Zorro, The Gay Blade

By Marshall Fine

After having a surprise hit playing Dracula in Love at First Bite, George Hamilton seized the moment and spoofed another movie hero: Zorro. In fact, he plays two characters: the heroic Don Diego, who fights Spanish tyranny in Old California in his secret identity as Zorro, and Diego's long-absent brother, Bunny Wigglesworth, a man totally comfortable with his sexual identity and unafraid of accessorizing the Zorro outfit by rendering it in purple. When the swashbuckler is injured, he turns his sword over to the swishbuckler, who is just as good a swordsman, though a few shades less fiery. Some of the gay humor is heavy-handed, but Hamilton easily handles the comedy demands of the dual roles, and has strong support from Ron Leibman as the chief bad guy.

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