Great Movies

The two movies were not planned (or shot) as two movies. It was decided to divide what was originally one production into two halves and release them seperately in 1973 and 74. This created the threat of legal action from members of the cast and crew, all having been paid for only one production!
Recommendations? Lester's excellent version of the death of Robin Hood in the 1976 Robin And Marian. Ridley Scott's Napoleonic epic The Duellists from 1977. These two suggestions, like Lester's Musketeers movies, have excellent sword fights choreographed by William Hobbs and brilliant period production design.

The duke has given you some great recommendations jbm27. I just want to add another, lesser known, Richard Lester film which has the swashbuckling you are looking for. "Royal Flash" with Malcolm MacDowell and Alan Bates. Also "Crossed Swords" which is Richard Fleischer's version of 'The Prince and the Pauper' has some good stuff. Both are a little hard to find, but are worth it if you come accross them.

I'll make a good Gordon, Gordon!

I couldn't agree more. These movies were nothing short of superb and made me fall madly in love with Michael York. I don't know if you're aware of it, but Richard Lester filmed them originally as one movie but decided later to split it into two separate movies due to the length. Very wise, I thought. He was able to tell his story without sparing detail and without risking the waning audience sitting through a four hour movie.

If you want great Swashbucklers, you can go all the way back to Douglas Fairbanks. Here are some of my favorites:

Adventures of Robin Hood-great fights, especially the climactic duel.
Captain Blood-Flynn and Rathbone, [ure genius
The Sea Hawk-great fight at the end
The Mark of Zorro (1940)-Rathbone again, with Tyrone Power.
Prisoner of Zenda (1937)-Douglas Fairbanks Jr. vs Ronald Coleman.
Three Musketeers (1948)-decent duels
Crimson Pirate-loads of fun, early Christopher Lee role.
Scaramouche-amazing duel at the end.
Prisoner of Zenda (1950's)-decent update, carried by James Mason
At Swords Point-fun with Maureen O'Hara and Cornell Wilde
Swashbuckler (1970's)-Robert Shaw is great.
Duellists-Very good, but you have to pay attention to the early scenes.
Count of Monte Cristo (Chamberlain version)-fun, with good swordplay.
Man in the Iron Mask (Chamberlain version)-again fun, with good swordplay.
Zorro (Allan Delon)-rollicking fun, great duel atop a church tower
Mask of Zorro-nice modern updating.
Revenge of the Musketeers (French film)-Sophie Marceau and Phillipe Noiret are tremendous fun. Good brawls.
Fifth Musketeer (Beau Bridges and Ursula Andress)-decent swordwork, acting is uneven.
Princess Bride-Great duel between Inigo and Wesley. Hillarious, to boot!
Star Wars (pretty much a swashbuckler/western in space)
Conan the Barbarian (swashbuckler set in pre-history).

You can add various versions of the Count of Monte Cristo and the Scarlet Pimpernel, tv series like Zorro and the Sharpe series, the Hornblower series, etc...

They don't come any better than Lester's swashbuckler classics, but here are some other good choices.

*The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Dir: Curtiz & Keighley, starring Errol Flynn, Olivia De Haviland, Basil Rathbone, and Claude Rains.
Beautiful.
*Captain Blood (1936) - more or less the same team as TAO Robin Hood.
*The Flame and the Arrow (1950) . Dir: Jacques Tourneur, starring Burt Lancaster and Nick Cravatt.Great fun.
*The Crimson Pirate (1952)- Dir: Robert Siodmak, reuniting Lancaster and Cravatt, look ot for Christopher Lee.Even greater fun.
*Ivanhoe (1952) - Dir: Richard Thorpe, based on Sir Walter Scott's novel, starring Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine (sister of Olivia De Haviland), George Sanders, Guy Rolff, Felix Aylmer, and Finlay Currie. Excellent.
*Knights of the round table (1953) - Dir: Richard Thorpe, starring Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer, Felix Aylmer, Stanley Baker. (look out for Desmond Llewellyn aka Q).Best Arthurian movie to date.
*Quintin Durward (1955) - Dir: Richard Thorpe, based on the noel by Sir Walter Scott, Starring Robert Taylor and Robert Morley. Good, but not quite in the same league as it's two other "siblings" in the trillogy.
*The Prince and the pauper (1976) - Dir: Richard Fleischer,based on the novel by Mark Twain, starring Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch, Charlton Heston, George C. Scott, Ernest Borgnine, Rex Harrison, Harry Andrews, David Hemmings. Good.
*Swashbuckler (1977), Starring Robert Shaw, James Earl Jones, Peter Boyle, Genevieve Bujold, Beau Bridges (look out for Anjelica Huston).

Also take the cousin of the swashbuckling film, The Sword & Sandal genre into consideration:
*Quo Vadis (1950) - Dir: Mervyn Leroy, starring Robert Taylor, Peter Ustinov, Leo Genn, Deborah Kerr, Felix Aylmer, Finlay Currie. More of a Sword & Sandal film, but still, Excellent.
* Cleopatra (1963) - Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, roddy McDowall, Martin Landau. Over the top but brilliant.
* Rome - HBO mini-series. Well told, good cast, and Polly Walker is the sexiest woman ever (the young Shirley MacLaine was the sweetest, but Polly is the hottest).

Grand adventure epics:
Star Wars
Lord of the rings.

Tv-series:
Dick Turpin, Starring richard O' Sullivan.

They are indeed (or should be considered) up there with Errol Flynn's ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD and Tyrone Powers' MARK OF ZORRO as being some of the best examples of the swashbuckler genre.