Main Cast: Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Raf Vallone, Gary Raymond, Ralph Truman, John Fraser
Release Year: 1961
Country: US/ES/IT
Run Time: 184 minutes
Plot
When French playwright Pierre Corneille wrote El Cid, a fanciful version of the life of 11th-century Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, aka "El Cid", an attempt was made to honor the "classic unities" and to compress the whole story into a single day! Be assured that the 1961 film version of El Cid is more faithful to the actual chronology. Charlton Heston adds one more character to his gallery of historical portrayals as El Cid, the disgraced Spanish knight who rids his country of its Moorish conquerors. The triumphs of El Cid's military life are not matched by his private affairs; he is betrayed by his bride Chimene (Sophia Loren) and is made a political pawn by the avaricious Spanish landowners. El Cid has a climax unique in the annals of movie epics: the final assault against the landgrabbers is led by a dead hero. El Cid established the short but generally profitable reign of producer Samuel Bronston as the King of the Epics; his imprint on the film is much stronger than that of director Anthony Mann. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Charlton Heston's knack for wearing the mantle of larger-than-life characters serves him well in this 1961 Anthony Mann film of a noble Spanish warrior's campaign to unite his divided country against the threat of a Moorish invasion. Amid the pageantry of 11th century feudal Spain, Heston portrays the legendary Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known to history as El Cid Campeador, "the Lord Champion." Based on accounts of the Cid in El Cantar de Mio Cid circa 1200, the motion picture idealizes Rodrigo as a selfless knight committed to his cause even when his own wife, his king, and his people scorn him. Heston plays his role to the hilt, literally, as he wields sword, lance, and dagger against his enemies. The one flaw in his outwardly brilliant performance is his failure to plumb the inner turmoil of a man in conflict. Among the highlights of the film are a spectacular joust to the death over a disputed city and a seaside battle with flying arrows, shining scimitars, charging cavalry, and beating drums. The great Miklos Rosza provides an excellent music score, suggestive of the time and place, and cinematographer Robert Krasker captures the panorama of battle and the splendor of castles and countrysides. Sterling performances mark the film throughout. In particular, Herbert Lom is splendidly sinister as the invading Ben Yussef, and John Fraser and Gary Raymond are cat-claw sharp as quarreling siblings who aspire to the throne. Sophia Loren brings beauty and depth to her role as the Cid's wife, Chimene. Producer Samuel Bronston lent a liberal wallet to the making of this film, and he came up with a classic. Fans of the grand and glorious epics of the '50s and '60s should feel right at home with El Cid. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
Veniero Colasanti - Art Director, Jaime Prades - Associate Producer, Michael Waszynski - Associate Producer, John J. Moore - Costume Designer, Veniero Colasanti - Costume Designer, José Lopez Rodero - First Assistant Director, Anthony Mann - Director, Robert Lawrence - Editor, Miklos Rozsa - Composer (Music Score), Mario Van Riel - Makeup, John J. Moore - Production Designer, Veniero Colasanti - Production Designer, Robert Krasker - Cinematographer, Manuel Berenguer - Cinematographer, Leon Chooluck - Production Manager, Robert Haggiag - Producer, Anthony Mann - Producer, Samuel Bronston - Producer, John J. Moore - Set Designer, Veniero Colasanti - Set Designer, Alex C. Weldon - Special Effects, Jack Erickson - Special Effects, Yakima Canutt - Stunts, Philip Yordan - Screenwriter, Diego Fabbri - Screenwriter, Fredric M. Frank - Screenwriter
Rozsa and most listeners agree that El Cid, from the 1961 movie, was his last great score. Overall, it is a surprisingly lyrical and sensitive body of music for what was essentially an epic-scale action film -- much of the material has been most inventively derived from medieval Spanish and Arab sources, and while the recording has an unfortunate softness to modern ears, the playing is exceptionally polished and the 1962-vintage stereo separation still holds some surprises. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
The film was shot on location in Spain - including the castles of Belmonte (Cuenca) and Peñíscola (Castellón) - while a few studio scenes were shot in Rome purely to achieve the financial gains of co-production status.
Ramon Menendez Pidal, the foremost 20th Century Spanish authority on El Cid and the Spanish middle ages was the “historical adviser in the making of the film El Cid, and the overall interpretation of the hero as presented by Charlton Heston”. This is quoted from Chapter I of Richard Fletcher’s The Quest for El Cid. According to Fletcher, Pidal was “one of the foremost medievalists of modern times whose scholarship must always command respect.” Fletcher considers Pidal’s work on El Cid somewhat idealized and “eccentric”, but always maintains respect for Pidal.
In his famous novel Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie mentions the film as a Pakistani politician jokingly takes Fatima Jinnah (sister of Mohammed Ali Jinnah) to be already dead but stuffed to appearance by a taxidermist, just like a dead-man leading an army in El Cid.
The DVD release of El Cid made a list of "5 Things You Should Know About."[2]
This film is also a favorite of Martin Scorsese, who called it "one of the greatest epic films ever made."[3] Scorsese was one of major forces behind the recent restoration and re-release of El Cid, and the DVD includes a pamphlet with an introduction by him.
![El Cid [Chapter III]](http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/pop_albums/cov200/dre600/e628/e62883njonc.jpg)
