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Rating:  - Heston embodies a mythical figure of legendary proportions...
Aroused by a fanatical Moorish warlord, emir-king attack a Castilian village, where they are captured by Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar...
Vigorously brave and compassionate, the noble Rodrigo hates bloodshed and vows to see his country at peace, frees the prisoners on their solemn pledge never again to attack Castile...
For this act of courage and mercy, one of the Emirs, Moutamin, calls Rodrigo "El Cid," and pledges eternal friendship to the Cid of Vivar... And so, in freeing the Moors, Rodrigo, accidentally, stumbled onto a battle, not to his luscious bride, but to a battle that will change his whole life...
In the court of King Ferdinand, Rodrigo's act of clemency is misinterpreted, and he's accused of treason by his rival Don Ordonez for refusing to turn over to him the captures Moors...
Unfortunately, Rodrigo's aged father, Don Diego, is slapped by the Champion of the king, Count Gormaz, father of his beloved Chimene... Rodrigo begs Gormaz an apology; it is refused... A duel begins and the champion is badly wounded... Before he dies, however, he asks Chimene to avenge his death...
Chimene's wish is fulfilled when King Ramiro of Aragon challenges King Ferdinand for the possession of the city of Calahorra by the outcome of a single combat...El Cid convinces the king to permit him to fight Don Martin...Thus, according to the custom of trial by combat, God would judge Rodrigo's guilt or innocence...
"El Cid" is an intense film, lavish and spectacular, bigger than any in terms of cast and impressive as any in visual terms... Miklós Rózsa gave a new dimension to the emotion that Anthony Mann was trying to express...
Mann gives us a human story with a love story balanced with the most strongly image of a hero the world has ever seen... He presented a man of honor who thinks always of his wife, his country, and his king first... Even in death, his thoughts are for others and not himself...
El Cid insults kings and noblemen in the name of justice and integrity and does what he knows to be right... He battles the king's living sword in respect of his father... He accepts the challenge of a champion of a king to prove himself innocent of treason and other things... He shows a prince how any man can kill and only a king can give life... He fights 13 knights, at the same time, to free a prisoner... Yet he is in addition to all of this an extremely principled leader... He accepts exile for life from the country he loves, and yet he is the only man in Spain who 'could humble a king and would give a leper to drink from his own pouch...'
The joust sequence called "The fight for Calahorra," is perhaps the most rousing, exciting, one-to-one combat ever filmed... The battle scenes at Valencia are taken on an epic scale... But the value of Anthony Mann's movie is the characterization in which Charlton Heston played El Cid's life... For this reason alone, the film is of greater value than most any other motion picture experience...
Rating:  - The Cid
What a story, what a man the Cid was..... truth and legend well handled by Chuck Heston. Very emotional powerful story that can be seen again and again. Very interesting bonus features about the making of the film...
Rating: - Classic movie great!!
I enjoyed watching this movie again after many years. The transfer to DVD was excellent. Great quality picture and sound.
Rating: - Extremely Pleased
I have loved El Cid since I first saw it as a child. I had one copy of it in VHS and some one kept it. I have been trying to purchase it for many years but it was no longer in print. I was delighted to see it available from Amazon. It was shipped quickly, new, and Amazon was so easy to work with. I am extremely happy with my purchase and the process it took to get it. Thank you Amazon!
Rating: - One of the Three Greatest
A bona-fide spectacle. Director Anthony Mann, better known at the time for his well-regarded Westerns with James Stewart ('Winchester '73', 1950; 'The Naked Spur', 1952; 'Bend of the River', 1953; 'The Far Country', 1954), Henry Fonda ('The Tin Star', 1957) and Gary Cooper ('Man of the West', 1958), put his best foot forward in this 1961 telling of the unification of Spain in the XIth Century, with Charlton Heston (lost half of my audience right there) at his heroic best in the title role, with Sohia Loren as Ximene, at her most enticing. The factual elements may be glossed over - what historic movie doesn't? But, to paraphrase William Randolph Hearst: "...publish the legend," especially when it serves as good entertainment. Indeed not quite as masterful as director David Lean's two ('The Bridge on the River Kwai' and 'Lawrence of Arabia'), but Ridley Scott - whose 'Kingdom of Heaven' in the Director's edition merits consideration as a contender - and others can well aspire to a similar degree of accomplishment as this.
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