I was thinking it looked like The League of Extraordinary Musketeers.
noooooooooooo! I can’t believe Matthew Macfadyen is starring in this bag of shit.
sigh
Damn.
Maybe. I haven’t seen the film since 1973, so probably forgot that detail.
Thank you. The monologue was written by my friends to explain that unfilmed part to the classmates. It did a lot to further illustrate how evil Milady was.
No, see, it looks like a really BAD venture into steampunk. Which is objectionable to me as a fan of steampunk. Dammit, just because it’s steampunk, doesn’t mean it can’t be GOOD.
Hmmm…Interesting.
I hadn’t seen it until it got to TV (we couldn’t afford to take the whole family to a movie) and years later when I wanted to add it to my collection, the video-tape dealer read a description aloud from his dealer database, “Early 70’s made-for-TV version by Richard Lester? Charleton Heston, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain – looks like a lot of well-known fine actors… ah! Looks like it’s ‘in suspension’ because they’re releasing that Disney version in a few weeks. Sorry; I can’t get it for you…”
I bought it when they released it as a 2 DVD set.
It is also available on Netflix or I should say Quikster.
I’m with you. I like Orlando Bloom with his evil goatee.
Besides, it’s a costume movie. I can never say no to a costume movie. Especially one that involves sword fights.
That’s not how he is portrayed by Dumas, IIRC. He starts as a conniver, that subtly influences the King, while the Musketeers “work” for the Queen (and de facto, for her British lover as well). It is made clear that he likes power but uses it for “the glory of France”. Towards the end of the book, with the La Rochelle siege, it is highly clear that the differences between Richelieu and the Musketeers kind of fade away. In latter books, he is increasingly defined as an asset for France.
Basically, Richelieu is a French Grand Vizir. Maybe evil but actually doing the work the King should be doing if the King wasnt completely inept. I’m not talking about actual history but how he is portrayed.
Hm, historically inaccurate, patently absurd, badly acted and ignores the source material on one one hand, and Milla Jovovich on the other.
I’m in. I feel dirty, but I’m in.
Regarding the Richard Lester movies.
When he finished filming The Three Musketeers, he found that he had four hours worth of footage. He split it into two pieces: The Three Musketeers: The Queen’s Diamonds, released in 1973, and The Four Musketeer’s: Milady’s Revenge, released in 1974. (The actors had only been paid for one movie, so there was some litigation about salaries and royalties.)
In 1989, he re-assembled most of the cast and filmed The Return of the Musketeers, very loosely based on Dumas’ novel Twenty Years After. IMDB indicates that it got a theatrical release in Europe, but I think it went straight to TV in the USA. The villain of the novel was Mordaunt, the bastard son of Milady and Rochefort. In the movie, Lester changed the character to “Justine deWinter”, and cast Kim Catrall in the role. (IMHO, it’s not as good as the first movie(s), but it’s still kind of entertaining. Unfortunately, several of the cast members have died, so Lester probably won’t get to do The Man in the Iron Mask.)
Regarding the sword-vs-musket issue:
There were musketeers, and there were The King’s Musketeers.
Ordinary musketeers served in the regular army. The King’s Musketeers were the king’s personal bodyguards. In order to join the King’s Musketeers, you either had to serve several years in a regular army regiment, or you had to distinguish yourself with some act of heroism in battle, or do some personal service for the royal family.
In the book, D’Artagnan earns his place in the Musketeers at the Siege of La Rochelle, when he and the other three capture a bastion and hold it while eating breakfast, under heavy fire.
In the movies, D’Artagnan is made a Musketeer for retrieving the Queen’s diamonds, and is already a Musketeer by the time of the La Rochelle battle in the second movie.
Regardless of whether you were a musketeer or a Musketeer, you only carried your musket into battle. Back in Paris, you only needed your sword.
No, those three are the first ones he runs into and who, after some initial headbutting, kind of take him under their wing(s) - but by the time he gets to Paris, he already wanted to join the elite corps known as the Royal Musketeers. It wasn’t merely some sort of nickname of these three guys, nor did D’Artagnan interest in joining the Musketeers come from meeting them.
Think of it as “rookie wants to be a SEAL. Rookie manages to butt heads with three guys within minutes of arriving to destination. Guys, who turn out to be SEALS, decide they like the little idiot, befriend him and help him screw his head on straightisher enough. Rookie eventualy manages to join the SEALS, yay.”
The Musketeers were one Royal Guard unit, they were the Kings escorts outside the palace. Inside the palace, the Royal guard were those dudes in argent & or with halberds, as seen in the Lester film.
I think the Lester films were great- great acting, sets, costumes, moments of humor, and even moderately realistic. Even the Cardinal was portrayed as a patriot- unscrupulous, yes, but still a patriot.
Whoa, Attack, you have Mila Jovocich on one of your hands? I’m jealous.
Eh. Monsieur Dumas would only be sad that he hadn’t thought of the flame-throwers and airships first.
The man wrote serial adventure stories - not sober, historically accurate chronicles. If he was around today he’d be collaborating with Michael Bay.
Can’t talk. Busy.