Main Cast: Oliver Reed, Charlton Heston, Raquel Welch, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain, Frank Finlay, Michael York
Release Year: 1973
Country: UK/PA
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Richard Lester's adaptation of The Three Musketeers was only the latest of many when released in 1974, but it arrived with a spirit all its own, one influenced as much by Lester's '60s work as the Alexandre Dumas classic. Even so, it followed the plot of Dumas' novel fairly closely, its liberties in interpretation taken elsewhere. Coming off the success of Cabaret, Michael York plays D'Artagnan, the provincial, would-be swashbuckler who travels to Paris to make his name. There he encounters the eponymous heroes: cynical Athos (Oliver Reed), dashing Aramis (Richard Chamberlain), and arrogant Porthos (Frank Finlay). The trio introduces him to the world of court intrigue as they work to protect the Queen (Geraldine Chaplin) from the schemes of the villainous Richelieu (Charlton Heston) and his followers, Rochefort (Christopher Lee) and Milady (Faye Dunaway). Lester shot the film in conjunction with its sequel, The Four Musketeers. Originally intended as a single film, the split prompted a lawsuit from the cast demanding payment for both films. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
Review
It might have seemed unlikely at the time, but in The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, Richard Lester found one of the best outlets for his unique sensibility. All the swashbuckling presented endless opportunities to indulge his love of slapstick set pieces, but, just as importantly, the schemes and double crosses of the plot opened the door for an abundance of jaded political commentary. The musketeers find themselves fighting against the malevolent selfishness of Charlton Heston to a far greater degree than they fight for the more or less benign selfishness of Geraldine Chaplin, presented throughout as vain, childish, and generally unworthy of the loyalty shown her. What matters far more is the camaraderie of the musketeers themselves, the bond between a handful of friends far more worthwhile than any ideology, a theme emphasized even more heavily in the sequel. Only poorly implemented post-sync dialogue undermines the project, occasionally negating the performances of a perfectly cast ensemble. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
Yvonne Blake - Costume Designer, Ron Talsky - Costume Designer, Richard Lester - Director, John Victor Smith - Editor, Michel Legrand - Composer (Music Score), Brian Eatwell - Production Designer, David Watkin - Cinematographer, Michael Alexander - Producer, Alexander Salkind - Producer, Ilya Salkind - Producer, Pierre Spengler - Producer, George MacDonald Fraser - Screenwriter, Alexandre Dumas - Book Author
The Three Musketeers is a 1973 film based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. Directed by Richard Lester and written by George MacDonald Fraser (famous for his Flashman series of historical comic novels). It was originally proposed in the 1960s, as a vehicle for The Beatles, whom Lester had directed in two other films. The film was originally intended to run for three hours, but later the film was split in two (resulting in 1974's The Four Musketeers). The actors themselves were not informed that they were working on two films simultaneously, only Charlton Heston — handsomely paid for his handful of scenes — did not feel cheated by this duplicity. In 1989, the cast and crew returned to film The Return of the Musketeers, loosely based on Dumas' Twenty Years After.
The film adheres strongly to the novel, but it also injects a fair amount of humour. The films were shot by David Watkins, with an eye for period detail. The fight scenes were choreographed by master swordsman William Hobbs and turn the swashbuckling movies of the Forties and Fifties on their collective ear; these are more like brawls, with the combatants using knees, fists, furniture and even wet laundry as often as they do their swords. The humor also can swing to the bawdy, with some double entendres and a bit of silliness that takes full advantage of Raquel Welch's (as Constance Bonacieux) charms, for instance.
