Movies That Time Forgot: Zorro, The Gay Blade
Welcome to my blog, Movie Night! This is going to be a page for movies that are a bit off the beaten path, often ones that most people haven't seen, or weird little cult flicks that deserve more of an audience. I love big Hollywood blockbusters, but that's not what I want to write about. I'm going to start off with a favorite of mine that has fallen out of the public consciousness since it came out, 1981's Zorro, The Gay Blade.
Starring George Hamilton, Lauren Hutton, Ron Leibman, and Brenda Vaccaro, and directed by Peter Medak, Zorro, The Gay Blade, believe it or not, is a direct sequel to the 1940's classic The Mark of Zorro.
George Hamilton plays Don Diego de la Vega, a womanizing playboy in 1840's California. He's summoned home by his father, but when he arrives, he finds that his father has died in a riding accident, and his childhood friend, Esteban (Leibman) has become the acting alcalde (or magistrate) in his stead. Esteban immediately raises the tax on the downtrodden workers, and is drunk on his new found power and standing. His wife (Vacarro) has always carried a torch for Diego since the three were children together. Diego, however, only has eyes for the crusading Charlotte Taylor Wilson (Hutton), who wants the peasants to rise up against Esteban's cruelty and unfair taxation. So Diego decides to embrace his late father's legacy and become the legendary masked hero, Zorro.
So far so good, right. Sounds suitably swashbuckling, yeah?
Well, the film is a total farce, and a very funny one at that. Diego is basically an egotistical idiot. On his first night as Zorro, he falls from a window and breaks his foot. He's forced to give his crime-fighting duties over to his twin brother, Ramón, a flamboyant, out and proud gay man who now goes by the name Bunny Wigglesworth. As the new Zorro, Bunny fights with a whip rather than a sword, and abandons the all black color scheme of Zorro for color coordinated, fashion forward outfits.
Can the brothers stop the corrupt alcalde? Will Diego win the heart of the woman he loves?
I'm not going to go much more into the film other than to say it's hilarious. George Hamilton's performance, whether it's as Diego or Bunny, is very funny, he carries playing two very distinct characters well, and he has great comedy timing in his scenes with Ron Leibman, especially. Brenda Vaccaro is fun as Esteban's shrill, nagging wife, and she works well with everyone. Admittedly, Lauren Hutton mostly is there to look pretty and be the serious character in the midst of the farce. But she does that well.
Okay, I have to say this, even though I don't think it matters. This film is not very PC. In our current overly sensitive era, this will probably raise some eyebrows. The very Caucasian George Hamilton's outrageous Spanish accent, and his limp-wristed, effeminate mannerisms as Bunny (who spends part of the film in drag, not to mention he's named Bunny) might be off-putting to some, but the film isn't mocking Bunny. He's the real hero of the story. He's way more competent and smarter than his heterosexual sibling, he's a much better Zorro, and he's actually really noble and resourceful. Yes, the film does use terms like fruitcake and sissy boy, but Esteban is the only one who says them, and he's the bad guy.
Zorro, The Gay Blade is a fantastic film, and I highly recommend it, especially to people who enjoy films like Blazing Saddles, which this would make a good double feature with. Both examine prejudices and hold a mocking mirror up to them.
(I'm not going to assign a rating to any of these films. If I'm writing about them, I obviously like them...)
George Hamilton plays Don Diego de la Vega, a womanizing playboy in 1840's California. He's summoned home by his father, but when he arrives, he finds that his father has died in a riding accident, and his childhood friend, Esteban (Leibman) has become the acting alcalde (or magistrate) in his stead. Esteban immediately raises the tax on the downtrodden workers, and is drunk on his new found power and standing. His wife (Vacarro) has always carried a torch for Diego since the three were children together. Diego, however, only has eyes for the crusading Charlotte Taylor Wilson (Hutton), who wants the peasants to rise up against Esteban's cruelty and unfair taxation. So Diego decides to embrace his late father's legacy and become the legendary masked hero, Zorro.
So far so good, right. Sounds suitably swashbuckling, yeah?
Well, the film is a total farce, and a very funny one at that. Diego is basically an egotistical idiot. On his first night as Zorro, he falls from a window and breaks his foot. He's forced to give his crime-fighting duties over to his twin brother, Ramón, a flamboyant, out and proud gay man who now goes by the name Bunny Wigglesworth. As the new Zorro, Bunny fights with a whip rather than a sword, and abandons the all black color scheme of Zorro for color coordinated, fashion forward outfits.
Can the brothers stop the corrupt alcalde? Will Diego win the heart of the woman he loves?
I'm not going to go much more into the film other than to say it's hilarious. George Hamilton's performance, whether it's as Diego or Bunny, is very funny, he carries playing two very distinct characters well, and he has great comedy timing in his scenes with Ron Leibman, especially. Brenda Vaccaro is fun as Esteban's shrill, nagging wife, and she works well with everyone. Admittedly, Lauren Hutton mostly is there to look pretty and be the serious character in the midst of the farce. But she does that well.
Okay, I have to say this, even though I don't think it matters. This film is not very PC. In our current overly sensitive era, this will probably raise some eyebrows. The very Caucasian George Hamilton's outrageous Spanish accent, and his limp-wristed, effeminate mannerisms as Bunny (who spends part of the film in drag, not to mention he's named Bunny) might be off-putting to some, but the film isn't mocking Bunny. He's the real hero of the story. He's way more competent and smarter than his heterosexual sibling, he's a much better Zorro, and he's actually really noble and resourceful. Yes, the film does use terms like fruitcake and sissy boy, but Esteban is the only one who says them, and he's the bad guy.
Zorro, The Gay Blade is a fantastic film, and I highly recommend it, especially to people who enjoy films like Blazing Saddles, which this would make a good double feature with. Both examine prejudices and hold a mocking mirror up to them.
(I'm not going to assign a rating to any of these films. If I'm writing about them, I obviously like them...)
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