Three Musketeers of the Wester DVD mini-review

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Mini-review of Three Musketeers of the West, released on DVD by Dorado Films. Read a longer review of this DVD here.

The movie
The story is not very complicated. You got a corrupt financial guy played by our old friend Fajardo, who wants to support a Mexican president by sending him some monetary "aid". To smuggle the dinero, he makes use of a pretty nurse (played by Karin Schubert) who is supposed to get it there in her hospital coach. A box full of cold of course always attracts special interests, and so an opportunist texas ranger played by Tim Brent, senses his lucky day and hires three "musketeers" (essentially retired lawmen) to snatch the gold from under the nurse's sexy buttox. Little does he know that the three (Eastman, Huerta and Anchoriz) do have some entrepreneurial spirit themselves and have no problem with going their own way to get rich quickly....

Opinion
Bruno Corbucci might be a great writer, but as a director he's not nailing it very often. In the case of Musketeers, he makes use of some very common themes, the references to the "real" musketeers being one of them. The cast, judging from the names, might suggest a rather okay realization of such a simple plot, but what ruins the film, is it's incoherent series of stupid slapstick scenes, bar brawls, annoying dialogue and lack of anything that would make you want to follow what happens on screen closely. Now one has to say that, comedy westerns as such are generally subject to whether you just like those kinds of spaghettis or you dont. Then again, the sub-sub-genre does have some rather well-known and even well-made representatives, this one not being part of either group, unfortunately. It is a joy seeing the three musketeers acting stupid through the movie, one can tell they all had lots of fun filming this one, and knowing that Karin Schubert set out to pursue career-wise afterwards, it's also quite enticing to see her climb out of the bathtub. You have to give the film credit however for the plain over the topness and the quite extensive array of wild stuff happening in this movie, including kung fu fights and all that. But otherwise, the film just doesn't have much to offer really and in the end is a rather boring endeavour that will delight completists, but waste most other people's time.

The DVD
Dorado Films did an amazing job restoring this film, and it shows. The picture is definitely up to current standards in terms of good-looking old material. The sound as well has seen a good makeover and doesn't torture one's ears. Presented in color-rich widescreen and with a low level of visual damage, the movie looks absolutely okay for its age, and Dorado should be commended for such an effort. It is just too bad the film doesn't do justice to all the work they've put into it. They were nice enough to include three languages, which might make this DVD interesting for importing and have included some trailers, as well as an alternative bathing scene, even though the one without clothes is the one to prefer. Liner notes from our co-editor Tom Betts of WAI are included as well as a color card promising one well-anticipated release of Gatling Gun, of which we hope will be of equally high quality standard.

  • Audio: English, Italian, Spanish
  • Extras: Trailers
  • Region code 1 & 4
  • Video: Anamorphic widescreen, NTSC

Verdict
A sub-par comedy spaghetti with some hilarious scenes and a decent cast, but overall quite boring. The DVD is a showcase for excellent restauration work and will find its way into most completists' DVD shelves. Bravo Dorado Films for the courage, we're looking forward to your next releases.

--Sebastian 12:45, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

This DVD was provided by Dorado Films.

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