Intrigue

A young swordsman comes to Paris and faces villains, romance, adventure and intrigue with three Musketeer friends.

France, 17th century. A young man, d'Artagan, sets out for Paris with the aim of joining the elite Musketeers. There he first antagonises then befriends the three greatest Musketeers - Athos, Porthos and Aramis. He is also drawn into a plot by the scheming Cardinal Richelieu to undermine the Queen of France and the English Duke of Buckingham.—grantss

The young D'Artagnan (Michael York) arrives in Paris with dreams of becoming a King's Musketeer. He meets and quarrels with three men, Athos (Oliver Reed), Porthos (Frank Finlay), and Aramis (Richard Chamberlain), each of whom challenges him to a duel. D'Artagnan finds out they are Musketeers and is invited to join them in their efforts to oppose Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston), who wishes to increase his already considerable power over King Louis XIII (Jean-Pierre Cassel). D'Artagnan must also juggle affairs with the charming Constance Bonancieux (Raquel Welch) and the passionate Lady De Winter (Faye Dunaway), a secret agent for the Cardinal.—Eric Sorensen <Eric_Sorensen@fc.mcps.k12.md.us>

Having learned swordsmanship from his father, the young country bumpkin D'Artagnan (Michael York) arrives in Paris, with a letter from his father (Joss Ackland) introducing D'Artagnan to Captain Treville, commander of the King's musketeers. D'Artagnan's father teaches him his secret sword thrust, only to be used in cases of extreme peril, and 15 crowns to meet expenses. Father tells D'Artagnan to be vary of the Cardinal, whom he says rules the country through the King.

D'Artagnan dreams of becoming a king's musketeer. Unaccustomed to the city life, he makes a number of clumsy Faux Pas. First, he finds himself insulted, knocked out and robbed by the Comte De Rochefort (Christopher Lee), an agent of Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston).

D'Artagnan was carrying his father's sword but broke it in the conflict with Rochefort. D'Artagnan is knocked unconscious and Rochefort's men steal his money and put him back on horse and send him away. D'Artagnan reaches the barracks of the King's Musketeers and meets Treville. Treville sees the broken sword and understands that D'Artagnan is not yet a good warrior and asks him to come back when he has served in a campaign with the army or with the general guards.

Once in Paris he comes into conflict with three musketeers, Athos (Oliver Reed), Porthos (Frank Finlay), and Aramis (Richard Chamberlain) (He bumps into all 3 of them at the HQ of the Musketeers), each of whom challenges him to a duel (one after the other at the gap of 1 hour) for some accidental insult or embarrassment.

As the first of these duels (with Athos, where Porthos and Aramis are his seconds) is about to begin, Jussac (Angel Del Pozo) arrives with five additional swordsmen of Cardinal Richelieu's guards. Jussac holds the Musketeers guilty of dueling in defiance of the Cardinal's edicts. Jussac wants to arrest the Musketeers for creating disorder in a public place. D'Artagnan sides with the musketeers in the ensuing street fight and they manage to injure or kill all the Cardinal's guards. Athos shares the Musketeers motto with D'Artagnan "One for all, and all for one".

Athos shares the money he got from the guards with D'Artagnan to help him rent a room and buy new clothes for himself and becomes their ally in opposition to the Cardinal, who wishes to increase his already considerable power over the king, Louis XIII (Jean-Pierre Cassel).

D'Artagnan also begins an affair with his landlord's wife. The room is a pigsty, but D'Artagnan takes it when he sees the wife, Constance Bonacieux (Raquel Welch), who is dressmaker to the Queen, Anne of Austria (Geraldine Chaplin). Planchet (Roy Kinnear) is hired as D'Artagnan's servant.

Meanwhile, the Duke of Buckingham (Simon Ward), former lover of the Queen, turns up from England. Richelieu informs the King that the Duke is in France, and the King orders his arrest as he knows that the Duke covets the Queen. Richelieu says that it would be scandalous to arrest the Prime Minister of England without due evidence. Richelieu maintains that the Queen's virtue and loyalty to the King is not under question.

Rochefort attacks Constance and her husband while they are asleep in their chamber. Constance manages to escape and goes to D'Artagnan's chambers to seek help to get to the Palace and the Queen. Constance says that Cardinal wants to hurt the Queen by hurting her. D'Artagnan has sex with Constance, before she leaves.

Constance was helping guide the Duke through the streets of Paris and helping him meet Anne in secret. D'Artagnan follows Constance and sees her meeting the Duke. D'Artagnan confronts Constance who explains the matter to him. The Duke orders D'Artagnan to kill anyone who is seen following them.

The Queen says that they have to stop seeing each other since the cardinal knows and that she cannot embarrass the King. The Duke is willing to go to war with France for Anne. She asks him to leave and never return and the Duke asks for something in remembrance of her. She gives him a necklace with twelve settings of diamonds, a gift from her husband. The Cardinals guards attack the Duke, but D'Artagnan and the musketeers (who were brought by Planchet) help him escape.

From the Queen's treacherous lady-in-waiting, the Cardinal learns of the rendezvous and suggests to the none-too-bright King to throw a ball (in 2 weeks' time) in his wife's honor, and request she wear the diamonds he gave her on her last Birthday. The Cardinal also sends his agent Milady De Winter (Faye Dunaway) to England, who seduces the Duke and steals two of the necklace's diamonds.

Meanwhile, the Queen has confided her troubles in Constance. Constance promises to arrange a trustworthy messenger to travel to England (with Anne's letter to the Duke) and to get back in 14 days' time. Constance asks D'Artagnan (after she asks her husband and realizes that he is in the pay of the Cardinal) to ride to England and get back the diamonds. The Cardinal's spies relay this information to him.

D'Artagnan and the three musketeers set out, but on the way the Cardinal's men attack them. Only D'Artagnan and his servant make it through to Buckingham, where they discover the loss of two of the diamond settings. The Duke replaces the two missing diamonds. He has replacements made by his jeweler, by paying him 5000 pounds per piece to finish it in 48 hours, when they were worth only 500 pounds per piece. D'Artagnan races back to Paris with fresh horses and a boat at Dover, a gift from the Duke. The Duke also gives him his personal sword as a reward for his service.

Porthos, Athos, and Aramis, wounded but not dead as D'Artagnan had feared, aid the delivery of the complete necklace to the Queen, saving the royal couple from the embarrassment which the Cardinal had plotted.

Captain Treville eventually inducts D'Artagnan into the Musketeers of the King's Guard. Inducted, to Constance's delight, into the Musketeers of the King's Guard, D'Artagnan exchanges meaningful looks with Milady De Winter.