Why I Read It: I was a teen when the movie came out, had read the Goldman book on which it was based, and was simply immersed.
Summary: Cary Elwes (Westley/The Man in Black) recounts, spurred by the 25th anniversary of the release of the movie, the flubs, outtakes, laughs and more.
My Thoughts: Cary Elwes never wanted the filming of the movie to end, and so it goes with those of us who love the film. In all, we got an hour and a half of this mythos, the place where the border nations of Guilder and Florin are at odds, where Spaniards, Sicilians and giants last seen in Greenland work together in temporary harmony and where the Dread Pirate Roberts goes on and on pillaging, seemingly defying aging and time. We wanted more.
This book, 25 years later, gives us an extension (reading the William Goldman novel adds more, and YouTube has some interesting material as well). We are allowed back into the story. We are free to read aloud the lines we all know anyway in concert with Elwes as he uses them to set scenes. We get not only the voice of Elwes but of the director (Rob Reiner) and many of the actors, in constant sidebar quotes throughout the book. Only a few are gone - Andre the Giant, Mel Smith, Peter Falk - but the rest remember the entire experience lovingly. In fact, it seems almost too perfect, as Elwes doesn't have a bad word for anybody. This is a very positive book from cover to cover.
There are some interesting revelations as far as the personalities go. Wallace Shawn (Vizzini) not only had a truly "dizzying intellect" off screen, he was also seemingly ridiculously nervous about losing his part, so badly so that he gave himself hives. William Goldman loved his book so much that he couldn't bear to watch most of it being filmed. And then there was Elwes' broken toe. After reading this book, you will never watch the movie the same way again, if just because you'll be looking for the ramifications of that injury as they were captured on film. You'll also be looking for a prop from This is Spinal Tap that appears in the background because Mark Knopfler asked for it to be there.
We get to wonder about the alternatives. What if, as proposed in an earlier attempt at filming the movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger played Fezzik? Or Mel Brooks was Miracle Max? Or Danny DeVito played Vizzini? Or Michael Palin was the Impressive Clergyman? It might have been a very different world.
So there is no dirt, but then, I was hoping there would not be, to tell you the truth. For a few more hours I got a chance to live in that world again. And if Goldman ever finishes Buttercup's Baby, the follow-up novel, we get more, but he's not sure he ever will.