El Cid

Probably the greatest epic film ever made; more palpably arrives at immortalizing its protagonist than any other film in its genre (what an ending!). Loren and Heston give some of their greatest performances, Mann proves he's one of Hollywood's most underrated directors with El Cid's incredible staging and blocking. The morality/religious overtones that permeate the text are also frighteningly poignant now...

Hmm, Mann while trying to establish legendary status leans on religion too many times, uttering the word God/Allah. As a result El Cid succeeds to show how people disguises every personal benefit under false premises. Main coupling of the movie between Heston and Loren drags too much. To be honest I resorted to this movie for Loren's sake. She is depicted more beatiful than most of her homeland movies, but a character actress used as a ragdoll is such a waste. Extremely long.

A truly epic movie with big stars and sets. In fact it is so gigantic and slow-moving that in gets boring quite soon (soon is relative term, with a movie running for 3+ hours). Story is typical rise from foot soldier to godlike symbol of country, with power struggles in royal family and grand love subplot. With things so big subjectivity is lost. And yes, I am not a big fan of big movies.

Mann wastes his considerable talent with this unconvincing bunk. The pacing is fine (although sacrificing meaningful character arcs and motivations in its favor is questionable), I didn't even mind the length, but my main problem is the dialogue. Some genuine moments are ruined by some of the worst kind of forced sentimentality and bravado. The acting was alright, nothing special. Give me Spartacus over this any day.......geez, I'd even take Ben-Hur.

Exceptional epic deserves to stand with the best of the 50s/60s gargantuan cycle - Heston's charismatic and forceful performance far and away bests BEN-HUR, and Loren holds her own, though it is difficult to deny she is here primarily as eye candy! Sheer size and scope of the film is breath-taking, as are the plentiful fight scenes -- though an early intimate swordfight involving Heston threatens to steal the show. Great work by Lom as the sinister Ben Yussuf.

Similar to Cleopatra in that it's got phenomenal sets and costumes, but it's far too long and stilted. Heston is decent, Loren is beautiful, but they have absolutely no chemistry together.

Remember that Loren was hot (ldo) and that I liked it well enough.

# 906

Great epic scenes.

One of the greatest medieval epics ever.

Epic scenes with some beautiful shots filled with color. The acting was a little over dramatic, however it still held my interest for it's full 3 hours.

Ciiiiiiid

Passes the time.

epic, weak drama!

One of the best film scores of all time. But film is not good, especially first two sword fight choreographies. and final reminds me of Austin Powers & Rob Lowe gags. I liked Genevieve Page despite S.Loren close-ups. I'm tired seeing Heston, his water bottle and lepers. A Spain film without Spanish actors, a Hollywood classic. This film's not deserve Rozsa's beautiful score. Film: 2/5. Music: 7/5 (with 3 cd version!)