- published: 16 May 2008
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The Three Musketeers is a 1973 film based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It was directed by Richard Lester and written by George MacDonald Fraser (famous for his Flashman series of historical comic novels). It was originally proposed in the 1960s as a vehicle for The Beatles, whom Lester had directed in two other films. It was intended to run for three hours, but later it was split into two, the second part becoming 1974's The Four Musketeers. In 1989, the cast and crew returned to film The Return of the Musketeers, loosely based on Dumas' Twenty Years After.
The film adheres closely to the novel, but it also injects a fair amount of humour. It was shot by David Watkins, with an eye for period detail. The fight scenes were choreographed by master swordsman William Hobbs and turn the swashbuckling movies of the Forties and Fifties on their collective ear; these are more like brawls, with the combatants using knees, fists, furniture and even wet laundry as often as they do their swords. The humor also can swing to the bawdy, with some double entendres and a bit of silliness that takes full advantage of Raquel Welch's (as Constance Bonacieux) charms, for instance.
The Three Musketeers is a 2011 3D adventure film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson which is a rewriting of the novel of the same title by Alexandre Dumas. The film was released on 1 September 2011 for Germany, 12 October 2011 for the United Kingdom and France and 21 October 2011 for the United States, Canada and Australia. Critics gave it a negative reaction but the film achieved a positive box office result.
In Venice at the beginning of the 17th Century, the Three Musketeers, Athos (Matthew Macfadyen), Porthos (Ray Stevenson), and Aramis (Luke Evans), with the help of Athos' longtime lover, Milady de Winter (Milla Jovovich), steal airship blueprints made by Leonardo da Vinci. However, they are betrayed by Milady, who gives the blueprints to the Duke of Buckingham (Orlando Bloom). Upon returning to France, the Musketeers are forced to disband by Cardinal Richelieu (Christoph Waltz) for their failure, and they end up on the streets of Paris.
One year later, a young man named D'Artagnan (Logan Lerman) leaves the village of Gascony for Paris in hopes of becoming a Musketeer as his father was, only to learn that they no longer exist. At a rural bar, D'Artagnan's horse is offended by Captain Rochefort (Mads Mikkelsen), the leader of Richelieu's guard, and d'Artagnan challenges him to a duel, but Rochefort shoots him while he is distracted, but he is saved by Milady de Winter. Arriving in Paris, D'Artagnan by coincidence separately encounters Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, and accidentally offends all three and schedules duels with each at 12:00,1:00 and 2:00PM.