artwork by the remarkable Ted CoConis |
Format: Amazon Prime
Viewing: First
Decade: 1970's
Director: Arthur Hiller
In high school I saw a college production of Man of La Mancha, and loved the show. But somehow I never got around to watching the film. By end of high school, I was familiar with O'Toole and Loren, so that wasn't a deterrent, and even back then, I didn't blink at watching movies from decades past. I did plan to read Don Quixote on the heels of seeing the play, but never got to it.* What has shocked me over the years is that the music from the show and the general spirit of a show I saw once at age 17 have stuck with me.
Even if you've never read Cervantes (and I have not) The Man of La Mancha (1972) is absolutely a worthwhile watch. It's a strange movie, following the show's format, it's a play within a play. Layer of illusion upon layer of illusion. Cervantes is an actor performing the play he's written of Man of La Mancha in a town square when the Spanish Inquisition appears and, charging him with heresy, hauls him off to stand trial. While waiting for his show trial, he cools his heels in a large, open dungeon with a multitude of fellow prisoners who decide to hold their own kangaroo court for him - and in order to explain himself, he sets about using the prisoners to portray a version of his play.