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In its various screen incarnations since Douglas Fairbanks first leapt
into the role in 1920, the story of Zorro ("the fox", in Spanish)
combines two strains of the righter of wrongs: the Robin Hood-type of
outlaw who defends the oppressed common folk, and the Scarlet Pimpernel
aristocratic model who must lead a double life, posing as fop and dandy
to conceal his deadly skill with the blade.
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The Scarlet Pimpernel model was the inspiration for the adventures of
the gorgeously-costumed Tony Curtis, taking on Napoleon in The Purple
Mask (Bruce Humberstone, 1955). The team of Norman Panama
and Melvin Frank drew on both Robin Hood and the Scarlet Pimpernel to
create The Court Jester (1956); Hawkins (Danny Kaye), a
member of the outlaw band led by "The Black Fox", multiplies his
identities by taking the place of the jester Giacomo (acquiring
Giacomo's savoir-faire and skill as a fearless swordsman under
hypnotism), in order to restore the rightful heir to the throne.
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When Zorro was given the comedy treatment in Zorro, the Gay Blade
(Peter Medak, 1981), Zorro's double life was facilitated by
input from Anthony Hope's story of The Prisoner of Zenda.
After an athletic leap leaves the straight Don Diego/Zorro
(George Hamilton) with a broken leg, his gay
twin Bunny Wigglesworth takes his place, providing opportunities for
Hamilton to crack a whip in satin pants, flower-
and braid-trimmed hats, etc.
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Bill Yenne's interesting account of the genesis of the Zorro story in
the 1991 Bison book The Legend of Zorro has Douglas
Fairbanks picking up a pulp magazine during his European honeymoon with
Mary Pickford in 1920, the year after they founded United Artists with
Charles Chaplin and D. W. Griffith. The magazine, All Story Weekly,
included the story "The Curse of Capistrano", by ex-police
reporter Johnston McCulley. Yenne's view is that McCulley's hero, Don
Diego de la Vega, wealthy dilettante by day and masked avenger of the
downtrodden poor by night, may have combined "a dose of the Scarlet
Pimpernel" with the legends of three figures in Californian history: the
rebel José Maria Avila, the outlaw Joaquin
Murieta, and the highwayman Salomon Maria Simeon Pico.
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The scriptwriters of The Mask of Zorro adapt the name of
the most notorious Mexican outlaw to make Joaquin Murrieta the
brother of Alejandro (Antonio Banderas), and have both as grubby urchins
witnessing Don Diego de la Vega, as Zorro (Anthony Hopkins), upset an
execution ordered by bad Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson). Bad Don
tracks down good Don Diego, Doña de la Vega is killed; bad Don seizes
the baby Elena, torches the hacienda, and orders good Don to rot in
jail.
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Twenty years later, the escapee Don Diego sees potential in grubby hood
Alejandro (drunkenly mourning the death of his brother), and takes the
grimy bandito to his secret cave, to groom him to take on the mantle and
mask of Zorro for the vengeance both seek. Meanwhile, Don Rafael
arrives back on the scene with his "daughter", Elena (Catherine
Zeta-Jones), with plans to take over California, financed by gold from
an Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom-type mine worked by peasant slaves.
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Since fiction means that the good end happily and the bad unhappily, the
interval until that necessary conclusion is jam-packed with plenty of
action, mounted by stunt co-ordinator and second unit director Glenn
Randall Jr., and realised by 35 stunt performers. My favourite was a
terrific Roman riding stunt involving a tree branch.
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There's not a trace of Scarlet Pimpernel in this latest Zorro -- the
script leaves no room for the heat-seeking hetero Banderas to discuss
textiles with the womenfolk or spout verse --, and when Don Diego makes
a gentleman of his guttersnipe, Alejandro's dress goes upmarket in
quality style, with no remnant of the braid-encrusted caballero of
earlier times.
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Fans of character acting and students of Mexican history get a double
bonus in the performance of L.Q. Jones, playing the character
"Three-Fingered Jack". Bill Yenne's Zorro book records that when the
alleged head of bandito Joaquin Murieta was exhibited following his 1853
demise, the display also featured the hand of a robber and murderer
called "Three Fingered Jack".
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Details
The Mask of Zorro, by TriStar Pictures, 1998.
Director: Martin Campbell.
Screenplay: John Eskow, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio.
Cinematography: Phil Meheux.
Production Design: Cecilia Monteil.
Costume Design: Graciella Mazón.
Cast: Antonion Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stuart Wilson.
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Citation reference for this article
MLA style:
Shane Lewis. "ZZ Top Stunts: 'The Mask of Zorro'." M/C Reviews 23 Aug. 1998.
[your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/zorro.html>.
Chicago style:
Shane Lewis, "ZZ Top Stunts: 'The Mask of Zorro'," M/C Reviews 23 Aug. 1998,
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/zorro.html> ([your date of access]).
APA style:
Shane Lewis. (1998) ZZ top stunts: 'The Mask of Zorro'. M/C Reviews 23 Aug. 1998.
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/zorro.html> ([your date of access]).
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![[image]](http://www.spe.sony.com/movies/zorro/images/ant0.jpg)