Click image to purchase

Italy Rape Spain Writers

Man of La Mancha begins with a street performance of a play about the Spanish Inquisition. Apparently, free speech was in short supply during the inquisition so this gets its writer, one Mister Cervantes {Peter O'Toole}, as well as his assistant tossed into prison. The walk to the dungeons is a long one; on the way they meet many soldiers and a wagon filled with dead bodies. Cervantes and his assistant are dumped into a large, communal cell where they're immediately attacked by the inmates.

The "Governor" stops the riot and the inmates decide to hold a mock trial rather than destroy Cervantes out of hand. They, apparently, have nothing better to do down here in the dungeons. The "Duke" decides that he'll prosecute and, as a defense, Cervantes decides to put on "an entertainment". This entertainment, of course, stars none other than Don Quixote {Peter O'Toole}; chaser of windmills and dreamer of dreams.

Cervantes assistant plays Sancho {James Coco}, Quixote's assistant and various prisoners play various other parts in the entertainment. Naturally, the idea of doing a musical in a communal cell during the Spanish Inquisition is just a little too odd for most people to deal with so they move the story out into "real life". Quixote's first adventure is the classic "Attack of the Giant Windmill" and is really pretty amusing. It's as nicely done here as it is in any of the myriad of movie adaptations and parodies of Cervantes' classic novel that have been done {animated, Broadway, film, television, probably Mony Python, etc}. Scene two features a large dinner at the inn, Pedro {Brian Blessed} as the evil leader of the men and all around bad guy and a massively yummy Sophia Loren as Aldonza, the massively yummy serving wench.

Quixote arrives at the inn and immediately falls in love with Aldonza {Dulcinea in Quixote's fantasies}, and sings a song of love to her, after which the other patrons of the inn join in and parody his song. Back at the prison, Cervantes sets up scene three: Scene three begins with Antonia {Julie Gregg} singing a song called "I'm Only Thinking of Him". Basically Antonia and Quixote's "friends" are a little worried that Quixote has gotten to be a little too old to be out chasing dragons and fighting windmills and want to put an end to all of the pleasures in his life so that he can grow up and become responsible and stop courting Sophia Loren and force him to live a dead, restrictive, boring existence like their own {yes, they're evil}. Of course Quixote is a little too old and a little too nuts to be out doing much of anything but, it is great fun to watch him try.

This has a wonderful soundtrack filled with all sorts of classic show tunes and a couple of songs that are strong enough to stand up all by themselves. O'Tool is, of course, wonderful as the psychotic and senile, aging knight and Coco plays Sancho like he was born to it. Sophia is, of course, massively yummy and perfectly appropriate to the part of the massively yummy love interest. Maybe she's not the greatest singer but, you'll be wanting the Broadway soundtrack of this if you're serious about the songs.

The sets and costumes are great. This is very simply a nifty musical with more than its share of cheesy bits and more than enough talent to balance that out. You'll probably smile through much of this; it's a really difficult film not to like. It does strike me as a great addition to any good library of musicals. The movie's score adaptation was nominated for an Oscar in '72.