Actually, I have started working on my swashbuckler series again. So I thought I might look at something which combines Swashbucklers and Westerns; The Mask of Zorro, a summer blockbuster from 1998 based on the works of Johnston McCulley.
A prologue takes place in California in 1821. Anthony Hopkins plays Don Diego de la Vega, a nobleman leading a double life as Zorro, the masked swordsman who fights against oppression and injustice. As the Mexican War of Independence draws to a close, Diego believes that he can retire. This hope is dashed by the intervention of Don Rafael Montero, the now-former Spanish Governor of California who has deduced his secret identity - partially motivated by his desire for Diego's wife Esperanza. Diego tries to resist arrest until Esperanza is accidentally killed. However, Montero spares his life but destroys his estate and takes his infant daughter Elena to raise as his own.
Twenty years later, Diego has been living in anonymity until learning that Montero has returned to California with a now-adult Elena played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Not long afterwards, he encounters Alejandro Murietta, a drunken thief played by Antonio Banderas. Alejandro becomes Diego's apprentice, hoping to avenge the death of his brother Joaquin at the hands of Montero's henchman, Captain Harrison Love.
I saw this film a while back, and watched it again recently to see if it still holds up. It actually does so surprisingly well. There's plenty of swordfights, a good mix of comedy and drama, and even some rather dark imagery in places. I love the hero's journey Alejandro goes through. He starts off as a drunken thief, learns to fight, and becomes an impulsive fame-seeker before developing into the Zorro for a new age.
It is a little cliched, but they're fun cliches, and the film still works with them.
Anyway, I'd best get back to my writing.
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