El Cid

1961

Action / Adventure / Biography / Drama / History / Romance / War

21
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 78% · 14 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 78% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 17017 17K

epic spain devoutness historical figure honor thoughtful

Plot summary

Epic film of the legendary Spanish hero, Rodrigo Diaz ("El Cid" to his followers), who, without compromising his strict sense of honour, still succeeds in taking the initiative and driving the Moors from Spain.

Director

Anthony Mann Photo
Anthony Mann

Top cast

Sophia Loren Photo
Sophia Loren as Jimena
Massimo Serato Photo
Massimo Serato as Fanez
Luis Fernández de Eribe Photo
Luis Fernández de Eribe as (uncredited)
Raf Vallone Photo
Raf Vallone as Count Ordóñez
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.57 GB
1280*544
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
3 hr 2 min
Seeds 7
3.02 GB
1920*816
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
3 hr 2 min
Seeds 26

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by hitchcockthelegend 8 / 10

" And the Cid rode thru the gate and into legend "

El Cid is the story of legendary Rodrigo Diaz who lifted his country with valour and integrity to drive the Moorish invaders from Spain.I think the best thing I can say about this film is that even though it's nearly three hours long, I never once look at the clock. It's a thoroughly engaging picture that boasts all the great hallmarks of a sweeping historical epic. The colour, the costumes, the scope, and the attention to detail from director Anthony Mann are first rate, and par for the course is the suitably rousing score from Miklos Rozsa. Big square jawed bronzed beefcake Charlton Heston takes the lead role as Diaz, and firmly cements himself as the go to guy for gargantuan epics. Support comes in the form of Sophia Loren, Genevieve Page, Raf Vallone, John Fraser (excellent), and Gary Raymond (also excellent).The story is an excellent one because Diaz was such a fine character from the annals of Spanish history, uniting the sulking Christian kings of Spain whilst simultaneously lifting the people of the streets off their knees and getting them to believe in the cause. However, it has to be said that this is far from the perfect historical epic movie, even allowing for the usual Hollywoodisation of facts, one can't quite get past the fact that El Cid comes across as a glamorised glory tale without any hindrances. Surely here in the 11th century El Cid's path would have been fraught and sodden with a great deal more death and destruction? There's a tameness where there should be serrated edges to the story and it takes away greatly from the film's end because the build up of Cid's heroism actually didn't contain a great deal of hard work - it was a stroll in the park so to speak.Still, it's a wonderful film that ticks all the boxes for genre staples, and as churlish as I may be as regards the assumptive nature of El Cid's story being told here, I'm still the first to start cheering and thumping my chest as the credits role, and not even Sophia Loren's pout can distract me from the bravado warmth washing over me. 8/10
Reviewed by carlosdev 7 / 10

A forgotten epic worth seeking out

Of dubious historical accuracy (many of the events depicted in the film were taken from the medieval poem "Ley of the Cid," most of which were not corroborated by court records of the time) but gorgeous to look at, Charlton Heston plays Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar (a.k.a. The Cid), the very embodiment of the chivalrous knight. On the way to his wedding to the tempestuous Chemene (played by the never-lovelier Sophia Loren), he captures two Moorish emirs who have been involved with the burning of a Spanish village. Rather than release them to the custody of King Ferdinand for hanging, he spares their lives and is accused of treason. When Rodrigo's father objects, the father of the bride besmirches the honor of the family, and Rodrigo is forced to fight the father of his love and reluctantly kill him. While she plots to gain revenge on her former fiancée, he becomes the King's champion and in the King's favor, demands and receives Chemene's hand in marriage. She can't bring herself to thoroughly hate him - talk about conflicted. Still, things go from bad to worse when Ferdinand dies and he divides his kingdom among his children Sancho, Alfonso and Urraca (in reality, Ferdinand had five children). When Sancho decides he wants all or nothing, he arrests Alfonso and sends him to prison, but El Cid rescues him, believing it morally wrong. As a result, civil war breaks out but before things get really awful, the devious Urraca arranges for Sancho to be assassinated. At Alfonso's coronation, a suspicious Rodrigo forces Alfonso to swear an oath that he had nothing to do with Sancho's death. Enraged, Alfonso takes the oath and then exiles El Cid, but the knight proves to be so popular among the people that an entire army is raised to follow him. When the evil Ben Yussuf (a nearly unrecognizable Herbert Lom) invades Spain, El Cid fights bravely to take Valencia despite Alfonso's tendency towards utter idiocy and it is from there that the knight literally rides into the stuff of legend.Gorgeously photographed in Spain and Italy with one of the most beautiful scores by Miklos Rosza, this is the kind of epic that has recently made a comeback thanks to CGI. No CGI here, however - there is literally a cast of thousands (and LOTS of horses) in medieval armor whacking away at one another. The story is at times convoluted and the dialog a little over the top, it is nonetheless truly enjoyable, a forgotten epic that in a kinder world would be considered up there with Lawrence of Arabia and Ben-Hur. It is difficult to find nowadays, and the rental copy I saw on DVD had a terrible soundtrack. Still, it is worth seeking out.Incidentally, on a personal note, I originally was interested in the movie because my family is descended from the great Spanish knight.
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