Director Richard Lester’s exuberant account of the Alexandre Dumas classic is a rousing mix of knockabout action and coarse-grained humour, performed with obvious merriment by a starry cast.
Michael York is the youthful and artless D’Artagnan with Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain and Oliver reed his trusty trio of comrades, up against some decent villains: Charlton Heston’s Cardinal Richelieu, Christopher Lee’s Rochefort, and Faye Dunaway as an acid Milady.
The film was shot at the same time as The Four Musketeers (1974) which resulted in a lawsuit from the actors, who believed they were filming (and getting paid for) one movie only. The £2 million budget took care of a crew of over 200, on 55 locations, with 110 separate and distinct sets and a transport corps of 90 vehicles.
The swordplay, battling and general mayhem produced several accidents: Oliver Reed was twice carted off to the hospital, once to have a broken finger set and once because his palm had been pierced by a sword blade.
Roy Kinnear (Planchet) did his own riding stunts. In 1988, during the filming of the third Richard Lester film in the Musketeers trilogy – The Return of the Musketeers – Kinnear died on camera after falling from a horse.
Athos
Oliver Reed Constance de Bonacieux
Raquel Welch Aramis
Richard Chamberlain D’Artagnan
Michael York Porthos
Frank Finlay Rochefort
Christopher Lee Queen Anne of Austria
Geraldine Chaplin King Louis XIII
Jean-Pierre Cassel M. Bonacieux
Spike Milligan Planchet
Roy Kinnear Treville
Georges Wilson Duke of Buckingham
Simon Ward Milady
Faye Dunaway Cardinal Richelieu
Charlton Heston D’Artagnan’s Father
Joss Ackland Maid Kitty
Nicole Calfan Felton
Michael Gothard Eugenie
Sybil Danning Beatrice
Gitty Djamal Jussac
Ángel del Pozo Spy
Rodney Bewes D’Artagnan’s Mother
Gretchen Franklin Sea Captain
Francis De Wolff
Director
Richard Lester
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