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Undescribable Perfection

It is a performances centric movie

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

1950 to 1970 was without doubt the best time to epic films, had The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus for example, and between them had El Cid, that even if you lower the 4 movies that I quoted, it is a good movie, the cast is good, especially the great Charlton Heston who in my opinion is the actor of the epic, he simply did Moses in the Ten Commandments, Judah Ben- Hur in Ben-Hur, and Rodrigo de Bivar in El Cid, and in this movie he makes a good performance, since Charlton Heston's just a good actor, the direction of Anthony Mann is good (I've always been interested in how it would be Spartacus if it had not been removed), the picture is beautiful the film beautiful moments, such as the scene El Cid the leper pro water in the desert, the action scenes are competent, and the script is also competent, even movie making historical errors (more Braveheart is full of errors, more it is nevertheless to be my favorite movie), El Cid is a good movie, not enough to be the best epic of all, more is a recommended film for the epic lovers. Note 7.6

Evidence that quantity does not mean quality. 180 minutes long, probably just so that it could earn the "epic" tag, this movie drags on an on, thanks to unnecessary side plots and details. Clearly not true to history - if El Cid and some of the other characters really acted in the way they did, and made the decisions they did, history would have been quite different. El Cid's adherence to certain (misplaced and misguided) honours and loyalties are laid on so thick, and stymie so many good ideas, that you start supporting his enemies.Plot-holes and random pointless twists abound.The acting is incredibly wooden, especially by Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren. The supporting cast aren't much better though.On the up side, the battle scenes are well done, cinematography is great and costumes look very authentic.

I love Chralton Heston's roles. He was the very essence of a masculine, clever, smart, superb actor who could perform almost every role he got his hands to. He was absolutely mesmerizing as Moses in Ten Commandments, he was good in many other movies. Here he is not bad, to be honest, the thing is he cannot save this plodding dud of a film from mediocrity that it slowly plunges to in a course of endless 3 hours. The plot seems to be very trite and smacks more of a Shazam Orient Fables than that of a real history. Another big (I mean it B/I/G) mistake was Sophia Loren as a main female part. She is a fish out of her element here completely. The poses, the looks, the smiles, the faked sufferings all betray lack of depth and lack of genuine feeling. She is not even that attractive to be cool just for her looks. To sum it up, this is a rather middle-of-the-road effort, with all the mistakes and prolonged scenes that add more to drag and help not to develop.

Historical epics were a popular genre in the fifties and early sixties, and the idea of basing one on Spanish history may have been prompted by the fact that many such films, although ostensibly set elsewhere, had actually been shot in Spain. "El Cid" is the story of the 11th century Castilian knight Don Rodrigo Díaz de Bivar, known as El Cid from the Arabic word for "Lord". It does, however, take some liberties with history, and some details are taken from two literary sources, the Spanish epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid" and Pierre Corneille's play "Le Cid". An example of Corneille's influence is the fact that the hero's wife Ximena (Jimena in modern spelling) is referred to throughout by the French form "Chimene".The plot is a complex one, involving several intertwined sub-plots. The first deals with Rodrigo's courtship of, and eventual marriage to, the lovely Chimene, a courtship made more difficult by the fact that he has been forced to fight a duel with, and to kill, her father in defence of his family honour. The second deals with Rodrigo's equally difficult relationship with his Royal masters, the Kings Ferdinand I, Sancho II and Alfonso VI of Castile. He remains loyal to the Crown even in the face of severe provocation, particularly from Alfonso who in this version of history is portrayed as a weak, treacherous and cowardly individual who seizes the crown by conniving at the murder of his elder brother Sancho. (Alfonso is known in Spain as "Alfonso the Valiant", which might suggest that the film's version of history is not the universally accepted one).The film's third theme is El Cid's defence of Spain against invasion by the Moorish Almoravid dynasty from North Africa. In this endeavour he has some unlikely allies, namely Spain's own Moorish rulers, who have as much to lose from the invasion as their Christian neighbours. This idea of Christians and Muslims fighting together against a common foe might seem like a romanticised one deriving from twentieth-century notions of political correctness, but in fact it is historically accurate, as the Almoravids did indeed invade Spain with the avowed aim of overthrowing the Emirs of Al-Andalus, whom they accused of following a heterodox form of Islam. Rodrigo is presented in the film as an apostle of religious toleration; his duel with Chimene's father arises after he spares the life of two Muslim Emirs in defiance of a Royal command that all captured Moors are to be slaughtered.More than any other actor, Charlton Heston has become identified with the epic style of film-making. It was a genre in which he excelled; he starred in three of what I regard as the four greatest epics ever made ("The Ten Commandments", "Ben-Hur" and "El Cid", with the fourth being Kubrick's "Spartacus", starring Kirk Douglas). Here he gives one of his finest performances. The script shows Rodrigo as a noble, idealised figure- courageous, loyal, generous to his friends, steadfast in love- yet as portrayed by Heston he remains a warm, living, breathing and recognisably human figure, unlike some idealised characters who resemble nothing so much as a cold, impossibly perfect white marble statue. The other outstanding performance, a chilling mixture of treachery and seductiveness, comes from the French actress Geneviève Page as Doña Urraca, the sister of Sancho and Alfonso and Chimene's rival for Rodrigo's love.There are, admittedly, one or two flaws, mostly connected with the plot line. It is never, for instance, explained why Rodrigo should seek to rescue Alfonso from the imprisonment which seems a just punishment for a man who has attempted to kill his brother and usurp the throne. Chimene appears to remain the same age throughout, unlike her husband who ages visibly in the course of a storyline spanning more than thirty years. (According to one account, this was due to the vanity of Sophia Loren, who did not want to play an older woman, something which might also explain why Rodrigo's daughters Sol and Elvira only appear as young children, even though in the "Cantar de Mio Cid" they are adults and their marriages play an important part in the story).Those, however, are minor matters. Heston expressed the view that the film would have been a better one had it been directed by William Wyler rather than Anthony Mann. That question cannot be proved either way; both men were great directors, and the film we actually have is a fine one, able to stand comparison with Wyler's own "Ben-Hur". The film is one of the grandest and noblest of the epics; it is sumptuous in its recreation of the splendours of mediaeval courtly life, and there are plenty of exciting moments, especially in the battle scenes. It is, however, more than just mere spectacle. It has a humane and intelligent script, and a particularly moving conclusion. It is perhaps the greatest-ever film about the Age of Chivalry, beating all the various versions of the Arthurian Legend. 9/10