Though I admittedly go into most films I watch here with some level of expectation, I must confess a certain bias with regards to these two films: I really hate Richard Lester in a way that extends beyond mere aesthetic difference and dangerously close to the personal. I hate what he did to the Superman franchise, and I hate how he conspired with Salkinds to make the entire series more like the 60s live-action Batman on purpose, in what can only strike me as a nefarious communist plot to strike us at the heart of one of our most cherished institutions. And so, by extension, I kind of hate The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, the back-to-back hits that emboldened them to do it in the first place, which is really unfair, but just sort of the way it has to be.
At the outset of The Three Musketeers, D’Artagnan (Michael York) is a foppish, Don Quixote-esque figure, who charges around 17th century France in search of romance, adventure, and a chance to earn himself a position as one of the musketeers, an elite unit of swordsmen and fighters with an esteem roughly equivalent to that of the samurai in Japan. Before long, he takes up Athos (Oliver Reed), Porthos (Frank Finlay), and Aramis (Richard Chamberlain), musketeers who find themselves in a mission to protect the honor of their Protestant-sympathizing queen against the schemes of Catholic Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston) and Milady de Winter (Faye Dunaway). Also Constance Bonacieux (Raquel Welch) is there for no real reason other than to show off her buxoms. In the sequel, which is titled (spoiler alert) The Four Musketeers, the musketeers find themselves in the fallout of the events of the previous film, with further attention paid to the rebellion of the Protestants in France at the time, and a scheme for revenge plotted largely by Milady as retribution for having her plans thwarted the first time around. I hesitate to say more, but I will say that if you really thought that the musketeers would lose, at least in the first time out, then this set probably isn’t for you.
Taken on their own, these films are actually fairly entertaining, and they are indicative of some of Mr. Lester’s talents. Though both films clearly pay homage to the swashbuckling Errol Flynn films of yesteryear with their outsize notion of nobility and their derring-do, they have a distinct cheeky humor that is decidedly modern (for the time, at least), even if it owes something to the silent shorts of Chaplin and Keaton. While the style was nothing short of stomach-turning in Superman III, it actually fits the Musketeers rather well. Michael York (who looks, speaks, and acts about as French as apple pie, which puts him well in line with the rest of the cast) is certainly no Errol Flynn, but Flynn could hardly have been made to look as ridiculous as York does here. He slips up his words, he trips, and he seems to be uncommonly good at falling into large puddles, but the atmosphere is so breezy and light-hearted that even the most elaborate and violent swordfights seem hardly more intense than the now-antiquated gang fights in West Side Story. Some actors handle this better than others: Oliver Reed all but completely personifies the drunken, easygoing charm of the early 70s, treating the musketeers as if they were some sort of 17th century Rat Pack, and Charlton Heston projects all of the self-confident, casual menace that one would expect of someone with essentially absolute power (more so, even, than Christopher Lee, who plays his henchman). Faye Dunaway, on the other end, seems more than a little out of place in period clothing, and acts as if she’s standing around waiting for Chinatown to happen.
As a film, Three is a little bit stronger than Four. It’s funnier, and has a far surer sense of pacing and story mechanics. It also focuses far less on the ongoing Catholic-Protestant wars of the time, which diminishes the sort of fishy sense of world politics that bring on a little more gravity than the film can handle. But all in all, they’re meager films that might be entertaining for their running time, but never make the slightest attempt to rouse you for any longer. And if you’re like me, they’re just not worth it knowing what they’ve left in their wake.
DVD Bonus Features
The set comes on two discs (one disc for each film), and comes with a ‘making of’ featurette, "The Saga of the Musketeers: Parts 1 and 2", television spots, and theatrical trailers.
"The Three Musketeers/The Four Musketeers" is on sale June 1, 2010 and is rated PG. Adventure. Directed by Richard Lester. Written by George MacDonald Fraser. Starring Charlton Heston, Faye Dunaway, Frank Finlay, Michael York, Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain.
