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DVD Man of La Mancha
It's hard to imagine a finer Don Quixote than Peter O'Toole, who's spent most of his career with a slightly mad, dreaming look in his marvelous eyes. O'Toole's suitability for the role is tested by the Broadway treatment of Man of La Mancha, the film version of the hit stage musical. Everybody knows "The Impossible Dream," that indomitable hymn to, well, quixotic questing, and it is indeed the best of the Spanish-inflected songs. Despite the location shooting in Italy, Love Story director Arthur Hiller can't elude the stagey concept (in which Cervantes, imprisoned by the Inquisition, acts out the tale of Don Quixote for his fellow prisoners). James Coco, as Sancho Panza, is overshadowed by the film's irresistible Dulcinea: Sophia Loren, at her mature peak. (Her singing, alas, is not as ripe as her beautiful self.) If you love Cervantes for his earthy ironies, this movie will seem a curious slice of inspirational shtick. --Robert Horton
I have taken Spanish for as long as I can remember the language, culture, and history is all fascinating. In high school I had the best Spanish teacher ever. Señora tought the class about the ledgendary Miguel de Cervantes otherwise known as Don Quixote de la Mancha. We watched the movie in class and It was just released to DVD a little bit ago. It's A must see, music, comedy and history all put into one remarkable production.
"Life as it is....I have lived for over fourty years and I have seen, life as it is. Pain; Misery; Cruelty beyond belief-I've heard all the voices of god's noblest creature. Moans from bundles of filth in the street. I've been a soldier and a slave. I've seen my commrads fall in battle-or die more slowly under the whip in Africa-I've held them at the last moment. But these were men who saw life as it is. But they died dispairing. No glory, no bray of last words, only their eyes filled with confussion, questioning why. I do not think the were questioning why they were dieing, but why they had ever lived. Whe life itself seems lunitic-who knows where maddness lyes. Perhaps to be to practical is maddness; to surrender dream, this may be maddness; to seek treasure where there is only trash; TO MUCH SANITY MAY BE MADNESS; but maddest of all... to see life as it is and not as it should be!"
Oh, God, This Was Bad
This film was INCREDIBLY bad, easily the worst I ever tried to sit through. The editorial review said that it's hard to imagine a better Quixote than Peter O'Toole? Well, I sure can: his name is Brian Stokes Mitchell, and he at least can sing his own part. The poor man who dubbed over O'Toole, couldn't hit the side of a barn with a good note. The sad part is, I love musicals in general, and so I kept watching this one, hoping it would get better, but finally I just gave up. If ANY musical is in need of an onscreen revival with better performances, it's this one.
La Mancha - a hit
I have always been a huge fan of musical theatre and film and I've seen most of them from the old MGM films to most recently "Phantom".
For some reason I had not seen the film of "La Mancha". I had seen the play both as an ameteur production some 20 years ago, which I loved and a huge professional production in Sydney a couple of years ago. I have never been dissappointed in these. I avoided the film because like "My Fair Lady" it was important that the cast could sing and could not face listening to those great numbers suffering from poor vocal interpretation (Why didn't Julie Andrews play 'Eliza' in the film will remain one of the great miscastings of all time!). However I viewed the film version finally this weekend and brother what a stunner. All the cast a exceptional notably O'Toole and Loren, who bowled me over with their bravada performances and the magnificent production values. There hasn't been many musicals I've seen lately that nail the essence of the show as well as this film does. I even coped with the deletion of a couple of great songs such as 'Aldonza's "Why does he do the things he does" and the re-writing/editing of Aldonz'a great "10:30" number. Still these minor changes make no difference to the impact this movie has. WOW!
The DVD transfer if fine, no complaints there. I just wish there had been some 'extras' included. If you haven't seen it and like some meaning to your 'musical' viewing, I highly recommend this!
Joshua Logan's 1967 film of the hit Broadway musical about the love triangle between King Arthur (Richard Harris), Guenevere (Vanessa Redgrave), and Sir Lancelot (Franco Nero) is strong on star emphasis and weak on such fundamentals as story and sets. Except for a handful of solidly dramatic scenes--such as Guenevere grieving, late in the film, for the ruination she and Lancelot have caused--there's not a lot to get excited about. (The story's theme of a lost, great society, however, certainly struck a chord in the 1960s.) The Lerner-Loewe songs ("If Ever I Would Leave You," "Camelot") pretty much sell themselves, even if they are, at best, only proficiently performed in this movie. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Director(s): Joshua Logan DVD Release Date: Released the 29 July 1998 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This rousing musical, based on the stories of Shalom Aleichem, takes place in pre-revolutionary Russia and centers on the life of Tevye (Topol), a milkman who is trying to keep his family's traditions in place while marrying off his three older daughters. Yet, times are changing and the daughters want to make their own matches, breaking free of many of the constricting customs required of them by Judaism. In the background of these events, Russia is on the brink of revolution and Jews are feeling increasingly unwelcome in their villages. Tevye--who expresses his desire for sameness in the opening number, "Tradition"--is trying to keep everyone, and everything, together. The movie is strongly allegorical--Tevye represents the common man--but it does it dexterously, and the resulting film... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Norman Jewison DVD Release Date: Released the 02 October 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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