Year:  1975
Rating: 6.0

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Alain Delon is perfect for the dashing Zorro and suitably fey for his alter ego Don Diego in this 1975 Italian production. It very much follows the PG world of the Zorro TV series of the 1950's with no sex, no nudity, a chunky amusing Sgt. Garcia and very little violence that can be taken seriously. It is as much a humorous romp as an adventure.


The story of Zorro is I expect pretty familiar to all and this only detours from that in one major aspect. Instead of being the son of a wealthy landowner who returns from Spain to find his land in California under the tyrannical rule of the military, he is on his way to Spain when he meets an old friend who has come over to be the Governor of the province of Colombia. When this friend is murdered Don Diego takes on his identity with vengeance on his to do list. Unfortunately for the viewer his friend's last words elicit a promise from Don Diego not to kill. Yikes. So instead of killing swarms of bad guys Don Diego in the guise of Zorro just has fun with them and knocks them about a little bit.


Playing the villain Col. Huerta is the wonderful Stanley Baker using his menacing glower like a dagger. This was to be Baker's last feature film as he was to die from lung cancer the following year at 48. I will always love him for Zulu. Playing the beauty fighting for the common people is Ottavia Piccolo. There are a lot of action scenes that are enjoyable but done often in comic style until the final duel that we all knew had to come - this must have lasted for about 20 minutes as they fight all over the castle before it ends as one expects.


Interesting how fictional figures like Zorro just keep going. The character was created in 1919 by author Johnston McCulley in the book The Curse of Capistrano which sold 50 million copies over the years. It was immediately made into a film starring Douglas Fairbanks and from that point on movies and TV series are spun out every decade or so in America and internationally. McCulley went on to write many more Zorro stories and lived just long enough to see the Guy Williams TV series (which I loved as a kid) in 1957.