A young man travels to Paris seeking fame and fortune in the service of the King but before he arrives in the big city he is attacked and insulted by a one-eyed man who knocks him on the head and breaks his father's sword. On arrival he immediately challenged to 3 successive duels by Musketeers, the very men he has come to join. After making friends with the men he becomes embroiled in a chain of events that will lead him into conflict with the deadly Cardinal, take him over the sea to England to a conference with France's oldest enemy and place him in the service of the Queen.
Of the dozen or more versions of Dumas' novel on screen, writer George MacDonald Fraser's is by far the most fun. More like a feature length Goon Show or a movie by Monty Python and originally meant as a vehicle for the Beatles the film is played for laughs from start to finish. Made at a time when it was the height of production to cram your cast list with every big name you could get this film did just that. Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain and Frank Finlay are the Muskateers, Raquel Welch and Faye Dunaway the love interests and Charlton Heston and Christopher Lee are the Cardinal and his henchman Rochefort. The film also features cameos from Joss Ackland, Spike Milligan and the great Jean-Pierre Cassel.
The production was massive, the sets and costumes spectacular but it was beset by all sorts of problems. The Producers elected to film both this and its sequel, The Four Musketeers, at the same time. This led to a lawsuit that claimed the actors had been tricked into thinking they were only filming one movie. The actors, represented by the Screen Actors' Guild, won and this led to a change in contract clauses that stated that it had to be made clear how many movies were being filmed at any one time.
Oliver Reed suffered an extremely bad stab wound to the throat during the filming of the windmill scene and during the making of the third film, The Return of the Musketeers, the great character actor Roy Kinnear who played Planchet the servant fell from his horse and sadly died.
This is the first of a series of very fun and amusing family movies that are much more likable than the original book.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072281/?ref_=nv_sr_4
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