The Three Musketeers (1993)
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pietroricci — 10 years ago(November 18, 2015 04:50 AM)
Interesting analysis and one point of view that I share.
I, too, always thought that Disney's 1993
Three Musketeers
heavily borrowed from
RH: Prince of Thieves
' formula and you pointed out all of the major similarities - or downright artisitc ripoffs.
No one amongst the cast members of the 1993 movie had a quarter of the screen presence, star quality and charisma of Kevin Costner.
Well done. -
Fluke_Skywalker — 10 years ago(November 18, 2015 05:44 AM)
That's very true re: Costner. I would say Kiefer Sutherland comes closest, but he plays co-second fiddle (along with his fellow Musketeers) to Chris O'Donnell, who is quite dreadful. Sheen is also bad, not to mention clearly disinterested in the entire affair. And there's no one of Morgan Freeman's caliber amongst our heroes to help give things some gravitas.
A journey into the realm of the obscure:
http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/ -
crazyivanova — 10 years ago(November 21, 2015 01:59 AM)
Other than Michael Wincott (who I completely adore) I never made the connection with this movie but you're right. I don't know how I could have missed it, you make it seem so obvious now.
I seem to remember I liked that movie but not as much as Robin Hood. I'm going to have to go back and re-watch it now.
I can only conclude I'm paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate. -
Fluke_Skywalker — 10 years ago(November 21, 2015 06:08 AM)
I made a only tacit connection back when it was released. The Bryan Adams song/swashbuckler thing being the most obvious. But it wasn't until I re-watched
Three Musketeers
right on the heels of
Prince Of Thieves
a few years ago that the other connections clicked.
Like I said in my review of
Three Musketeers
, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then
Prince Of Thieves
should be very, very flattered.A journey into the realm of the obscure:
http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/ -
crazyivanova — 10 years ago(November 21, 2015 07:46 AM)
You've got a good eye because I hadn't noticed and I'm usually pretty good at spotting these things. Maybe I just
think
I'm good at spotting these things
It's not uncommon for a good, or at least popular, movie to inspire imitations. How many space-based sci-fi flicks came out after Star Wars? How many space-based monster movies were there right after Alien? A lot of movies were "inspired" by The Matrix after 1999 too. It even extends into the world of television. In the 90s, and the early 90s in particular, we had (probably because of the success of Robin Hood at the time) Hercules and Xena, Sinbad and who knows how many others. I guess the question is, as far as Robin Hood and the Three Musketeers is concerned, how much is homage and how much is rip-off?
I can only conclude I'm paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate. -
Fluke_Skywalker — 10 years ago(November 21, 2015 09:44 AM)
Nah, I'm usually pretty dense
.
You're absolutely right, this is far from the first time a hit movie inspired imitators (See, you are good at spotting these things
). And things do come in cycles. In the 80s it was sci-fi (inspired by Star Wars), in the 90s fantasy/sword and sandal/swashbuckling got a run; particularly on TV, and
RH:POT
no doubt played a huge role there.
In the case of
Three Musketeers
it does feel very much like a studio saying "Hey, let's copy that!".A journey into the realm of the obscure:
http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/ -
Fluke_Skywalker — 10 years ago(November 23, 2015 10:48 AM)
I certainly won't hold it against you. I have more than my share of
Three Musketeers
if you know what I mean.
I see what you mean re: Wincott. Certainly Gisborn is not as menacing as Rochefort, but generically I think both roles are similar.A journey into the realm of the obscure:
http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/ -
Fluke_Skywalker — 10 years ago(December 07, 2015 06:51 AM)
Every decade or so it seems that Robin Hood, The Three Musketeers and King Arthur are dusted off and repackaged. In some cases, such as the 2011 version of
Three Musketeers
, the makers put a fresh spin on it. Not a good spin necessarily, but a fresh one (I actually like that one, but oh well).
Here you're right, there was already a version that was made to appeal to families and it held up reasonably well. What drove this 1993 version was commerce pure and simple. An attempt to cash in on the success of
Robin Hood
and
Young Guns
.A journey into the realm of the obscure:
http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/ -
Fluke_Skywalker — 10 years ago(December 09, 2015 04:36 AM)
The '93 version? Let's see here shuffle shuffle Here's my IMDb review (5/10)
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if that's true, 'Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves' must be flattered indeed. Taking the template of the latter and adding a little Young Guns for good measure, the result is a jauntily paced, but listlessly plotted junior division yawner that couldn't be any more 90s if it featured Bill Clinton in a pair of Zubaz pants singing Hootie and the Blowfish songs on stage at Lollapalooza.A journey into the realm of the obscure:
http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/ -
Fluke_Skywalker — 10 years ago(December 09, 2015 11:14 PM)
Please keep in mind that if you should ever encounter the 1993 me, he'll tell you that it's "pretty cool". It's all about perspective
.A journey into the realm of the obscure:
http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/ -
Fluke_Skywalker — 10 years ago(December 10, 2015 10:01 AM)
All great points; ones that I had missed.
Re: Delphy, yeah, it's a bit sad when actors and actresses of that caliber end up in roles and material well beneath them. Maybe she thought it'd be fun, or perhaps they cut her a nice check. Either way, she's utterly wasted.A journey into the realm of the obscure:
http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/ -
Fluke_Skywalker — 9 years ago(May 30, 2016 05:08 AM)
Absolutely, IMDB_Vits. Good call. There are a lot of North American and British accents in
Three Musketeers
, but oddly enough not many FRENCH accents.A journey into the realm of the obscure:
http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/