El Cid (1961) | |
| Director(s) | Anthony Mann |
| Producer(s) | Samuel Bronston, Jaime Prades (associate), Michal Waszynski (associate) |
| Top Genres | Action, Biographical, Drama, Epic, Historical, Romance |
| Top Topics | |
Featured Cast:
El Cid Overview:
El Cid (1961) was a Biographical - War Film directed by Anthony Mann and produced by Michal Waszynski, Samuel Bronston and Jaime Prades.
SYNOPSIS
This costume adventure follows the legendary exploits of the 11th-century Spanish knight-errant (Heston) as he battles the Moorish invaders while wooing back his wife (Loren) with his faith and bravery. This marks director Mann's brief excursion into widescreen historical epics after he distinguished himself with his Westerns. (He would begin work on Spartacus only to be replaced by Stanley Kubrick, then later follow these with The Fall of the Roman Empire). Restored under the supervision of Martin Scorsese, who also knows something about the intersection of spiritual inspiration and muscular action.
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
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Academy Awards 1961 --- Ceremony Number 34 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Art Direction | Art Direction: Veniero Colasanti, John Moore | Nominated |
| Best Music - Scoring | Miklos Rozsa | Nominated |
| Best Music - Song | Music by Miklos Rozsa; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster | Nominated |
El Cid BlogHub Articles:
Quotes from El Cid
El Cid: [looking at their Christian and Muslim troops camped together] How can anyone say this is wrong?
Moutamin: But they will. On both sides.
Jimena: Why did you come?
El Cid: I tried not to come. I tried, I told my love it had no right to live. But my love won't die...
Jimena: Kill it.
El Cid: You kill it! Tell me you don't love me.
Jimena: [long pause] I cannot. Not yet. But I will make myself worthy of you Rodrigo, I will learn to hate you.
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Facts about El Cid
According to people who were on the set during the production of El Cid (as interviewed for the extras section of the DVD) Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren hated each other while making this movie. Part of the reason could be that Loren was paid more than Heston ($1 million, the first time a woman had been paid that sum for acting in a single motion picture). As can be seen in the finished film, during many of the "love" scenes, Heston refused to look at Loren for more than a glance. The director tried take after take, imploring Heston to look into the eyes of the woman he loved, but Heston couldn't bring himself to do it. Regarding his deathbed scene, he later claimed that he was "looking into the future," rather than into the eyes of his wife.
El Cid did not die as depicted in the film. He died peacefully in 1099 while ruling his principality on the coast of Spain. His wife Jimena continued to rule after his death.
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