Entertaining reboot of the famous tale which does feel a little thin focusing on the affair of the Queen's Diamond necklace. For me it lacked the sense of camaraderie you get in longer versions of this tale - the one involving Milady and Porthos.
But there's lots to admire. The cast is top notch. I'm not a massive Michael York fan but he's a perfect d'Artagnan, young, keen and a believable country boy - most versions of the story don't emphasise this but York really seems like a rube out of place. Joss Ackland pops up as his dad - I wish we'd seen him again.
Oliver Reed is superb as Porthos, ditto Richard Chamberlain as Aramis, Faye Dunaway as Milady, Charlton Heston as Richelieu. Spike Milligan and Roy Kinnear are fun though perhaps too broad - they pull the movie in a different direction. Raquel Welch is fun as Constance - to be honest, she's trying too hard, like the hot girl at a drama school determined to play comedy, but she's endearing in that way. And it's great Constance has a bit more dimension, being a clutz and married to Milligan.
It feels very authentic - the George MacDonald Fraser touch, no doubt - without losing the sense of adventure of fun. But it is 1973 - royalty are dumb, D'Artagnan has sex with Constance. Sword fights are done well - decent strokeplay but also rough house antics.
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