Clad in a cape and domino mask, DeMarco undergoes psychiatric treatment with Marlon Brando's character, Dr. Jack Mickler, to cure him of his apparent delusion.

John Arnold DeMarco is a 21-year-old man who dresses like Zorro, with a similar mask, hat and cape, and claims to be Don Juan.

At the site of the billboard he plans to jump off of, psychiatrist Jack Mickler dissuades him by posing as Don Octavio de Flores.

As Mickler notices that John's presence at the institution is having an impact on the staff – both distracting the women and dancing with a male attendant on the lawn – he finds himself being influenced, and starts listening to opera in his house and rekindling the passion with his wife.

In response Mickler recounts the story of an insecure young man who fell in love with a woman in a magazine, who then contacted her and was told she never wanted to speak to him again.

John is released and accompanies Mickler, along with the doctor's wife, to the remote island that Don Juan has described where he met his true love.

Other notable appearances include Al Corley as the woman in the restaurant's date, Nick La Tour as the doorman Nicholas, and Bill Capizzi and Patricia Mauceri as characters in John's story, the sultan and Doña Querida.

The site's consensus was "Don Juan DeMarco proves that a slight story can translate to entertaining cinema if it's acted out by a pair of well-matched professionals enjoying their craft.

"[7] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 out of 4, and wrote "Brando doesn't so much walk through this movie as coast, in a gassy, self-indulgent performance no one else could have gotten away with.