The Four Musketeers

The Four Musketeers
1975 movie poster
Directed by	Richard Lester
Produced by	Alexander Salkind Pierre Spengler Ilya Salkind Michael Slakind
Written by	Novel: Alexandre Dumas, père Screenplay: George MacDonald Fraser
Starring	Oliver Reed Charlton Heston Raquel Welch Faye Dunaway Richard Chamberlain Frank Finlay Michael York Christopher Lee
Music by	Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography	David Watkin
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	October 31, 1974 December 25, 1974 February 26, 1975 September 1, 1975
Running time	108 min.
Country	United Kingdom Panama Spain
Language	English
Preceded by	The Three Musketeers
Followed by	The Return of the Musketeers

The Four Musketeers is the title of a 1974 Richard Lester film, which follows upon his film of the year before, The Three Musketeers, and covers the second half of Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers. Fifteen years later, the cast and crew returned to film The Return of the Musketeers, loosely based on Dumas' Twenty Years After.

During post production on The Three Musketeers, the producers realized that there was enough footage for two films and created The Four Musketeers. Most of the actors were incensed that their work on the long shoot was used to make an entirely separate film. All SAG actors' contracts now have what is known as the "Salkind clause", which stipulates how many films are being made. Charlton Heston — who was handsomely paid for what was essentially a cameo role — was the only actor who did not feel cheated.

This is much the darker of the two films. There is less of the lighthearted horseplay seen in the first film. Constance is murdered by Milady, Rochefort is gravely wounded by d'Artagnan, and Milady is executed by a headsman as the Musketeers look on. We also see the backstory of the tangled relationship between Athos and Milady, and an extended prison sequence in which Milady uses her feminine wiles to turn the Duke of Buckingham's Puritan manservant into an assassin. In the end d'Artagnan triumphs over Richelieu's plotting and becomes an officer.

Plot

During a war between France and the rebels of La Rochelle, Cardinal Richelieu orders Count de Rochefort to kidnap Constance de Bonancieux. The evil Milady de Winter, who wants revenge on d'Artagnan, seduces him to keep him occupied. He soon discovers her true nature, however, and that she was once in love with Athos, but he supposedly killed her realizing what she was.

Athos, Porthos, and Aramis rescue Constance from her imprisonment in San Cleux and take her to safety in the convent of Armentieres. Milady sends d'Artagnan poisoned wine along with a note to trick him into thinking that the other musketeers got drunk and imprisoned by a marshal. As he goes to bail them out, he is attacked by Rochefort and his men. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis join the fight, at the end of which Rochefort runs away and one of his men is captured and tortured for information, revealing that Richelieu is going to the Dove Cot Inn, before he drinks the poisoned wine and dies, revealing the trap Milady set for d'Artagnan.

Athos spies on Richelieu as he gives Milady the order to ask the Duke of Buckingham not to send a fleet to aid the rebels, threatening him with the secret of his love affair with the queen, and to kill him if he does not comply. In return, Milady asks for a death warrant so she can kill d'Artagnan and Constance, and he reluctantly signs one, wording it in a way so that it does not leave any evidence against him. However, Athos takes the death warrant from her.

Milady asks Buckingham not to help the rebels, but he refuses, so Milady tries to assassinate him, but is captured. Buckingham's servant Felton locks her away in a tower, but she seduces him and convinces him that Buckingham is his enemy. Felton helps her escape and return to France, and then kills Buckingham (and is subsequently captured) before d'Artagnan's servant Planchet can warn him. It is not long before La Rochelle surrenders.

Now bent on killing d'Artagnan and Constance, Rochefort and Milady attack the convent at Armentieres, and battle the four musketeers when they arrive. Athos duels Rochefort but is injured in the arm, and Milady strangles Constance before being captured by Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. d'Artagnan duels Rochefort to the death and stabs him in the chest, killing him. Milady is sentenced to death by the four musketeers, and they hire a headsman to take her across the lake and chop her head off.

Richelieu charges d'Artagnan for killing his two most valuable servants, but he shows him the signed death warrant, which reads "By my order for the good of the state, the bearer has done what has been done." Utterly defeated and quite impressed at d'Artagnan's achievement of a victory over Rochefort, the cardinal gives him a commission for either him or one of his three friends to become an officer. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis turn it down, so d'Artagnan is now the lieutenant of the four musketeers.

Cast

• Michael York as d'Artagnan
• Oliver Reed as Athos
• Frank Finlay as Porthos
• Richard Chamberlain as Aramis
• Jean-Pierre Cassel as (King) Louis XIII
• Geraldine Chaplin as (Queen) Anne of Austria
• Charlton Heston as Cardinal Richelieu
• Faye Dunaway as Milady de Winter
• Christopher Lee as the Count De Rochefort
• Raquel Welch as Constance Bonacieux
• Roy Kinnear as Planchet

Trivia

• Though Rochefort is killed by d'Artagnan near the end of this film, he returns in the next film, alive.
• The closed captions for this movie incorrectly refer to La Rochelle twice when they talk about its surrender. The first time the closed-captions say "Not a soul", and the second time they say "Not a shell".

See also

• See The Three Musketeers (film) for a list of other Musketeer adaptations.

External links

• The Four Musketeers at the Internet Movie Database
• The Four Musketeers at Allmovie

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