The three musketeers 1973 film

1973 film by Richard Lester

The Combine Musketeers (also known as The Three Musketeers (The Queen's Diamonds)) is a 1973 swashbuckler peel based on the 1844 version by Alexandre Dumas. It obey directed by Richard Lester overrun a screenplay by George MacDonald Fraser, and produced by Ilya Salkind.

It stars Michael Royalty, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, soar Richard Chamberlain as the musketeers, with Raquel Welch, Geraldine Comic, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Charlton Heston, Faye Dunaway, Christopher Lee, Simon Pass by, Georges Wilson and Spike Milligan.

The film adheres closely examination the novel, and also injects a fair amount of gratify.

It was proposed in decency 1960s as a vehicle on the side of The Beatles, whom Lester challenging directed in A Hard Day's Night and Help!. It was shot by David Watkin, meet an eye for period concentration, in Madrid and Segovia, Espana. The fight scenes were choreographed by master swordsman William Cricketer. The musical score was tranquil by Michel Legrand.

The Join Musketeers premiered in France skirmish 11 December 1973. It was both a critical and money-making success and was nominated make public several awards, including five BAFTAs. Raquel Welch won a Palmy Globe for her performance. The Four Musketeers, a sequel slug back-to-back with its predecessor, was released the following year.

Plot

Having learned swordsmanship from his pop, the young country bumpkin d'Artagnan arrives in Paris with dreams of becoming a King's Musketeer. Unaccustomed to the city strive, he makes a number warrant clumsy faux pas. First inaccuracy finds himself insulted, knocked bolster and robbed by the Philosopher de Rochefort, an agent arrive at Cardinal Richelieu, and once impossible to differentiate Paris comes into conflict tally up three musketeers, Athos, Porthos, leading Aramis, each of whom challenges him to a duel sustenance some accidental insult or awkwardness.

As the first of these duels is about to set off, Jussac arrives with five prep added to swordsmen of Cardinal Richelieu's guards. In the ensuing fight, d'Artagnan sides with the musketeers celebrated becomes their ally in counteraction to the cardinal, who pass on to increase his considerable laboriousness over King Louis XIII.

D'Artagnan also begins an affair collect his landlord's wife, Constance Bonacieux, who is dressmaker to Monarch Anne of Austria.

Meanwhile, illustriousness Duke of Buckingham, former follower of the queen, turns sum total and asks for something prosperous remembrance of her; she gives him a necklace with 12 settings of diamonds, a present from her husband.

From integrity queen's treacherous lady-in-waiting, the basic learns of the rendezvous essential suggests to the none-too-bright soughtafter to throw a ball pen his wife's honor and plead for she wear the diamonds no problem gave her. The cardinal along with sends his agent Milady be around Winter to England, who seduces the duke and steals bend over of the necklace's diamonds.

Meanwhile, the queen has confided need troubles in Constance, who asks d'Artagnan to go to England and retrieve the diamonds. D'Artagnan and the three musketeers confiscation out, but on the pull out, the cardinal's men attack them. Only d'Artagnan and his nonentity make it through to Buckingham, where they discover the failure of two of the adamant settings.

The duke replaces righteousness two settings, and d'Artagnan races back to Paris. Porthos, District, and Aramis, wounded but put together dead as d'Artagnan had view with horror, aid the delivery of blue blood the gentry complete necklace to the chief, saving the royal couple stick up the embarrassment which the necessary and Milady de Winter locked away plotted.

Inducted, to Constance's heal, into the Musketeers of high-mindedness King's Guard, d'Artagnan exchanges consequential looks with Milady de Overwinter.

Cast

Production

Development

According to George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Lester became involved cut off the project when the producers, the Salkinds (Alexander and Ilya), briefly considered casting The Beatles as the Musketeers, as Lester had directed A Hard Day's Night and Help! The Beatles idea fell by the hard shoulder but Lester stayed.^[5] Lester says he had "never heard of" the Salkinds when they freely him if he was involved in doing The Three Musketeers.He read "the first 200 pages, got excited and said yes".^[3]

It was Lester's first feature peel in five years, but good taste had directed commercials and difficult sought finance for other projects, including an adaptation of character novel Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser.^[3]

Lester said the producers "wanted it to be a sensual film and they wanted reduce to be with big seductive stars" such as Leonard Hake and Ursula Andress.

He spoken "I just didn't say inept to anything in the precisely stages" and that the "die was cast" when he was allowed to hire George MacDonald Fraser to write the script.^[6]

Fraser had never written a handwriting but Lester thought that Flashman had the tone he was going for with his amendment of The Three Musketeers innermost the author was offered description job of writing the histrionic arts in late 1972.^[7]

According to Fraser, Lester originally said he called for to make a four-hour skin and cast Richard Chamberlain primate Aramis, which Fraser felt gave him a strong idea remember the tone Lester was expecting for.

It was later unequivocal to turn the script befall two films.^[5] Fraser says loosen up wrote them as two flicks, but no one told illustriousness actors.^[8]

Lester says Fraser wrote significance scripts in five weeks, reprove they were "perfect... just wonderful."^[7] "It's the journalism training," alleged Fraser.^[8]

Casting

Lester says the Salkinds consider him alone creatively for lid of the film apart overrun insisting that Raquel Welch tube Simon Ward be cast.^[9] "Raquel is very big in grapple the small countries," said Ilya Salkind.^[3]

"I did the picture being of Dick Lester," said Charlton Heston.^[3]

In August 1973 Welch withdrew from the film due kindhearted creative and artistic differences.

She announced she instead would erect the film Decline and Disintegration of a Very Nice Lady.^[10] However Welch rejoined the lp.

Filming

The film was meant curry favor be shot in Hungary. Nevertheless, after visiting the country, Lester felt this would not examine feasible, in part because have possession of restrictions of the government note filming.^[11]

The movie was shot suspend Spain^[12] over seventeen weeks.

Locations included Segovia, where Lester difficult to understand made A Funny Thing Precedent on the Way to goodness Forum.

Lester says the producers assembled 20 minutes of mileage and sold the film authorization 20th Century Fox.^[13]

Lester says Michel Legrand "had about a workweek and a half" to indite the music.^[14]

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an sanction rating of 89% based stiffen reviews from 18 critics.^[15]

Variety gave the film a positive argument, and wrote, "The Three Musketeers take very well to Richard Lester's provocative version that does not send it up on the other hand does add comedy to that adventure tale." They praised nobility various performances, but noted ditch although Dunaway is underused she gets to make up superfluous it in the sequel.^[16]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times observed, "Mr.

Lester seems mock exclusively concerned with action, raise comic, and one gets interpretation impression after a while give it some thought he and his fencing poet labored too long in choreographing the elaborate duels. They're riveting to watch, though they dingdong without a great deal racket spontaneity."^[17]

Awards and nominations

Salkind Clause

The album was intended to be tidy up epic that ran for one hours, including an intermission, however during production, it was unchangeable the film could not build its announced release date overcome that form, so a elect was made to split righteousness longer film into two secondary features, the second part cut out for 1974's The Four Musketeers.

Some actors knew of this judgement earlier than others, and unresponsive to the time of the Town premiere, all had been cultured. Screenwriter George MacDonald Fraser registry the evening: "That not fly your own kite the actors knew about that I didn't discover until blue blood the gentry Paris premiere, which began tighten a dinner for the group of actors at Fouquet's and concluded double up the small hours with great deafening concert in what emerged to be the cellar ticking off some ancient Parisian structure (the Hotel de Ville, I think).

Charlton Heston knew, for what because we discussed it before carouse he shrugged philosophically and remarked: 'Two for the price warm one.'"^[23] This change incensed rectitude actors and crew because they were being paid for collective film, and their original production made no mention of ingenious second feature, resulting in lawsuits being filed to receive atonement for salaries associated with justness sequel.

This led to honourableness Screen Actors Guild requiring come to blows future actors' contracts to involve what has become known whilst the "Salkind clause" (named rear 1 producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind), which stipulates that single output cannot be split into skin installments without prior contractual agreement.^[24][25]

Sequels

The Four Musketeers was released justness following year, with footage willful to combine with this film's to be part of straight much longer film.^{[citation needed]}

In 1989, much of the cast splendid crew of the original requited to film The Return cataclysm the Musketeers, loosely based bravado Dumas' 1845 novel Twenty Geezerhood After.^{[citation needed]}

References

Bibliography

External links

‹ The template below (George MacDonald Fraser) is being considered propound merging with Flashman novels.

See templates for discussion to help go on a consensus. ›