What a waste of my time!!!

Best movie ever!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Zorro: The fox so cunning and free! went the theme song. What a theme tune it was.This was a Saturday morning staple when I was a kid. It was in black and white but we did not care, it could be silly, the bad guys were inept, Zorro was as see through as Batman but this Mexican version of Robin Hood was great fun.Zorro is a great swordsman who fights for justice, stands up for the poor. His alter ego, the rich kid, Diego masquerades as 'the most inept swordsman in all of California.' who is jealous of Zorro. Of course, we the audience are in on the joke.

One of the most successful of Walt Disney's television shows was the famous Zorro series. Stepping successfully into the role that Douglas Fairbanks and Tyrone Power did on the big screen as did many others was Guy Williams, an actor who perfectly fitted the concept of the dandy by day and the demon fighter for right by night.It's a pity that Guy Williams was born as late as he did. Had he been born 20 years earlier this man could easily have established himself as every inch the swashbuckling star that Errol Flynn did. Or his predecessor in the Zorro role Tyrone Power with whom Williams appeared with in Mississippi Gambler. He had looks and presence and definitely the fencing skill for the job. Williams would have been some studio's leading swashbuckling star back in the day.Zorro only lasted two seasons on the air, hard to believe. I think that Walt Disney made a mistake in marketing the show. The first season was like a long serial. It concerned a secret plot to detach California from Spain and the conspiracy was led by a man known as 'The Eagle'. Before the first season ended Zorro was constantly gumming up the mysterious Eagle's plans. Then eventually we were introduced to the Eagle and he was played by Charles Korvin. The last show of the first season was an exciting battle, maybe the best Zorro show ever produced.Then the second season happened and Disney could really do nothing to top it. The show ran out of gas and Williams himself thought himself headed for big screen stardom. It got canceled.Still I remember it fondly from childhood. Williams only confidante was his mute servant Bernardo played by Gene Sheldon whom he had pretend to be deaf as well, the better to hear things he ought. Later on Williams's father George J. Lewis playing Don Alejandro Dela Vega learned of his son Diego's masquerade. Lewis was one of many actors who also played Zorro on the big screen.Williams had some real enemies to be sure, but he also had Henry Calvin as Sergeant Garcia. Calvin was a jolly klutz of a sergeant of the local Spanish troops in the small town of Los Angeles. Calvin had a running comedy act with his corporal Don Diamond as Corporal Reyes. The two were a riot together, Diamond performed the same function here as he did in F Troop as Crazy Cat to Frank DeKova's Chief Wild Eagle. Williams also used Sheldon to learn things and occasionally give disinformation to Calvin. Calvin and Sheldon were also a funny pair.Thursday night on WABC New York was time for Zorro and in that first year to see how he would foil the dastardly Eagle's plans for an independent California. Those were the days.

"Zorro" was a character created in the image of others of the 19th century who had worn a disguise, played a dual role, championed justice for people against those who would deprive them of it or rob them through excessive taxes and deny them justice under courts. Johnston McCulley's character returned home in 1820, after attending a university in Spain, to find the land being ruled by a tyrannical commandante. Instead of committing suicide through a premature rebellion, Don Diego instead masquerades as a foppish coward by day--like the Scarlet Pimpernel--and by night becomes El Zorro, the black-clad fox. He is no altruist; his purpose is to steal back what the tyrant's soldiers have stolen, to save those condemned falsely and to instill a spirit of revolution against their oppressor in his people. McCulley apparently liked the television version much better than the film that had starred Tyrone Power; I too prefer it to that film as author and actor, and to the later versions. Producer Norman Foster and Walt Disney labored to make the production, albeit an adventure series, a quality offering, much as the British "Robin Hood" of Hannah Weinstein became a classic for the same reasons. As Diego de la Vega, Guy Williams, actually Hispanic, was a charismatic, attractive and capable "B" leading man in the role of a lifetime; he had the capability of playing comedy as well as drama and was made to seem a superb fencer. Henry Calvin played the slow-witted but practical Sergeant Garcia, Gene Sheldon was his mute servant and helper Bernardo, who also played the banjo. George J. Lewis, also Hispanic, was attractive as Don Alejandro, Diego's father; the part of Captain Monastario was played with some power by Britt Lomond; many other semi-regulars populated the series including Don Diamond, Jan Arvan, Jolene Brand, Nestor Paiva, Romney Brent, John Litel, Vinton Hayworth, Eduard Franz and Eugenia Paul. Others often seen in the series included regular guests Suzanne Lloyd Charles Korvin, Carlos Romero, Jay Novello and Michael Pate. Directors for the series included Charles Lamont, Harmon Jones, William Witney, John Meredyth Lucas, Norman Foster, Lewis R. Foster, Hollingsworth Morse, Charles Barton and Robert Stevenson. Among sixteen writers who contributed to the series' several; formats were Gene L. Coon, Roy Edward Disney, Anthony Ellis, Jackson Gillis, Lewis R. Foster, Norman Foster and N. B. Stone, Jr. George Avil supplied good B/W cinematography; Production Designer was Marvin Aubrey Davis aided by Set Decoratos Hal Gausman and Emile Kuri; Chuck Keehne supplied the attractive period costumes. Fred Cavens performed the vital job of fencing master. The theme song became as famous as the series did. This same show might have been done as drama; but as an adventure with sincerity, emotional honesty and good production values, it would be hard to better. The series appeared only from 1957 to 1959.

Zorro created for itself a place in history not purely on the mass hysteria of a generation of 8 year old baby boomers, but it's a quality show. It was ahead of itself in many ways, for the 50s family show at least: casting an Armand Catalino in the title role (yeah, Guy Williams, though you probably didn't know it); having a tendency to be a squirmingly gory (the list is long); using oft time complicated plots (like the 20+ episode Eagle plot); and something that is still fascinating to watch till today, a unique glimpse of a different side of California- it's history. As a native San Diegan, I appreciate that, and having grown up watching the show on Disney channel (you're looking at a generation X-er) it's amazing to find that it still captivates you from episode to episode. There's depth and content in it and the swashbuckling swordfighting, debonair flash will keep anyone captivated for long enough. That's what made it what it is... plus that Z. Swish, swish, swish!