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 |
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Quotes from
Ben Yussuf:
The Prophet has commanded us to rule the world. Where in all your land of Spain is the glory of Allah? When men speak of you they speak of poets, musicmakers, doctors, scientists. Where are your warriors? You dare to call youselves sons of the Prophet? You have become women! Burn your books! Make warriors of your poets! Let you doctors invent new poisons for our arrows. Let you scientists invent new war machines! And then, kill! Burn! Infidels live on your frontiers. Encourage them to kill each other. And when they are weak and torn, I will sweep up from Africa, and the empire of the One God, the true God, Allah, will spread, first across Spain, then across Europe, then the whole world!
El Cid: People of Valencia! I bring you bread!
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.
read more quotes from El Cid...
El Cid: People of Valencia! I bring you bread!
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.
read more quotes from El Cid...
Facts about
El Cid's sword "Tizona" can still be seen in the Army Museum (Museo Del Ejército) in Madrid. Soon after his death, it became one of the most precious possessions of the Castilian royal family. And in 1999, a small sample of the blade underwent metallurgical analysis which partially confirmed that it was made in Moorish Cordoba in the eleventh century, although the report does not specify whether the larger-scale composition of the blade identifies it as Damascus steel. In 2006 "El Museo Del Ejércitp" (The Army Museum) was moving from Madrid to Toledo and apparently the sword was not available to be seen in public. El Cid also had a sword called Colada.
One well-known legend about the Cid describes how he acquired his famous war-horse, the white stallion Babieca (Bavieca). According to this story, Rodrigo's godfather, Pedro El Grande, was a monk at a Carthusian monastery. Pedro's coming-of-age gift to El Cid was his pick of a horse from an Andalusian herd. El Cid picked a horse that his godfather thought was a weak, poor choice, causing the monk to exclaim "Babieca!" (stupid!) Hence, it became the name of El Cid's horse.
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.
read more facts about El Cid...
One well-known legend about the Cid describes how he acquired his famous war-horse, the white stallion Babieca (Bavieca). According to this story, Rodrigo's godfather, Pedro El Grande, was a monk at a Carthusian monastery. Pedro's coming-of-age gift to El Cid was his pick of a horse from an Andalusian herd. El Cid picked a horse that his godfather thought was a weak, poor choice, causing the monk to exclaim "Babieca!" (stupid!) Hence, it became the name of El Cid's horse.
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.
read more facts about El Cid...
