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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| El Cid: Spanish history enjoys a right royal revamp | El Cid: Spanish history enjoys a right royal revamp |
| (3 months later) | |
| El Cid (1961) Director: Anthony Mann Entertainment grade: A History grade: D | El Cid (1961) Director: Anthony Mann Entertainment grade: A History grade: D |
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| Rodrigo Díaz was an 11th-century nobleman from Vivar in Castile. He is better known as El Cid, from the Arabic sidi or sayyid, meaning "the Lord". | Rodrigo Díaz was an 11th-century nobleman from Vivar in Castile. He is better known as El Cid, from the Arabic sidi or sayyid, meaning "the Lord". |
| War | War |
| In 1080, when this film begins, the territory that is now Spain and Portugal was split between Christian and Muslim kingdoms. Emir Ben Yussuf (Herbert Lom) rouses the Muslim princes of the southern part, known as al-Andalus, to conquer the Christian north, some of which is known as León-Castile. The film's Ben Yussuf is the historical Yusuf ibn Tashufin, commander of the Almoravid Empire. | In 1080, when this film begins, the territory that is now Spain and Portugal was split between Christian and Muslim kingdoms. Emir Ben Yussuf (Herbert Lom) rouses the Muslim princes of the southern part, known as al-Andalus, to conquer the Christian north, some of which is known as León-Castile. The film's Ben Yussuf is the historical Yusuf ibn Tashufin, commander of the Almoravid Empire. |
| At his summons, Emir Yusuf al-Mutamin of Zaragoza (Douglas Wilmer) has a go at conquering part of León-Castile, but is captured by Rodrigo Díaz (Charlton Heston). When Díaz offers him freedom rather than death, al-Mutamin honours him with the name El Cid. According to the historical sources, al-Mutamin was not attempting to conquer León-Castile. His war was with his own brother and rival emir, Mundhir. Díaz and al-Mutamin are said to have become close when the former joined the latter's army as a mercenary in the early 1080s. | At his summons, Emir Yusuf al-Mutamin of Zaragoza (Douglas Wilmer) has a go at conquering part of León-Castile, but is captured by Rodrigo Díaz (Charlton Heston). When Díaz offers him freedom rather than death, al-Mutamin honours him with the name El Cid. According to the historical sources, al-Mutamin was not attempting to conquer León-Castile. His war was with his own brother and rival emir, Mundhir. Díaz and al-Mutamin are said to have become close when the former joined the latter's army as a mercenary in the early 1080s. |
| Love | Love |
| Díaz's girlfriend, Jimena (Sophia Loren), is upset with him for killing her father. When he fights an Aragonese knight in an astonishingly good jousting scene (which took El Cid's enormous cast and crew five weeks to film), Jimena gives her colours to his rival. The bubbling hatred between Díaz and Jimena on screen is the stuff of historical fantasy, but it was real enough on set. At the beginning of filming, Heston found out that Loren was earning a $1m paycheque – substantially larger than his. He was so angry that he refused even to look at her in most of their scenes. This soon becomes amusing for the viewer. | Díaz's girlfriend, Jimena (Sophia Loren), is upset with him for killing her father. When he fights an Aragonese knight in an astonishingly good jousting scene (which took El Cid's enormous cast and crew five weeks to film), Jimena gives her colours to his rival. The bubbling hatred between Díaz and Jimena on screen is the stuff of historical fantasy, but it was real enough on set. At the beginning of filming, Heston found out that Loren was earning a $1m paycheque – substantially larger than his. He was so angry that he refused even to look at her in most of their scenes. This soon becomes amusing for the viewer. |
| Politics | Politics |
| King Ferdinand the Great of León-Castile dies, and divides his lands between his children Sancho, Alfonso and Urraca. This really happened 15 years earlier in 1065, but the film has bodged the timeline to heighten the tension. At the king's funeral, Sancho tries to kill Alfonso. Alfonso teams up with his sister Urraca, the two blond-haired siblings conspiring to reunite and rule the several kingdoms. They want gruff warrior Díaz on their side – but he won't do their bidding, for above all else he believes in honour. All Alfonso and Urraca would need to do is indulge in a spot of incest and we'd be in Game of Thrones, perhaps because medieval history is George RR Martin's source material. El Cid's version of the warring heirs has elements of accuracy, though in real life Ferdinand made it even more complicated by having five children, all of whom variously went into battle against each other, allied with Muslim princes, had affairs with runaway Muslim princesses, hatched world-domination conspiracies and assassinated each other. If a couple of dragons and some ice zombies turned up, they could hardly make the 11th century more dramatic than it really was. | King Ferdinand the Great of León-Castile dies, and divides his lands between his children Sancho, Alfonso and Urraca. This really happened 15 years earlier in 1065, but the film has bodged the timeline to heighten the tension. At the king's funeral, Sancho tries to kill Alfonso. Alfonso teams up with his sister Urraca, the two blond-haired siblings conspiring to reunite and rule the several kingdoms. They want gruff warrior Díaz on their side – but he won't do their bidding, for above all else he believes in honour. All Alfonso and Urraca would need to do is indulge in a spot of incest and we'd be in Game of Thrones, perhaps because medieval history is George RR Martin's source material. El Cid's version of the warring heirs has elements of accuracy, though in real life Ferdinand made it even more complicated by having five children, all of whom variously went into battle against each other, allied with Muslim princes, had affairs with runaway Muslim princesses, hatched world-domination conspiracies and assassinated each other. If a couple of dragons and some ice zombies turned up, they could hardly make the 11th century more dramatic than it really was. |
| More war | More war |
| Alfonso is defeated by Ben Yussuf at the battle of Sagrajas. Díaz saves the day for the Christians by taking Valencia – but Ben Yussuf turns his forces and besieges him there. The battle sequences along the beach to the castle of Valencia (represented on film by the 13th-century castle of Peñíscola) are some of the most spectacular in Hollywood history. Spain's military dictator Francisco Franco, who flattered himself that he might be compared to El Cid when this movie came out, loaned the film-makers 3,000 soldiers and 1,100 mounted police, plus their horses, to make up the 11th-century armies. | Alfonso is defeated by Ben Yussuf at the battle of Sagrajas. Díaz saves the day for the Christians by taking Valencia – but Ben Yussuf turns his forces and besieges him there. The battle sequences along the beach to the castle of Valencia (represented on film by the 13th-century castle of Peñíscola) are some of the most spectacular in Hollywood history. Spain's military dictator Francisco Franco, who flattered himself that he might be compared to El Cid when this movie came out, loaned the film-makers 3,000 soldiers and 1,100 mounted police, plus their horses, to make up the 11th-century armies. |
| Even more war | Even more war |
| The result was sublime cinema and awful history. Díaz did not, as in the film, take Valencia by giving bread to its people. According to the Historia Roderici, written probably around the middle of the 12th century, he ransacked surrounding villages, starved the city, "took it by assault", and seized all its riches. Díaz did not offer Valencia's crown to Alfonso, but ruled there himself. He did not die in agony from an arrow wound sustained in the defence of the city, but in 1099 during peacetime from an unknown cause. Also, Yusuf ibn Tashufin was not defeated. He led the Almoravids to victory at Valencia in 1102, when he was a sprightly 96 years old. | The result was sublime cinema and awful history. Díaz did not, as in the film, take Valencia by giving bread to its people. According to the Historia Roderici, written probably around the middle of the 12th century, he ransacked surrounding villages, starved the city, "took it by assault", and seized all its riches. Díaz did not offer Valencia's crown to Alfonso, but ruled there himself. He did not die in agony from an arrow wound sustained in the defence of the city, but in 1099 during peacetime from an unknown cause. Also, Yusuf ibn Tashufin was not defeated. He led the Almoravids to victory at Valencia in 1102, when he was a sprightly 96 years old. |
| Verdict | Verdict |
| It leaves the facts wounded and strewn haphazardly across the battlefield, but El Cid remains a flat-out terrific movie. | It leaves the facts wounded and strewn haphazardly across the battlefield, but El Cid remains a flat-out terrific movie. |
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