Topic: Zorro (Duccio Tessari, 1975) (Read 5298 times)

zykl0nb · « **on:** 06 Apr 2008 - 21:00 »

Just finished watching Duccio Tessari's 1975 ZORRO, starring Alain Delon as Zorro, Stanley Baker as his enemy Colonel Huerta, and some huge guy simply named Moustache as Sgt. Garcia, and a dog named Assassin that looks like Scooby Doo. The version I saw was the 87 min version, which is quite a bit shorter than the original 124 min one; however, after seeing this version, I'm not so sure it's worth pursuing.

This film is pretty campy, filled with a lot of stilted and bizarre humor, and a title song that sounds like Guido and Maurizio De Angelis, that goes something like, "Here's to you and me / Here's to bein' free / la-la-la-la-la Zorro's Back." As you can see, this is quite a departure from Tessari's other films. There's even a scene that may have inspired Donkey Kong in which Zorro rolls barrels down an incline to thwart his pursuers.

To be honest, the only other Zorro adaptation I have seen is the first Antonio Banderas, so I can't say how it stacks up against the likes of Tyrone Power in THE MARK OF ZORRO.

Dorado · « **Reply #1 on:** 07 Apr 2008 - 15:42 »

I also have Duccio Tessari's version of Zorro and I agree it is not very good.
My recommendation is to pass and spend your money on something better.

Garbage Can · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 Aug 2011 - 22:29 »

I went to the dentist today, where a late appointment for a 6 month cleaning turned out to include one of my molars getting drilled ever so closely in order to get a minor cavity getting filled in, which is a lifetime first for me. There was a flat screen TV above and in front on me which they offered to turn it on and show a movie while they went to work. The two choices were some crap with Johnny Depp and this one ('"Zorro"...the really old one!'). The 'really old one' turned out to be a budget bin, dollar DVD print version of this. To my surprise, I quickly discovered that it paired Tessari and Delon as previously in Tony Arzenta. I only saw the first 15 minutes of it. The last scene I remember was when the villiagers turned the tables on the judges. Leonard Maltin seemed to like it. It's on the very last page of his 2001 guide where he says, "Zesty retelling of legendary masked rider and hero of the oppressed, not as distinctive as earlier versions (and set in South America rather than in old California), but fun".