L'homme de la Manche

This is one of my favorites movies, and although I am also a big fan of the play, this movie did no injustice to it whatsoever.. perhaps it would only make someone more motivated to see it performed LIVE on stage. Either way, it is very touching and something that imprints itself upon your heart.

I found similarities between this film and Life is Beautiful, not only the unconventional mentality of the leading characters, but the power we have to positively impact others. If you enjoy L.I.B., this is a MUST SEE !!

From the dismal dungeon jail to to the imaginative world of Don Quixote, Peter O'Toole is outstanding as the chivalrous errant knight. His performance is amazing. James Coco provides comic relief and Sophia Loren is moving as Dulcinea. The gentleness Don Quixote shows Dulcinea is beautiful.

This touching story within a story embraces and captives you as it takes you on a journey of valor, romance, suspense, deceit, comedy, and self examination. I would recommend experiencing at least once.

There are those who would have you believe that this is a bad movie because it deviates from the stage musical. In the play, for example, Sancho has a grating high-pitched voice whereas in the movie, his voice is warmer and stronger. Another example is the deletion of certain songs such as the completely unnecessary and boring "What Do You Want of Me?" and "To Each His Dulcinea." In addition, Cervantes is jailed on stage for foreclosing a church. In the movie, he is sent before the Inquisition on grounds of heresy. This makes the whole thing that much more significant and important. It also relates to a central theme in the movie, that Cervantes' and indeed Don Quixote's way of fighting back at the world is to imagine a new world. To dream, as it were, the impossible dream.

The stage version was one of the most substantially flawed in Broadway's history. Richard Kiley (the original stage actor) had a strong, powerful voice, that is true, but it didn't sound like Don Quixote. The man who dubs Peter O'Toole's voice in the movie, however, sounds not only like Peter O'Toole, but like Don Quixote.

Indeed, the only thing about the movie that is different from the play is that the actors in the movie are GOOD! And they don't just put on big, fake, funny voices in the traditional idiotic Broadway style. They portray their characters honestly and in keeping with the spirit of the story. And it is a story that everyone should hear. If you are like me, a lifelong chaser of impossible dreams, then the story of one man's quest to slay giants which are actually windmills cannot be ignored.

And don't be such a stuck-up tight ass about film adaptations. Of COURSE they're going to be different, that doesn't make them worse.

I must have a major blind spot because I loved this movie in 1972

when I saw it the first time and the second and the third time. Now

I have become an semi-regularly woeful countenanced man

myself and I love it even more. My heart started to stir watching

O'Toole's speech at the Oscars so I re-rented La Mancha even as

it was being removed from the active shelf at my local Hollywood

video. I took it home and played it for the youngest of my five

daughters, eleven year old Mary. She loves musicals as much as I

do. She got into it. I cried again. Sorry. I love this film. Like I said, I

must have a tin ear or a blind spot or goddamn it, maybe I'm right. Man of La Mancha is a 10 plus and a must for all O'Toole fans

which at this point should be about everybody who loves movies. Let the revisionism begin here. O'Toole and Loren> C'mon

That was the response of one of the Inquisition prisoners to the inquiry, "Why are you here?" "I was selling lies about one country to fools in the other country who believed me when........." The fact that O'toole can't sing for diddly is OK by me. He played the mad wise old man so wonderfully. The subtle idea that they were all imprisoned by the Inquisition manned by beasts who performed torture in the name of Jesus, who was tortured in a similar Inquisition, "Are you the Messiah?", etc. leaves you reverberating.

Just as you also sit and think about the recursive show within a show within a show that you are seeing. We were shown one other aspect of the corrupt Christian church by the priest who plots with the niece and her fiance to bring the old man back to his 'senses' so he can legally will her his property.

There are so many lines in this movie that are momentous. Just the very idea in this jaded time that there are beliefs worth dying for, worth fighting the valiant but unwinnable battle against the implacable foe for, really knocks me out!!! Was anyone EVER so innocent, so pure?

I live in a country where the president, the Supreme Court and the Congress are filled with low life liars, and yet there are Americans here who are as noble as Senor Cervantes. There is another noble character in here that I would love to see analyzed by some of you scholars: that's the innkeeper/head of the prisoners. He has the respect of the mob, is a stable figure full of common sense, but yet is wise enough to respect the noble mad knight.

And then there's the squire, Cervante's neighbor. He reminded me of my feelings toward Bill Clinton, when he answered the question, "Why do you follow this madman?" "I like him. I just LIKE him." He's crazy, he's mad, he is engaged in an unwinnable fight, but "I like him". And Sophia Loren as the Mary Magdelene figure: those mauling scenes were excellently done, because they scared me and made me fear for her safety, as the men all but rape her. Maybe the reason they didn't was similar to the excuse I heard for my great-great-grandfather's 'kindness' toward his slaves in Opp, Al.: "You don't mistreat your horses, cause you want them to be around tomorrow healthy enough to work for you."

I checked this one out from the rental store, but I will now seek to buy it, as it's one that I will re-visit from time to time as I and my country changes. Will we ever have another time in the USA when 'good' people are able to make changes, when our planet is not allowed to be despoiled by our own government? Or is that to be left to another country whose Constitution is based on freedom, yet uncorrupted?

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to shake loose the bonds of government..........." I'm afraid it's about time.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. It saddens me that there are those out there who think this movie was horrible. How can you watch O'Toole give his speech: "Maddest of all: to see life as it is and not as it should be!" and not be brought to emotion? This movie is not exactly like the theater version. However, if you note who made the screenplay changes, the song changes, etc., it's the same men who worked on the play. There are some good songs cut out. And Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren are not the world's best singers. But this movie is brilliant. Coco is a wonderful Sancho, I love his voice and his expression. O'Toole is a fabulous actor and I felt like the prisoners in the end singing "The Impossible Dream." I own this movie. I encourage anyone who hasn't seen it to go get it and watch it. It has inspired me to try to do better in everything I do, and I often watch it and sing the songs to remind me to "see life as it should be." And if this movie needs a defender, I sign up for the job.