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Police chief Don Pedro (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) will do everything to expand
his power, so he pans to have his district joined with the neighbouring one
& take over control of both districts in the process, & he even has the
local Alcalde in his pocket thanks to some handy blackmailing. However, that
maksked man Zorro (George Ardisson) seems to stand in his way, in whichever
direction it may lead to, spoiling tax-collections, shooting squads & the
like ... Nobody seems to know though who Zorro might be under his mask (it is
of course mild mannered Don Diego), except for the local padre Eusebio, who's
on Zorro's side, & American reporter John Gardner, who has his suspicions
but keeps mum out of resoect for Zorro's ways & aims. Don Pedro however
figures that Zorro is a local aristocrat, so he sets Zorro a trap: he invites
all the noblemen to a party at his house while he has the money from the last
tax-collection sent out of town - unguarded. So either the man who fails to
show up at the party to hold up the money-transport is Zorro ... or, if the
transport is not held up, Zorro is among Pedro's guests ... But Diego/Zorro
sees of course through a plan as feeble as this & shows up at the party,
while sending a little timebomb with the money transport that will kill all the
(apparently hidden) guards of the money transport, so that padre Eusebio (in
Zorro's guise) can obtain the money easily. Of course, Don Pedro is
infuriated that his stupid plan didn't work, so he sets another trap for Zorro,
by letting his sergeant Gomez tell everyone the whereabouts of one improtant
document, that Zorro will just want to have, & then Pedro wants to shoot
Zorro ... which works up to a point, as Zorro has contemplated this move on
Pedro's behalf & worn steel-armour under his outfit, so comes out of the
shoot-out unwounded ... As this hasn't worked either, Pedro's methods grow
ever harsher, as now he imprisons all the aristocrats until they sign a
document that will ensure his power over his district & the next ... which
the aristorats have no intention to. But by some freak coincidence, Don
Pedro & his underling Gomez have forgotten to imprison Don Diego, who soon
breaks his fellow aristocrats free ... So there's only one thing left to do
(is there ?): if the aristocrats won't sign his document to save their own
lives, why not encarcerate their wives to force them ? But by now, Zorro
& his fellow aristocrats have organized a citizens' uprising, led by all
the aristocrats in Zorro-disguises, & at long last, they defeat their
opressors & Zorro fences down & kills Don Pedro. A stupid
little Western of course, shot less in the tradition of the more violent &
ruthless Spaghetti-Westerns but has to do more with the wonderful simplicity of
early 60's Italian peplums. As such, El Zorro is a totally forgettable
film, that is very entertaining in a childish sort of way though.
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