The Four Musketeers (film)

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The Four Musketeers
1975 movie poster
Directed by	Richard Lester
Produced by	Alexander Salkind Pierre Spengler
Written by	George MacDonald Fraser based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas, père
Starring	Oliver Reed Charlton Heston Raquel Welch Faye Dunaway Richard Chamberlain Frank Finlay Michael York Christopher Lee
Music by	Michel Legrand Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography	David Watkin Paul Wilson
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	February 26, 1975 September 1, 1975
Running time	108 min.
Country	UK / Panama / Spain
Language	English
Preceded by	The Three Musketeers
Followed by	The Return of the Musketeers
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IMDb profile

The Four Musketeers is the title of a 1974 Richard Lester film, which follows upon his film of the previous year, The Three Musketeers, and covers the second half of Dumas' novel. See The Three Musketeers. Fifteen years later, the cast and crew returned to film The Return of the Musketeers, loosely based on Dumas' Twenty Years After.

During post production on The Three Musketeers, the producers realized that there was enough footage for two films and created The Four Musketeers. Most of the actors were incensed that their work on the long shoot was used to make an entirely separate film. All SAG actors' contracts now have what is known as the "Salkind clause", which stipulates how many films are being made. Charlton Heston — who was handsomely paid for what was essentially a cameo role — was the only actor who did not feel cheated.

This is much the darker of the two films. There is less of the lighthearted horseplay seen in the first film. Constance is murdered by Milady, Rochefort is gravely wounded by d'Artagnan, and Milady is executed by a headsman as the Musketeers look on. We also see the backstory of the tangled relationship between Athos and Milady, and an extended prison sequence in which Milady uses her feminine wiles to turn the Duke of Buckingham's Puritan manservant into an assassin. In the end d'Artagnan triumphs over Richelieu's plotting and becomes an officer.