Customer Reviews

The Castilian [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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 with the assistance of two saints with flaming swords. His scenes of exposition are just silly to the point of embarassment. There is lots of Spanish mountains and countryside, lots of bad dubbed dialogue, lots of pro-Christian, anti-Muslim stuff, some swordfighting, and a surprisingly lugubrious battle. It is said that the battle was the largest ever filmed or something like that, and there is an impressive shot of the Christian army marching in a cross formation, but somehow it lacks the excitement of battle scenes in "Spartacus" or "El Cid." The aide that is given by the saints seems to undercut the achievements of the people involved.

I am a completist when it comes to medieval movies, yet after seeing this once, I really did not have a desire to see it again.

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.