The only thing that keeps me from awarding ten stars, is the movie's reliance (and, in my humble opinion, over-reliance) on slapstick comedy and farce. Apart from this minor quibble, it needs to be said that this an outstanding movie : vivid, sensual, funny, inventive and exciting. This is Entertainment with a capital E.Almost everything you care to think of is superb : the musical score, the casting, the performances, the locations, the props, the stunts. Certain scenes or images are so beautiful, from an artistic viewpoint, that you will remember them for years, such as the white and silver masked ball thrown by the French king or the "chapel" built by Buckingham for his loved one. The costumes deserve special praise : Michael York has never looked so dashing and gallant, while Faye Dunaway has never looked so angelically, ethereally beautiful.The follow-up movie continues strong, but beware : the darkness in Dumas' work, which is only hinted at for now, will become more pronounced.

D'Artagnan (Michael York) arrives in Paris trying to be a Musketeer after having learned from his father. He gets in trouble with Comte de Rochefort (Christopher Lee). Then he's challenged to duels with the three Musketeer Athos (Oliver Reed), Porthos (Frank Finlay) and Aramis (Richard Chamberlain). They are interrupted by Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston)'s guards. The Cardinal is trying to control the weak-minded King Louis XIII. The Queen gives a diamond necklace to her former lover Duke of Buckingham which presents an opportunity for the Cardinal with the help of Milady de Winter (Faye Dunaway). D'Artagnan has an affair with his landlord's wife Constance Bonacieux (Raquel Welch) who's also the Queen's confidant.Director Richard Lester seems to have two objectives in this movie. He wants better sword fights and as many broad comedic jokes as possible. Honesetly, the jokes make me roll my eyes more than laugh. It's like he watched Monty Python and figured to try it himself. It's kind of cute in that he's relentless in the effort. The sword fights are better than the old fashion Hollywood swashbuckling. They're a little bit more imaginative. The actors in the cast are amazing but I wouldn't say they're doing great work. I wonder how much the Golden Globe Award costs Raquel Welch. I also wonder if this would be better as a full-on comedy with a good comedic writer and some real comedians.

This is arguably the best version of the oft-filmed Dumas classic. It's a somewhat uneven mixture of comedy and violence early on before it settles down. It starts to come together once the main story involving the queen's diamonds kicks in about a third of the way in. The humor is sophomoric but everybody seems to be having so much fun that the film eventually wins over the viewer. The all-star cast is in good form. York is ideally cast as the bumbling D'Artagnan. Among the musketeers, Reed comes off best. Heston and Dunaway provide the villainy, although the latter really gets to shine in the sequel. In perhaps the best role of her career, Welch is charming as D'Artagnan's daffy lady love.

This movie has not been available for quite a while. I recall from long-ago viewings that it was sumptuous to look at, with unusually 'luxe costumes. I was happy to see it pop up on Netflix, but a lot has happened to movies since 1973...The verdict? It's refreshing to see that even after 40 years of Hollywood film visuals being continually upgraded, the wide screen cinematography still impresses. The visuals are so strong that I recall about half of them perfectly. It includes a lot of historical research (often pertaining to toil) which lifts the piece, and it riffs beautifully on Vermeer's side-lit domestic chambers. Lester (or his cinematographer) has a great eye. As I watched I recall that this movie introduced overt athleticism to fight scenes, so maybe we have Lester to blame for starting that trend (which is still the sole conceit of many bad movies). The costumes are every bit as opulent as I recall. Money has been spent & every dime is on-screen. Every historical film in recent memory still borrows from this (Amadeus, Ridicule, etc.)On the negative side, I have no idea what would draw a viewer to watch this more than once. None of the characters or their predicaments engaged me. I wish the story was stronger. The cast is too massive for this tiny conflict. At certain points the score arrives full blast, to fill sections of the movie they apparently forgot to storyboard. It feels like things are set in France only about twice in the movie. And Raquel Welch is not very good. The wall-to-wall slapstick starts alright but becomes more and more annoying. And the movie as a whole is on the irritating side. The countless fights go on and on until they just blend together. The movie has so few places to go, that it should be less tiresome. But two very lonely ideas (sword fights, slapstick) crave more support. The visuals are very strong. The script is weak.