I mean a straight telling of what the grandfather is reading. I guess that’s S Morgenstern.
Yeah, he did get a Golden Globe for Yentl, and though he had a half-dozen other film roles prior to TPB, he was probably still better-known as a stage actor at that point; he won a Tony in 1980 for Evita, and had several other Tony and Drama Desk nominations before 1987.
But apparently the grandfather was only reading the “good parts” that he thought would appeal to his grandson. It would probably be hard to make an enjoyable standalone film that did justice to the full unabridged Morgenstern book, which of course was not really a swashbuckling adventure novel but was in fact a bitter satire of politics in Morgenstern’s native Florin. Maybe it could be a miniseries. 
Absolutely.
My wife says that when I leave to go play D&D.
Not like The Princess Bride?
Inconceivable!
That is indeed an appropriate use of that word.
I had this exact experience with Mad Max
We use “Be careful among de English” from another 80s moviefilm when we head to work in the morning. And from TPB, it’s often, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
When I got my most recent library card I had a choice of several designs with famous quotes on them. Of course I picked “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
Unfortunately I don’t remember the other choices.
Of course!
Maybe the Mark Twain one about books and dogs?
You mean Groucho Marx ”Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend; inside of a dog it’s too dark to read."?
Yep, and you are right, altho also attributed to Twain, it appears Groucho is the real quote founder.
It’s also a great template for networking introductions:
Now that is a great meme!! 
I’m about the right age to have watched TPB when it was released but it completely flew under my radar. I hadn’t heard of it until I got onto this message board and started seeing the odd meme, quotable quote, and username reference.
I read this thread yesterday morning, did a quick Google search and discovered the movie is streaming on one of the local free streaming services (TVNZ+ for any Kiwis reading this). So, I watched it, start to finish, and now I’m reading the book. I guess that means I liked it. I don’t love it or anything, but I can definitely see how it became a much loved favourite.
I’m considering reading it to my 10 year old daughter, who still likes a bed time story every now and then, but some of the introduction and asides would seem boring to her, not to mention pitched at someone a little older (comments on the starlet’s top-heaviness for example). Maybe I’ll just read her the good bits
Like you, I never saw it as a kid. I’ve known of the title for a long time as something famous for being famous, but I had no idea what it was really about. Likewise Rocky Horror which I’ve also never seen. Also like you my awareness of TPB slowly grew through various allusions here.
Anyhow about 3 years ago my now ex-wife wanted to watch it … again for her. So I watched it too for my first time. I really enjoyed it. A fun non-serious take on a classic fairy tale motif. And, like another fave of mine, Dr. Strangelove, an endless fount of great quotes.
I never read the book of a movie, nor watch the movie of a book. The genres are so different that whichever medium I might take in second would feel to me like a screwed up broken loose homage to the first. I realize that’s a minority perspective on book/movie combos. The order they were written or released in doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is solely which one I read / watched first.
I’m probably one and done on watching the movie. But I’m pretty much the way about all movies. And books. So that’s no aspersion on TPB.
This is a case where the book is worth a read. They are close enough yet different enough that each is a good for its genre.
And, worth noting that William Goldman, who wrote the book, also wrote the screenplay.
I had seen the movie many times by the time I read the book, and was blown away by the tonal shift. Reading the book opened my eyes to the way that the movie can be viewed as commentary… even though the commentary itself is quite different than the novel’s.
The book The Princess Bride is about (or one of the main things it’s about) a father with a failed marriage and failed relationship with his son, and his attempt to find connection by re-visiting stories told to him by his father.
The movie mostly uses its less-nuanced framing story very lightly, but after reading the book I came to appreciate the meta-narrative elements of the movie all the more.
It’s interesting to mention Rocky Horror in the same context as TPB. It strikes me that those movies are similar in a way- they both exist in fantasy worlds, contain elements of “camp”, and it’s clear that the people involved on and off screen are themselves having a lot of fun. There’s an energy to that that is appealing- weirdos being weird, embracing play, and having a good time doing so. They might not be everyone’s cup of tea, or the particular brand of weird might not appeal, but there’s a joy in the art that is infectious to some. I think I saw both TPB and Rocky Horror within a few years of each other (TPB in high school, and Rocky Horror in college), and both of them were thrilling- I didn’t know you could play like that in the movies.
Brilliant!
It’s in the movie because the same framing device is used in the book. Except there it’s a father reading to his son. For those who’ve read the forward to the book, and didn’t already know, Goldman doesn’t actually have a son.