# Joaquin Murietta & Zorro **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 12, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249 "2003-04-12T13:13:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![darwindarius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@darwindarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/darwindarius)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/1 "2003-04-12T13:13:41Z")
It seems as the Joaquin Murietta (insert any alternate surname you wish) backstory was very likely the source for the Zorro novel (“The Curse of Capistrano”). This was the same novel upon which the “Mask of Zorro” movie, starring Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins, was based. Banderas was cast as Alejandro Murietta, Joaquin’s brother, who later takes revenge as the next Zorro. [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmurieta.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmurieta.html) Key elements in the movie include: Three-fingered Jack Capitan Love Murietta’s decapitation by Capitan Love …But does anyone know if the Rafael Montero character (the original Zorro’s enemy) was based upon anything to do with the “historical” Joaquin? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/2 "2003-04-13T00:18:31Z")
Well… while the recent movie tried to tie the two stories together, it’s not at all clear that the originals had any relationship. See [Is there a historical basis for Zorro?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mzorro.html) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/3 "2003-04-13T02:47:31Z")
Some of the characters used in the recent film **Mask of Zorro** _were_ historical – one of the screenplay authors rot a history of **Zorr** coincident with the film’s release (and in which she goes into the history a bit, where you can see the names). However, I don’t think that the original novels (or anything based on them) had any real historical characters in it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/4 "2003-04-15T15:23:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > Some of the characters used in the recent film **Mask of Zorro** _were_ historical – one of the screenplay authors rot a history of **Zorr** coincident with the film’s release (and in which she goes into the history a bit, where you can see the names). (_Underlining by kaylasdad99_) Hooked on Fonix, are we? Nice to see people concentrating on the basics. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/5 "2003-04-15T19:13:47Z")
I believed Zorro was set in the Spanish Period (before 1810) while Murrieta lived in the early American period, after 1848. Zorro (completely fictional) fought the Spaniards and Murrieta (mostly fictional) fought the ‘Forty Niners’. Pablo Neruda, a Chilean, wrote a fictional piece casting Murrieta as a Chilean! In Texas there is very similar folklore about ‘Gregorio Cortes’. All we know is that there may have been someone by than name. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/6 "2003-04-15T19:13:50Z")
I believed Zorro was set in the Spanish Period (before 1810) while Murrieta lived in the early American period, after 1848. Zorro (completely fictional) fought the Spaniards and Murrieta (mostly fictional) fought the ‘Forty Niners’. Pablo Neruda, a Chilean, wrote a fictional piece casting Murrieta as a Chilean! In Texas there is very similar folklore about ‘Gregorio Cortez’. All we know is that there may have been someone by than name. ---
**Author:** ![JohnStracke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58956e/32.png) [@JohnStracke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnStracke)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/7 "2003-04-16T13:04:51Z")
> [@](#): > > So the Joaquin Murieta story boils down to two things: > > 1. Some guy named Joaquin Murieta may have been alive in the early 1850s, and > 2. Everybody loves a good story. In other words, _exactly_ like [Robin Hood](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_143.html) . ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/8 "2003-04-16T13:38:41Z")
Not quite. Robin Hood is far enough back that there _could_ be something substantial behind the legend. Whereas we _know_ that the Murieta story is bullshit. (Even more vexing is King Arthur, where there’s just enough evidence – the Saxons _did_ back off for several generations, and a good many baby boys suddenly got baptized “Arthur” – to drive us crazy.) ---
**Author:** ![darwindarius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@darwindarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/darwindarius)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/9 "2003-04-17T09:51:11Z")
Good enough, all… but I was more concerned for any existing basis for the Raphael Montero character in the recent Zorro movie. We all know that most of these legends are based only VERY loosely (if at all) in any real history 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/10 "2003-04-18T01:44:42Z")
Hey, what about the Irish Zorro? [http://home.earthlink.net/~rggsibiba/html/sib/sib6.html](http://home.earthlink.net/~rggsibiba/html/sib/sib6.html) ---
**Author:** ![darwindarius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@darwindarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/darwindarius)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/11 "2003-04-18T11:37:39Z")
there was an IRISH Zorro? ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joaquin-murietta-zorro/168249/12 "2003-04-19T22:51:52Z")
He wasn’t really an Irish Zorro, but he was an Irishman who ended up in Mexico in the late 17th century and amassed a legend around his romantic and criminal exploits before he was captured and executed.