The Three Musketeers

Synopsis
There’s never been a shortage of Three Musketeers movies. Dramatic, slapstick, musical, serious swashbuckler, tongue-in-cheek swashbuckler…there hasn’t been a shortage of variety either.

There were serials in 1933, a straightforward drama in 1935, a musical version in 1939 that found Don Ameche as the new musketeer D’Artagnan, and a 1948 costumer that found sword-fighting (but not singing) Gene Kelly as D'Artagnan and lavishly-gowned Lana Turner as Lady DeWinter.

But in 1973, one big Musketeers epic was shot by A Hard Day’s Night director Richard Lester (who conceived of the project originally as a vehicle for The Beatles). When Lester and 20th Century Fox realized there was enough material for two films, two were released—first The Three Musketeers, and then eight months later The Four Musketeers. The actors claimed they were tricked and only paid for one movie—probably not what Alexander Dumas meant with his “all for one, one for all” dictum—and took director Lester to court.

But let’s not have a lawsuit ruin our fun. The classic story, set in 1600’s Renaissance France, features young, enthusiastic country boy D’Artagnan, who wants to be a musketeer. He rubs the famous swordsmen the wrong way at first, but the wise Athos, paunchy Porthos and courtly Aramis take him in. They toil against venal Cardinal Richelieu, and his cohorts Milady and snooty Rochefort.

They have to protect the Queen’s honor, you see – she’s having a secret affair with her true love, the Duke of Buckingham. Richelieu wants the affair exposed and the Queen bounced off her throne. It’s serious work of course, but not serious enough to keep D’Artagnan from finding a true love of his own in the form of Constance, the Queen’s clumsy but beguiling handmaiden (Raquel Welch is always beguiling).

For all the swordfighting that ensues, Lester does his best to put a new spin on each skirmish. There are taverns and windmills and castles with fireworks, and when there are no swords, our heroes resort comedically and impressively to other things, like wet laundry.

In The Four Musketeers’s wicked Milady DeWinter goes after the boys for foiling her plans in the first movie – she was trying to de-throne the Queen of France. But when the quadruple threat learns of her maneuverings, they quickly ride in to save the day.

There was more action in the second film, but sadly, less Raquel Welch and fewer chuckles. With these strikes against it, Four didn’t fare as well as Three, box-office-wise. Lester re-assembled much of his Musketeer cast for 1989’s The Return of the Musketeers, though by this late date audiences' tastes for swords and costumes had waned a bit.

20th Century Fox abandoned the franchise after The Return of the Musketeers, but the swordsmen lived on in later films like a 1993 Disney-produced The Three Musketeers and 1998's The Man in the Iron Mask.

Release History 1973 - The Three Musketeers

Sub Categories live-action
action/adventure

Studio 20th Century Fox

Cast

Athos		Oliver Reed
Madame Bonancieux		Raquel Welch
Aramis		Richard Chamberlain
D'Artagnan		Michael York
Porthos/O'Reilly		Frank Finlay
Rochefort		Christopher Lee
Anna of Austria		Geraldine Chaplin
Louis XIII		Jean-Pierre Cassel
M. Bonancieux		Spike Milligan
Planchet		Roy Kinnear
Treville		Georges Wilson
Duke of Buckingham		Simon Ward
Milady de Winter		Faye Dunaway
Cardinal Richelieu		Charlton Heston
D'Artagnan's Father		Joss Ackland
Kitty		Nicole Calfan
Felton		Michael Gothard
Eugenie		Sybil Danning
Beatrice		Gitty Djamal
Jussac		Ángel del Pozo
Spy		Rodney Bewes
1st Musketeer		Ben Aris
Assassin		William Hobbs
D'Artagnan's Mother		Gretchen Franklin
Sea Captain		Francis De Wolff
Man in small carriage		Frank Thornton