Favorite Scene Friday! The Princess Bride: Get used to disappointment

It's the start of a new year, which here at To The Escape Hatch means only one thing, an Escape-athon! That means we're spending the next few weeks looking at escapist movies, from the realms of fantasy and sci-fi, and I'm kicking things off with one of my favourite fantasy films, The Princess Bride. Regular readers should be very familiar with this film, given that it's received two FSF celebrations before, looking at the climactic fight between Inigo and Rugen and text the wedding scene, included in a compilation post, but today it's all about one of the most famous scenes of the film, the battle at the top of the Cliffs of Insanity.

Artwork by toonbaboon on DeviantArt

Now granted this isn't a terribly fantastical scene - it's inspired by and wouldn't be out of place in something like The Adventures of Robin Hood - but the film is a fantasy, so as far as I'm concerned it counts, and I couldn't think of something from Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings that I was really in a mood to discuss. Plus, do I really need that much of an excuse to talk about the boundless joy that is watching any moment of The Princess Bride? For me it's easily amongst the most flat-out endlessly entertaining films ever made, and the reasons why are all over this scene:

The Dread Pirate Roberts, who is really a farm boy named Westley (Cary Elwes), is on the trail of Buttercup (Robin Wright), his childhood love and the intended wife of Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon). Buttercup has been kidnapped by a trio of apparent criminals (Wallace Shawn, Andre the Giant and Mandy Patinkin), and Westley must defeat each of them to save his love, and the first of these three he encounters is Patinkin's master swordsman Inigo Montoya, who is himself upon a quest of vengeance against a fabled six-fingered man who murdered Inigo's father. The two fight and Westley eventually bests Inigo and continues on his way, but not before one of the most entertaining sword fights ever committed to celluloid.

In fact, the fun of the scene starts long before the blades are even drawn. Westley must first reach Inigo at the top of the cliffs and Inigo, who is impatient for his chance to further practise his skills in preparation for eventually encountering the six-fingered man, is willing to help Westley up with the use of a rope, but Westley is understandably cautious of this assistance from a man whose primary intention within the scene is to kill him. I adore the comedic nature of the very premise of the scene, how these two men so intent on battling one another to the death can still respect and admire the skill of the other at combat, and the blase attitude they seem to have to the whole affair, even mid-fight. There's so much emphasis on sportsmanship and fair play to make it almost ludicrous.

The scene allows for some natural exposition - in the break Westley is given to catch his breath after climbing the rope, Inigo provides his tragic back story, immediately empathising us with his character - and the dialogue within the scene is so quotable, as it is with almost the entire film. Plus, everything Inigo says is made ten times more fun by virtue of Patinkin's impossibly thick accent. Imagine Beauty and the Beast's Lumiere, but is he was Hispanic. It's wonderful.

The choreography of the combat gets more than a little goofy, especially once the gymnastics and sword-throwing come into play, but vitally it never gets boring, it's always fun to behold, and I always want it to last far longer than it does..

Do you have a favorite fantasy fight scene?

Favorite Scene Friday! The Princess Bride: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya."

Sometimes this column can be pretty frustrating. You know exactly what movie scene you want to feature, but you can't find it online. Or, even worse, the scene existed when you first thought of using it, but by the time you get around to writing the FSF, it's gone. But that's a complaint for another day.

For example, various times over the past few years, I found myself wanting to share scenes from 1987's The Princess Bride, but I could never find any decent clips online. That is, until MOVIECLIPS finally added the film to their catalogue, rescuing me from my own personal Pit of Despair.

Newly added title to the #Movieclips Library: 'The Princess Bride' Watch Clips: http://t.co/xk5KqrpAiS pic.twitter.com/d35ibuoyAh
— MOVIECLIPS (@MOVIECLIPS) February 12, 2015

If you're somehow not familiar with The Princess Bride, it's a great fantasy flick. Directed by Rob Reiner and starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, the late great André the Giant, Wallace Shawn and others, it follows Buttercup (Wright) and Westley (Elwes) as they face The Cliffs of Insanity, Rodents of Unusual Size, and other obstacles on their quest to live happily ever after.

Nick Thornborrow via JoBlo

For me, The Princess Bride is right up there with The Neverending Story (also sort of underrepresented on YouTube) in the '80s fantasy hall of fame. The movie's sweetness and boundless fantasy had a big effect on me when I was a kid. One aspect I'll always appreciate about the film is the characters, and not just Westley and Buttercup. In fact, our scene this week doesn't even feature them.

In the film, Inigo Montoya (Patinkin) is hired by Vizzini (Shawn), a villain trying to start a war by kidnapping soon-to-be-Princess Buttercup. This scheme Inigo's involved in essentially sets the whole film in motion and causes a lot of trouble for our heroes. Inigo's not a bad guy, however. In fact, his real motivation in life is to find the man responsible for killing his father when he was a young boy, a man with six fingers on his right hand. We learn early on in the film that Inigo knows exactly what he'll do when he finds the Six Fingered Man (SFM). It's pretty simple - in a nutshell, Inigo plans to introduce himself, remind the SFM of his crime, and kill him for it.

Our scene this week shows what happens when Inigo finally finds the SFM. Unfortunately, Inigo's plan for revenge doesn't quite go as he thought, but that's what makes this scene so inspiring. The SFM has the upper hand (no pun intended?) but Inigo rallies and the line he had planned for years to say only once becomes more of a mantra. Moral of the story? Don't give up hope, whether you're searching for vengeance or clips from one of your favorite movies.