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El Cid

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Italy, United States · 1961
3h 2m
Director Anthony Mann
Starring Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Raf Vallone, Geneviève Page
Genre Action, Drama, History, Romance, War

Epic film of the legendary Spanish hero, Rodrigo Diaz ("El Cid" to his followers), who, without compromising his strict sense of honour, still succeeds in taking the initiative and driving the Moors from Spain.

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What are critics saying?

75

Slant Magazine by

There’s no denying El Cid‘s lucid grandeur as it reaches its famous climax, a simultaneously triumphant and tragic portrait of the warrior as corpse that, like the best of Mann’s work, never neglects the human toll of heroism.

90

The New York Times by Bosley Crowther

It is hard to remember a picture in which the sheer pictorial punch was greater than it is in this three-hour exhibition of kings and warriors in medieval Spain.

60

Empire by Ian Nathan

One of Heston's best work, this shows our lead at his most macho and heroic, inspiring a whole army while also managing to woo the stunning Loren in this romantic war epic.

75

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

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.

58

The A.V. Club by Keith Phipps

It's tough to dismiss a film that succeeds so well at producing spectacle, and it's hard to miss the contemporary parallels in its simple, tortuously protracted story.

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