El Cid (film)

In 1958, producer Samuel Bronston first considered filming El Cid prior to his work on King of Kings (1961), but the production proved to be so troublesome that it would be set aside until King of Kings reached completion.[3] In April 1960, Variety announced that Bronston was independently producing three films in Spain, one of which included El Cid. It was also reported that Bronston had purchased the rights to Fredric M. Frank's 140-page treatment for the film and had hired him the week before to prepare the script by July.[4] In July, Anthony Mann and Philip Yordan had signed on to direct and co-write the film respectively.[5]

However, principal photography was nearly delayed when Cesáreo González's Aspa Films filed an infringement claim against Bronston over the project's title and theme.[6] Previously, in July 1956, it was reported that two biopics of El Cid were in development: an American-Spanish co-production with Anthony Quinn set to star, and a collaboration between RKO, Milton Sperling, and Marvin Gosch.[7] By August 1960, Bronston reached a deal to have Aspa Films and Robert Haggiag's Dear Film involved in the production making the project an American-Italian-Spanish co-production.[6]

The first writer assigned was Fredric M. Frank. By their mid-November start date, Anthony Mann, Philip Yordan, and Charlton Heston had worked on the script in Madrid, with the first forty pages re-written by Yordan described by Heston as "an improvement over the first draft I'd read".[8] Two days prior to filming, Sophia Loren had read the latest draft in which she became displeased with her dialogue. She then recommended hiring blacklisted screenwriter Ben Barzman to revise the script. Mann subsequently flew out to get Barzman on a plane to Rome in which he gave him a draft, which Barzman found to be unusable.[9] With filming set to begin in a few days, Barzman received a copy of the tragicomedy play Le Cid by Pierre Corneille from the library of the French embassy in Madrid and used it as the basis for a new script. Barzman's screen credit would not be added to the film until 1999.[10][11][9]

However, Barzman's script lacked powerful romantic scenes, which again displeased Loren. Screenwriter Bernard Gordon then stated, "So [Philip] Yordan yanked me from what I was doing in Paris and said, 'Write me three or four love scenes for Loren and Heston.' Well, what the hell – he was paying me $1500 a week, which was a lot more than I made any other way, and I just took orders and I sat down and I wrote four scenes, about three or four pages each. Whatever love scenes there are in the picture I wrote. And they sent them to Loren and said, OK, she'll do the picture, so I was a little bit of a hero at that point."[12][13] Loren had also hired screenwriter Basilio Franchina to translate the dialogue into Italian and then back into simpler English that she felt comfortable with.[14] For script advice and historical truth, Spanish historian Ramón Menéndez Pidal served as the historical consultant to the screenwriters and the director of the film. The naturalist Felix Rodriguez de la Fuente also helped to use raptors and other birds.[15]

Filming near the Belmonte Castle in the province of Cuenca

Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren were Bronston's first choices for the two leads.[3] Writing in his autobiography, in the summer of 1960, Heston had received Frank's draft which he described as not "good, ranging from minimally OK to crappy", but he was intrigued with the role. He flew out to Madrid, Spain to meet with Bronston, Yordan, and Mann who all discussed the role with him.[16] On July 26, 1960, his casting was announced.[17] As he conducted research into his role, Heston read El Cantar de mio Cid and arranged a meeting with historian Ramón Menéndez Pidal in Madrid.[18][lower-alpha 1] Initially, Loren was unavailable to portray Ximena, and Jeanne Moreau was briefly considered as a replacement.[3] Another account states Ava Gardner was approached for the role, but she backed out feeling Heston's part was bigger than hers. Mann then suggested his wife Sara Montiel, but Heston and Bronston refused.[19] Ultimately, Loren became available but only for ten to twelve weeks,[3] in which she was paid $200,000; producer Samuel Bronston also agreed to pay $200 a week for her hairdresser.[20][21]

Orson Welles was initially approached to play Ben Yusuf, but he insisted a double do his on-set performance while he would dub in his lines during post-production. Bronston refused.[22] British actors were primarily sought for the other male roles,[22] for which most of the principal casting was completed by early November 1960.[23] That same month, on November 30, Hurd Hatfield had joined the cast.[24] At least four actresses screen-tested for the role for Doña Urraca. Geneviève Page won the part, and her casting was announced on December 16, 1960.[25]

The battle of Valencia was shot on location along the beaches of Peñíscola.

Principal photography began November 14, 1960 at Sevilla Studios in Madrid, Spain.[26] Filming was reported to spend at least four months of exterior shooting in Spain which would be followed by a final month of interior shooting at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome.[23]

Loren's scenes were shot first as her availability was initially for twelve weeks. Shooting lasted for eight hours a day as the production employed French hours.[27] By January 1961, her part was considerably expanded in response to the early dailies.[1] Simultaneously, second-unit filming for the battle sequences were directed by Yakima Canutt. As filming had progressed, by December 1960, location shooting for action sequences were shot along the Guadarrama Pass. Specifically for the film's second half, Heston suggested growing a gray-flecked beard and wearing a facial scar to showcase Don Rodrigo's battle scarring within the ten-year gap.[28]

With the film's first half nearly complete, shooting for the battle of Valencia was filmed on location in Peñíscola as the actual city had become modernized.[29] For three months, hundreds of production design personnel constructed city walls to block off modern buildings. 1,700 trained infantrymen were leased from the Spanish Army as well as 500 mounted riders from Madrid's Municipal Honor Guard.[30] 15 war machines and siege towers were constructed from historical artwork, and 35 boats were decorated with battlements to serve as the Moorish fleet.[31] Tensions between Mann and Canutt rose as Mann sought to shoot the sequence himself. With the sequence nearly finished, Canutt spent three days filming pick-up shots which would be edited within the longer, master shots that Mann had earlier shot.[32] In his autobiography, Heston expressed his dissatisfaction with Mann's insistence on shooting the battle scenes himself, feeling Canutt was more competent and efficient.[33]

In April 1961, the last sequence to be shot for the film—the duel for Calahorra—was filmed near the Belmonte Castle. The scene was directed by Canutt. Prior to filming, Heston and British actor Christopher Rhodes trained for a month in the use in weaponry under stunt coordinator Enzo Musumeci Greco. The fight took five days to shoot, totaling 31 hours of combat before editing. 70,000 feet of film was shot for the sequence, which was ultimately edited down to 1,080 feet remaining in the film.[34]

Costume designers Veniero Colasanti and John Moore oversaw a staff of 400 wardrobe seamstresses which spent roughly $500,000 on manufacturing medieval-style clothing at a local supply company, Casa Cornejo, near Madrid. The most expensive costume piece was a black-and-gold velvet robe worn by King Alfonso VI during the film, which was tailored in Florence, Italy from materials specially woven in Venice. In total, over 2,000 costumes were used for the film.[1][35] For the weaponry, Samuel Bronston Productions sought several local Spanish companies. Casa Cornejo provided 3,000 war helmets and hundreds of iron-studded leather jerkins. The Garrido Brothers factory, located in Toledo, Spain, worked under an exclusive contract for eight months producing 7,000 swords, scimitars, and lances. Anthony Luna, a Madrid prop manufacturer, crafted 40,000 arrows, 5,780 shields, 1,253 medieval harnesses, 800 maces and daggers, 650 suits of chain mail (woven from hemp and coated with a metal varnish), and 500 saddles.[35][1]

The film was released on January 29, 2008 as a deluxe edition and a collector's edition DVD. Both DVDs included bonus materials including archival cast interviews, as well as 1961 promotional radio interviews with Loren and Heston; an audio commentary from Bill Bronston (son of Samuel Bronston) and historian-author Neal M. Rosendorf; a documentary on the importance of film preservation and restoration; biographical featurettes on Samuel Bronston, Anthony Mann, and Miklos Rozsa; and a "making of" documentary, "Hollywood Conquers Spain." The collector's edition DVD also included a reproduction of the premiere's souvenir program and a comic book, as well as six color production stills.[40]

The film grossed $26.6 million in the United States and Canada and returned $12 million in rentals (the distributor's share of the box office gross).[2][41]

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote "it is hard to remember a picture--not excluding Henry V, Ivanhoe, Helen of Troy and, naturally, Ben-Hur--in which scenery and regal rites and warfare have been so magnificently assembled and photographed as they are in this dazzler . . . The pure graphic structure of the pictures, the imposing arrangement of the scenes, the dynamic flow of the action against strong backgrounds, all photographed with the 70mm color camera and projected on the Super-Technirama screen, give a grandeur and eloquence to this production that are worth seeing for themselves".[42] Variety praised the film as "a fast-action color-rich, corpse-strewn, battle picture...The Spanish scenery is magnificent, the costumes are vivid, the chain mail and Toledo steel gear impressive."[43] Time felt that "Surprisingly, the picture is good—maybe not as good as Ben-Hur, but anyway better than any spectacle since Spartacus." They also noted that "Bronston's epic has its embarrassments. El Cid himself, too, crudely contemporarized seems less the scourge of the heathen than a champion of civil rights. And there are moments when Hero Heston looks as though he needs a derrick to help him with that broadsword. Nevertheless, Anthony Mann has managed his immense material with firmness, elegance, and a sure sense of burly epic rhythm."[44]

Harrison's Reports praised the performances from Heston and Loren and summarized the film as "raw and strong, brooding and challenging, romantic and powerfully dramatic. It is motion picture entertainment ascending new heights of pomp, pageantry, panoply."[45] Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times opened his review writing, "El Cid brings back the excitement of movie-making; it may even bring back the excitement of movie-going. It's as big as Ben-Hur if not bigger. If it had put a few more connectives in the narrative, if it had not thrown in an excess of everything else in three hours running time, it might have been great."[46] Newsweek described the film as being "crammed with jousts and battles, and its sound track is reminiscent of Idlewild airport on a busy day, but the dramatics in it explode with all the force of a panful of popcorn." The reviewer also derided Mann's direction as "slow, stately, and confused, while Miss Loren and Heston spend most of the picture simply glaring at each other."[47]

Sophia Loren had a major issue with Bronston's promotion of the film, an issue important enough to her that Loren sued him for breach of contract in New York Supreme Court. As Time described it:[20]

On a 600-sq.-ft. billboard facing south over Manhattan's Times Square, Sophia Loren's name appears in illuminated letters that could be read from an incoming liner, but—Mamma mia!—that name is below Charlton Heston's. In the language of the complaint: "If the defendants are permitted to place deponent's name below that of Charlton Heston, then it will appear that deponent's status is considered to be inferior to that of Charlton Heston… It is impossible to determine or even to estimate the extent of the damages which the plaintiff will suffer".

During its 1993 re-release, Martin Scorsese praised El Cid as "one of the greatest epic films ever made". James Berardinelli of Reel Views gave the film three stars out of four. In his review, he felt that "El Cid turns more often to the ridiculous than the sublime. Perhaps if the movie didn't take itself so seriously, there wouldn't be opportunities for unintentional laughter, but, from the bombastic dialogue to the stentorian score, El Cid is about as self-important as a motion picture can be. Regardless, there are still moments of breathtaking, almost transcendant splendor, when the film makers attain the grand aspirations they strive for.[48] Richard Christiansen for the Chicago Tribune gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four. He commented that "...watching the movie today is something of a chore. Much of its celebration of heroic romanticism seems either sillily inflated or crudely flat in this non-heroic age" and felt Heston and Loren lacked romantic chemistry.[49]

Richard Corliss, reviewing for Time, wrote that "Like the best action films, El Cid is both turbulent and intelligent, with characters who analyze their passions as they eloquently articulate them. The Court scenes, in particular, have the complex intrigue, if not quite the poetry, of a Shakespearean history play. This richness is especially evident in the film's love story."[50] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 12 reviews with an average rating of 6.71/10.[51]