The Castilian

EL CID WITH A DIFFERENT EMPHASIS AND NOT AS GOOD
This spanish-made "spectacle" was released a year after "El Cid" and takes a different look at the medieval Spanish wars between the Moors and the Christians. Whereas the Charlton Heston epic carried a message of unity for loyal Spaniards, whether Moorish or Christian, this movie is a flat out jingoistic anti-Moorish propaganda film. Both movies had large casts, huge battle scenes, a struggle of a hero to unite Spain, a romance, and are told in a style evoking tales told by medieval troubadors. "El Cid," however, has garnered both critical and popular accolades and is actually a damn fine movie, though its stylistic earnestness gets an occasional campy snicker. "The Castilian"'s stylistic earnestness fails to impress and the production values show a depressing cheapness for what was supposed to be such a big movie.

Frankie Avalon (!) plays a travelling minstrel who tels the tale of a hero who defeats the Moors in an epic battle...

The Spanish Story
I see this movies go to many many many years. This is a amusing epic with Espartaco Santoni in the leader character. The count Fernan Gonzalez (another Cid "caballero") and your battlers versus the invasors Arabians. The ending battle is one Spanish Legend. Santiago (Saint James) voyaged from heaven to Spain for combat this enemy.
Broderick Crawford is a bad king and death coming soon. Frankie Avalon sing in Spanish with American accent. Is a kind serie B not great but amusing very much.

The Castilian
This is a fun, lesser known show about the Reconquista (not for the strict History minded). Made after El Cid and on a much more limited budget apparently, it makes up for it with the filming on the historical sites. It does somewhat remind me of an Iberian release of Krazcy, or Alexander Nevsky (propaganda works against the Germans, but here against the Moors).

An enjoyable two hours, despite a sound track that was propbably the worst part of the movie.

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