The Three Musketeers (1993 film)

The Three Musketeers is a 1993 film very loosely based on the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. It stars Chris O'Donnell as D'Artagnan, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen and Oliver Platt as the three musketeers, Tim Curry as the villainous Cardinal Richelieu, and Rebecca De Mornay as Milady de Winter.

D'Artagnan is on his quest to becoming a musketeer. During his quest he joins the three title musketeers in their own quest to stop a plot against the young king. This adaptation greatly simplifies and alters the story.

The relationship between Athos and Anti Villain Milady de Winter is altered to make the two characters more sympathetic. .

This film provides examples of:
"Porthos: Now, this axe was a gift to me from the Czarina of Tokyo."
 * Adaptational Villainy:
 * The Duke of Buckingham, while still technically an enemy of France, is an honorable man in the original book.
 * Richelieu is far more villainous than the Well Intentioned Extremist Anti Villain he was in the book.
 * Inverted with Milady, who was more villainous and less sympathetic than she is in the movie.
 * Award Bait Song: "All For Love", sung by Rod Stewart, Sting and Bryan Adams, who co-wrote it.
 * Book Safe: Aramis (who trained to be a priest) at one point pulls a pistol out of a hollowed-out Bible and shoots one of the Cardinal's guards with it.
 * Badass Creed: "All for one and one for all!"
 * Band of Brothers: Their Badass Creed is more than just a creed. It's their very lives.
 * Blondes Are Evil: Milady de Winter.
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Porthos, the Pirate.
 * California Doubling: Austria plays France.
 * The Cavalry: The other Musketeers in the final act.
 * The Chessmaster: Cardinal Richelieu, of course.
 * Crash Into Hello: This is how d'Artagnan first meets Athos and Porthos, resulting in him being challenged to two duels.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Death By Adaptation: Rochefort is killed in a climatic duel with d'Artagnan. In the original book he survives to be fought and killed in one of the sequels.
 * Disney Villain Death: D'Artagnan fights one of the Cardinal's men on top of some ruins, and knocks him off to his death. Lady De Winter, the femme fatale, chooses to fling herself off a cliff rather than suffer a beheading. Later in the film D'Artganan surprises the King's assassin on the palace roof, and the fight ends with the Assassin getting a crossbow bolt to the heart and falling to the ground below.
 * Averted with Rochefort's death; he is clearly stabbed and dies in full view of the audience.
 * Driven to Suicide: DeWinter, after telling the Musketeers of the Cardinal's plan. Either out of remorse or fear of what the Cardinal might do to her.
 * Foreshadowing: Pay attention to the Musketeers' scenes before D'Artagnan is saved from the chopping block. You'll expect the outcome of the scene as soon as the priest and "executioner" open their mouths.

"Porthos: Five of them, three of us. hardly seems fair.
 * Freudian Threat: When Cardinal Richelieu starts making advances on Lady DeWinter she pulls a knife and holds it to his crotch. Richelieu warns that he can have her executed with "a snap of [his] fingers" to which she replies, "And with a flick of my wrist I could change your religion"; he laughs and backs off.
 * Global Ignorance: Porthos claims his sword was a gift from 'the Queen of America'.
 * I Like Those Odds: The Musketeers comment amongst themselves that five soldiers against the three of them is hardly fair. D'Artagnan, Completely Missing the Point, tries to point out that there's four of them.

Aramis: Maybe we should give them a chance to surrender"


 * Land in The Saddle: Done early in film, as part of a chase scene. It also included the stock parody of one of the characters missing the horse.
 * Large Ham: The Cardinal, but since Tim Curry plays him, it's to be expected.
 * Oliver Platt as Porthos. Like Tim Curry, he seems to be there just for the fun of Chewing the Scenery.
 * Let Me Tell You a Story: "Love? Let me tell you about love."
 * Obviously Evil: The Cardinal is played by Tim Curry. Enough said really.
 * Off With Her Head: What almost happened to de Winter before Athos stopped it. But she kills herself anyway, after revealing the Cardinal's plan.
 * Pocket Protector: Aramis is shot, but his crucifix stops the bullet. From this he quips, "I told you there's a God!"
 * Redshirt Army: One of the most literal examples of this trope with the Cardinal's guards.
 * Sarcastic Confession: When the king ventures to confront Cardinal Richelieu about the rumors of his betrayal, the Cardinal sarcastically rattles off the entire list of his misdeeds and treacherous plans, spicing it up with "more festive variations" involving teaching pigs to dance and horses to fly, and hiding the moon in his robes. The king's misgivings are thus (temporarily) disarmed.
 * You Remind Me of X: "You, boy, are arrogant, hot-tempered, and entirely too bold. I like that, you remind me of me."