El Cid is a 1961 epic historical drama film directed by Anthony Mann and produced by Samuel Bronston. The film is loosely based on the life of the 11th-century Castilian knight and warlord Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, called "El Cid" (from the Arabic as-Sayyed السّيّد, meaning "The Lord"). The film stars Charlton Heston in the title role and Sophia Loren as El Cid's wife Doña Jimena, spelled "Chimene" in the script and pronounced that way (shim-ain) in the film. The screenplay is credited to Fredric M. Frank, Philip Yordan and Ben Barzman, with uncredited contributions by Bernard Gordon.
During the late 1950s, Samuel Bronston had established his own production studio in Madrid, Spain. To strengthen cordial ties to the Spanish government ruled by Francisco Franco, Bronston began developing a biographical film of El Cid. During his reign, Franco had admired and compared himself to El Cid. In 1960, Bronston purchased Frederic M. Frank's script, and hired Anthony Mann to direct the film. Philip Yordan was later hired to rewrite the script, although Mann later recruited Ben Barzman to write the final screenplay. Before principal photography began, Bronston purchased the rights to a rival biographical film developed by Cesáreo González's Aspa Films, making the film an Italian co-production. On a $7 million budget, filming of El Cid began in September 1960 and concluded in April 1961.
El Cid premiered on December 6, 1961 at the Metropole Theatre in London, and was released on December 14 in the United States. The film received largely positive reviews praising the performances of Heston and Loren, the cinematography, and the musical score. It went on to gross $26.6 million during its initial theatrical run. It was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, and Best Original Song.
Plot
In 11th century General Ben Yusuf of the Almoravid dynasty has summoned all the emirs of Al-Andalus to North Africa. He chastises them for co-existing peacefully with their Christian neighbours, which goes against his dream of Islamic world domination. The emirs return to Spain with orders to resume hostilities with the Christians, while Ben Yusuf readies his army for a full-scale invasion.
Don Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, on the way to his wedding with Doña Chimene, rescues a Spanish town from an invading Moorish army. Two of the emirs, al-Mu'tamin of Zaragoza and al-Kadir of Valencia, are captured. More interested in peace than in wreaking vengeance, Rodrigo escorts his prisoners to Vivar and releases them on the condition that they never again attack lands belonging to King Ferdinand of Castile. The emirs proclaim him "El Cid" (Castilian Spanish for the Arabic for milord: "al-Sidi") and swear allegiance to him.
For his act of mercy, Don Rodrigo is accused of treason by Count Ordóñez. In court, the charge is supported by Chimene's father, Count Gormaz, the king's champion. Rodrigo's aged father, Don Diego, angrily calls Gormaz a liar. Gormaz strikes Don Diego, challenging him to a duel. At a private meeting, Rodrigo begs Gormaz to ask the aged but proud Diego for forgiveness (for accusing Rodrigo of treason). Gormaz refuses, so Rodrigo fights the duel on Diego’s behalf and kills his opponent. Chimene witnesses the death of Gormaz and swears to avenge him, renouncing her affection for Rodrigo.
When the King of Aragon demands the city of Calahorra from Castile, Rodrigo asks Ferdinand to choose him as his champion. He wins the city in single combat to the death. In his new capacity he is sent on a mission to collect tribute from Moorish vassals to the Castilian crown. He asks that Chimene be given to him as his wife upon his return, so that he can provide for her. Chimene promises Count Ordóñez she will marry him instead if he kills Rodrigo. Ordóñez lays an ambush for Rodrigo and his men but is captured by al-Mu'tamin, to whom Rodrigo had earlier showed mercy. Rodrigo forgives the count and returns home to marry Chimene. The marriage is not consummated: Rodrigo will not touch her if she does not give herself to him out of love. Chimene instead goes to a convent.
King Ferdinand dies. His younger son, Prince Alfonso, tells the elder son, Prince Sancho, that their father wanted his kingdom divided among his heirs: Castile to Sancho, Asturias and León to Alfonso, and Calahorra to their sister, Princess Urraca. Sancho refuses to accept anything but an undivided kingdom as his birthright. After Alfonso instigates a knife fight, Sancho overpowers his brother and sends him to be imprisoned in Zamora. Rodrigo, who swore to protect all the king’s children, single-handedly defeats Alfonso's guards and brings the prince to Calahorra. Sancho arrives to demand Alfonso, but Urraca refuses to hand him over. Rodrigo cannot take a side in the conflict because his oath was to serve them all equally.
Ben Yusuf arrives at Valencia, the fortified city guarding the beach where he plans to land his armada. To weaken his Spanish opponents he hires Dolfos, a warrior formerly trusted by Ferdinand, to assassinate Sancho and throw suspicion for the crime on Alfonso, who becomes the sole king. At Alfonso's coronation, El Cid has him swear upon the Bible that he had no part in the death of his brother. Alfonso, genuinely innocent (although his ally Urraca was aware of the plot), is offended by the demand and banishes Rodrigo from Spain. Chimene discovers she still loves Rodrigo and voluntarily joins him in exile. Rodrigo makes his career as a soldier elsewhere in Spain, and he and Chimene have twin girls.
Years later, Rodrigo, now known widely as "El Cid", is called back into the service of the king to protect Castile from Yusuf's North African army. However, Alfonso rejects an alliance with El Cid's Muslim friends, and rather than work directly with the king, El Cid allies himself with the emirs to besiege Valencia, where the cowardly al-Kadir has violated his oath of allegiance to Rodrigo and come out in support of Ben Yusuf.
After being defeated by the Moors at the Battle of Sagrajas, Alfonso seizes Chimene and her children and puts them in prison. Count Ordóñez rescues the three and brings them to Rodrigo, wanting to end his rivalry with El Cid and join him in the defense of Spain. Knowing that the citizens of Valencia are starving after the long siege, Rodrigo wins them over by throwing bread into the city with his catapults. Al-Kadir tries to intercede, but the Valencians kill him and open the gates to the besiegers. Emir al-Mu'tamin, Rodrigo's army, and the Valencians offer the city's crown to El Cid, but he refuses and instead sends the crown to King Alfonso.
Ben Yusuf arrives with his immense invasion army, and Valencia is the only barrier between him and Spain. Ordóñez is tortured and killed after being captured on a reconnaissance mission. The ensuing battle goes well for the defenders until El Cid is struck in the chest by an arrow and has to return to the city in plain sight of the Moorish army. Doctors inform him that they can probably remove the arrow and save his life, but he will be incapacitated for a long time after the surgery. Unwilling to abandon his army at this critical moment, Rodrigo obtains a promise from Chimene to leave the arrow and let him ride back into battle, dying or dead. A guilt-ridden King Alfonso comes to his bedside and asks for his forgiveness. Rodrigo grants it, and Alfonso promises to look after Rodrigo's children.
Rodrigo dies, and a rumor of his death spreads. His allies honor Rodrigo's final wish. With help of an iron frame they prop up his body, its eyes staring straight ahead. Dressed in full armor and holding an unfurled banner, he is strapped to the back of his horse, Babieca. Guided by King Alfonso and Emir al-Mu'tamin riding on either side, the horse leads a mounted charge against Ben Yusuf's now terrified soldiers, who believe that El Cid has risen from the dead. In the panic that ensues, Ben Yusuf is thrown from his horse and is crushed beneath Babieca's hooves, leaving his scattered army to be annihilated. King Alfonso leads Christians and Moors alike in a prayer for God to receive the soul "of the purest knight of all". The film ends with El Cid's horse riding along the coast.
Cast
Production Development In 1955, producer Samuel Bronston entered into cooperation with the United States Navy to film the biopic John Paul Jones (1959). The country of Spain was recommended to him as a filming location by Jose Maria Areilza, then-Spanish Ambassador to the United States when they were seated together at a dinner party in Washington, D.C. Bronston agreed and established his namesake production studio near Las Rozas in Madrid. During filming, the production was allowed by the Francoist Spanish government to film sequences inside the Royal Palace of Madrid.
After John Paul Jones (1959) was completed, Bronston and director John Farrow began developing their next project, King of Kings (1961). While the project was in development, in 1958, Bronston began considering El Cid as a potential project, but it would be set aside until King of Kings reached completion. At the time, Francisco Franco had compared himself to Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, the Cid, and Bronston readily agreed to assist the Franco government. The Spanish Ministry of Information and Tourism had initiated 'Operación Propaganda Exterior' to increase Spanish trade and tourism, to which Bronston attended frequent meetings to discuss issues of common interest.
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. In July 1960, Anthony Mann had signed on to direct the film. In an interview, Mann called the film "a Spanish Western".
However, principal photography was nearly delayed when Cesáreo González's Aspa Films filed an infringement claim against Bronston over the project's thematic similarities. 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. 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.
Writing The first writer assigned was Fredric M. Frank. He was flown into Spain to begin finalizing the screenplay for the initial start of shooting by July 1960. In the same month, Philip Yordan had been hired to co-write the screenplay. Yordan remarked that he had found Frank's treatment to be a "terrible script" and rewrote it. By their mid-November start date, the script had been rewritten, with Heston describing it as an improvement over the first draft.
Two days prior to the start of filming, Sophia Loren had read the latest draft and was displeased with her dialogue. She then recommended hiring blacklisted screenwriter Ben Barzman to revise it. Mann subsequently got Barzman onto a plane to Rome, after which he gave him the current screenplay draft. Barzman read the draft and found it to be unusable. Since filming was set to begin, Barzman received a copy of the seventeenth-century play Le Cid by Pierre Corneille from the library of the French embassy in Madrid and used it as the basis for a new screenplay. Years later, in 1967, Mann told Bertrand Tavernier that "not one line" in the shooting script was written by Yordan. However, Barzman's screen credit would not be added to the film until 1999.