Film Snail

The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers

6.8

The Three Musketeers

PG·1973·106m

Summary

The young D'Artagnan arrives in Paris with dreams of becoming a King's musketeer. He meets and quarrels with three men, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, each of whom challenges him to a duel. D'Artagnan finds out they are musketeers and is invited to join them in their efforts to oppose Cardinal Richelieu, who wishes to increase his already considerable power over the King. D'Artagnan must also juggle affairs with the charming Constance Bonancieux and the passionate Lady De Winter, a secret agent for the Cardinal.

Crew

Director

Richard Lester

Novel

Alexandre Dumas

Screenplay

George MacDonald Fraser

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Geronimo1967

December 25, 2023

7

OK, so I never really did understand why Michael York succeeded, but here he makes for quite a decent "D'Artagnan". A country bumpkin who arrives in Paris determined to follow in his father's footsteps and join the king's musketeers. His first day is not auspicious, though. He ends up slated to fight three duels with "Athos" (Oliver Reed), "Porthos" (Frank Finlay) and 'Aramis" (Richard Chamberlain). Luckily the Cardinal's guard intervene and soon the four are "one for all....". "D'Artagnan" ends up lodging with the cowardly "Bonacieux" (Spike Milligan) and his unlikely bride "Constance" (Raquel Welch) who is a dressmaker to the Queen (Geraldine Chaplin) who is treading a dangerous line between her marriage to the King (Jean-Pierre Cassel) and her love of British Prime Minister, the Duke of Buckingham (Simon Ward). None of this is unknown to the shrewd Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston) who uses his two stalwarts "Rochefort" (Christopher Lee) and "Milady" (Faye Dunaway) to lay a trap that will rid him of not just the Queen, but also discredit the musketeers and leave the king squarely in his pocket! Tongues are firmly in cheeks here as this enjoyable adventure picks up pace from the get-go and with loads of characterful contributions from Milligan, the long-suffering "Planchet" (Roy Kinnear) and, personally, the always good value Frank Finlay. There's loads of lighthearted comedy, some pithy dialogue and all-in-all everyone looks like they are having a good time swashing and buckling, manoeuvring, seducing, plotting, swilling copious amounts of wine and... Funnily enough, it's actually Heston who comes across more the Thespian amongst the cast - his being the more earnest role, but Reed and Lee are up for the lark, and I was too. Enjoyable stuff, this!

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$22,018,000.00

Keywords

france
paris, france
based on novel or book
swordplay
fight
satire
dressmaker
louis xiii
sword fight
swordsman
musketeer
extramarital affair
swashbuckler
diamond theft
sword duel
diamond necklace
cardinal
17th century
queen jewels
queen anne
1620s
swordsplay
swordsman/swordswoman supporting character