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Richard Lester turns the Dumas classic into a rollicking swashbuckler full of adventure, thrills and A LOT of humor. Casting actors not necessarily known for comedy was probably his smartest move as they all take the proceedings quite seriously thereby NOT turning the film into an out-and-out spoof. Michael York is perfect as the hyper helpful (albiet mostly incompetent) D'Artagnan as are Oliver Reed, Frank Finley, and Richard Chamberlain as respectively, Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Charlton Heston make a great villain as Richelieu, pulling the sinister strings of Faye Dunaway (as Milady) and Christopher Lee (as the cycloptic Rochefort). Both Dunaway and Lee are excellent. However, they're all nearly outshone by Raquel Welch as a very klutzy Constance. This is surely her best film role. Lester assembled an unusually strong production crew, including cinematography by David Watkin, a very rousing music score by Michel Legrand and exquisite costumes by Yvonne Blake. The large cast also includes comic Spike Milligan & Lester regular Roy Kinnear. Jean-Pierre Cassel makes for a very funny Louis XIII and Geraldine Chaplin is very fetching as Queen Anne. So good is this film, the producers smartly broke it into two...following this with the equally successful THE FOUR MUSKETEERS.
score 8/10
JasparLamarCrabb 25 April 2010
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2240827/ |
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30-11-2019 13:18:18
