Zorro

Tongue in cheek romp, clever action shots, slap stick comic relief, silly theme song, great scenery and lavish costumes, what more can one ask from a $1 DVD?

I found this DVD in the dollar bin at Big Lots along with several others. The rest were not saving, but Zoro is a keeper.

The interplay between Zoro (Alain Delon) and Col. Huerta (Stanley Baker) is excellent. They spar verbally in the first half of the film, which climaxes in a long sword fight between the two. Incidentally, Stanley Baker died the year after completing Zorro, at age 49.

Ottavia Piccolo plays the female role to perfection.

It's not the slickest Zorro movie ever, or the most faithful version of the Zorro legend, but Alain Delon's "Zorro" is a lot of fun. In a way, its lack of polish works in the movie's favor and gives it a certain amateurish energy and charm, like an energetic high school play.

Alain Delon makes an appropriately aristocratic Diego, and he (or his stuntman) provide an athletic, agile Zorro. The villain, Colonel Huerta, is grandiose in the comic book tradition, and Moustache as Sergeant Garcia is nice and bumptuous. The heroine, Hortensia (wow, what a name) is adequate, and the mute servant is good for a few laughs.

The only complaint I have with this movie is that Zorro theme music. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about - it's this weird upbeat pop song that they play almost every time Zorro is onscreen: "Here's to you and me / Flying high and free / La la la la la la / Now that Zorro's back!" Now I can't get that song out of my head!

For us that grew up in the '70's... THIS was our Zorro film!

It was kinda campy, but then again... so was Batman reruns. Watching it again now, it's hard to compare with films made nowdays, but I still enjoyed it. This time around I got the subtle jokes (Zorro sticks his foot in front of Garcia and says, "Have a nice trip").

The common themes of Zorro are there - The freeing of the slave labor, the little boy that assists Zorro in slapping the soldiers around, the priest, the Diego character. Also all the familiar swordfighting cliches (i.e, the candle cut, the jump up on the table).

I recently found this at Wal-Mart for $4.99, so I bought it not expecting much. From the moment I heard the silly Zorro theme song, I knew that this was the Zorro movie from my youth!

Get this and enjoy it!

RELEASED IN 1975 and directed by Duccio Tessari, "Zorro" stars Alain Delon as a new Spanish governor in Mexican California in the 1820s. With the populace of Nueva Aragón under the oppressive rule of corrupt Colonel Huerta (Stanley Baker), the foppish governor becomes the masked adventurer, Zorro, to bring justice. Ottavia Piccolo plays the noble hottie; Enzo Cerusico Zorro's mute servant; and Moustache a bumbling fat bastage soldier.

The version I viewed cut out an entire half hour, so I might raise my rating if I eventually see the longer version. Nevertheless, there's enough good in the short version to make this colorful European rendition of Zorro worth catching if you like swashbuckling adventure flicks with joie de vivre ("joy of living"), like "The Musketeer" (2001), "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) and, of course, "The Mask of Zorro" (1998).

I'm familiar with protagonist Delon from a couple of his prior films, "Texas Across the River" (1966) and "Red Sun" (1971), where he struck me as a striking, charismatic actor; unfortunately, he's not well known in the USA. Regardless, he's just perfect for the role of Zorro. Meanwhile, Piccolo is mind-blowing as the honorable senorita. The closing elongated sword fight is possibly the best bout of fencing put to celluloid, next to the one at the end of "Rob Roy" (1995).

THE MOVIE RUNS 2 hours (with a widely circulated 87 minute version) and was shot in Almería & Madrid, Spain. WRITERS: Giorgio Arlorio (story) and Giorgio Arlorio (screenplay).

GRADE: B

Okay, so I paid $1 for it as a masked double feature DVD. The other film was Clayton Moore's The Lone Ranger, even though the cover featured the '81 Spilsbury schlock-fest. I was mislead by the use of the artwork from the later version of the masked rider of the plains' flick.

However, it was fun. I, like others, actually found the title song addictive in an annoying way.

The cast is good and the action satisfying. I don't mind the movement of Diego as returning son to indebted friend. However, since the villagers all know the mark of Zorro, does this film act as a sort of sequel to a previous version?

Now, if only they could get rid of the overdubbed dog!