4.0 out of 5 stars
El Zorro - a neat south of the border slant, July 9, 2011
It's a testament to my mad love for El Zorro that I'll even watch a foreign Zorro film with no friggin' English sub-titles. LA GRAN AVENTURA DEL ZORRO (or "Zorro's Big Adventure") is the Mexican cinema's 1976 stab at Johnston McCulley's classic noble outlaw. And even though my Spanish-fu is pretty weak, I followed the story enough to enjoy it. Even though whenever Zorro speaks, there's this disconcerting echo chamber effect.
Some things are the same, some things have gotten swerved. In Old California, Don Diego de Vega (Rodolfo de Anda), in his guise as El Zorro, is still the fierce protector of El Pueblo de Los Angeles. Corruption still runs the joint. The peóns are still getting shafted by the local constabulary, mitigated only by Zorro's masked heroics. Except that, of late, Zorro's reputation has hit the skids. Some despicable hombre is masquerading as our hero, holding up stagecoaches, ruining Zorro's good name.
I never thought I'd see nunchuks in a Zorro movie. LA GRAN AVENTURA DEL ZORRO was probably capitalizing on the 1970s kung fu craze that Bruce Lee had launched. But an interesting twist is that Don Diego demonstrates knowledge of martial arts, thanks to his Asian manservant, with whom he habitually spars.
Rodolfo de Anda cuts a dashing figure, and his Don Diego is depicted as less languid than in other interpretations. While the sword play isn't that impressive, there are some nifty action sequences, maybe the most wild of which is that of Zorro on his horse plunging off a cliff and into the river below. Then there's your standard swinging off chandeliers and horse chases, with things coming to a head with two Zorros skirmishing on top of a moving stagecoach. That's plenty of black cloaks (with reversible purple sides) swishing about, as well as the letter "z" being carved all over the place by Zorro and his evil doppelganger.
Surprisingly, Zorro doesn't have a lovely señorita to woo. Helena Rojo is the female lead but her character is engaged to Don Diego's brother. Nefarious shenanigans keep cropping up in the de Vega household, with Helena Rojo seemingly left out of the loop and spending much of her time calling out from the other side of the door. But that seems apropos for her. Helena also missed out on nabbing the better catch of a brother.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
