiage and castle-storming begin, the pace picks right back up. Montoya’s fight with the Man in Black might not have quite as much swordplay flair, but the dialogue is better (and the repetition of a single line works beautifully here). The “To the pain” speech is crackerjack. And a few other bits really shine. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/14 "2014-10-06T20:20:01Z")
Whilst the second half is very good, it pales in quality to the first half which is sublime. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/15 "2014-10-06T20:43:16Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > “I’m on the brute squad” > (mishears) “You _are_ the brute squad?!” Nitpick (or maybe I’ve been misinterpreting it all these years?), but I’m almost positive he didn’t mishear the line, but is making an in-character joke. Oh, and yes. The second half of the film absolutely holds up. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/16 "2014-10-06T21:08:03Z")
If the second half of the movie is good when the movie is seen all at once, but bad when it’s seen piecemeal, then I’d say that means that the second half of the movie is good. Movies are meant to be seen as a whole, after all. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/17 "2014-10-06T21:10:43Z")
Great move from start to finish. period. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/18 "2014-10-06T21:15:13Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > But everything that cemented the film as the classic it deservedly is had happened long before then. I honestly think you’re objectively wrong, here. The parts _you_ liked might have all been in the first half, but if you’re talking about why the film is considered a “classic” - that is, why the film remains popular with a significant segment of the population, there does not appear to be any particular favoritism for the first half over the second. People quoting favorite lines or scenes tend to pull equally from the entire film, not just the first forty five minutes, and people who have criticisms of the film do not tend to dwell more on the last forty five minutes. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/19 "2014-10-06T22:42:03Z")
“You mean he _wins?_ Jesus, grandpa, what’d you read me this thing for?” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570/20 "2014-10-06T22:49:16Z")
> [@Anamorphic](#): > > Nitpick (or maybe I’ve been misinterpreting it all these years?), but I’m almost positive he didn’t mishear the line, but is making an in-character joke. Works either way. Andre wasn’t the most intelligible of speakers and Billy Crystal was really amazed at the man’s size. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-princess-bride-27-years-later-half-a-great-movie/700570.md?page=2)