I have a difficult time grading this film. I have always been prejudiced against films of stage productions. I just find that to take one medium and try to force it into another is artistically dishonest. And this movie is very much a play. But, a play/film with Peter O'Toole, arguably the best Shakespearian actor of his generation. So, if anyone can pull this off, it's O'Toole. His performance as the madman of La Mancha is riveting, and Loren is both beautiful and brilliant in this one. They both get a 10. I can't fathom why neither received an Oscar nomination for their work in Man of La Mancha. (If not for The Godfather, O'Toole would have won an Oscar the following year for The Ruling Class.) He never made a bad movie. So, this may be the only exception to my rule against cross-genre productions, and it rightfully should be considered a must-see Classic.

Musical rendition upon the best literary work ever written that stands in a unique position between medieval chivalric romance and the modern novel . This ¨Man of La Mancha¨ adapted from the musical play , a hit Broadway , by Dale Wasserman , being compellingly directed by Arthur Hiller packs a nice cast such as Peter O'Toole , James Coco , Sofia Loren , Harry Andrews , John Castle , Brian Blessed , Ian Richardson and Rosalie Crutchley . Based on the classic novel written by Miguel De Cervantes , Don Quixote is considered one of the most influential works of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon and deemed to be one of the greatest novels in literature history . Miguel De Cervantes (Peter O'Toole) is framed by an issue allegedly from the thunderous life and is incarcerated by the Inquisition . Don Quixote (Peter O'Toole) is the crazy , aging nobleman who embarrasses his respectable family by his feats . It follows the adventures of a nameless Hidalgo who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his sanity and decides to set out to revive chivalry , undo wrongs , and bring justice to the world , under the name Don Quixote . To these ends, ¨Alonso Quixano¨ dons an old suit of armour , renames himself "Don Quixote", names his exhausted horse "Rocinante", and designates Aldonza Lorenzo (Sophia Loren) ,who is actually a downtrodden prostitute , as his lady love , renaming her Dulcinea del Toboso . Quijote , nearing fifty and some years of age , recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza (James Coco) , as his squire, who often employs a unique , earthy wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood . Adapted from the work of Miguel de Cervantes , we then follow Don Quixote on their adventures , his squire Sancho Panza and an old horse named Rocinante . On their journeys , they rescue dames in distress in honorable acts and fight giants among other perils , with Don longing to be with the love of his life , lady Dulcinea . Backed by his faithful sidekick Sancho Panza, he duels windmills and defends his perfect lady Dulcinea named Aldonza.

This musical version of The Man of La Mancha starred by Peter O'Toole as Cervantes and Don Quixote giving nice acting . While Peter O'Toole was generally slated for his "singing" performance in the film, what many critics chose to overlook was the fact that this was not O'Toole's first musical ; indeed, his appearance in Herbert Ross' musical remake of Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) . This is the amazing and fun story of a Hidalgo , fanatic for chivalry novels , decides to go on imaginary adventures along with his friend , the simple farmer Sancho Panza , who becomes his squire . This enduring romantic adventure deals the enthusiast , passionate knight Don Quixote and it is paced in enjoyable as well as deliberate rhythm . The film is quite amusing with emphasis on spectacle and following freely the immortal novel scripted by MIguel De Cervantes Saavedra .At the picture occurs several known episodes , such as : when ¨the knight of sad countenance¨ arrives at an inn , which he believes to be a castle , as he calls the prostitute he meets ,"lady¨ : Sophia Loren ; Don Quixote's attack on windmills that he believes to be ferocious giants ; Don Quixote attacks 'the ¨knoght of the mirrors¨who actually results to be the Bachille Sanson Carrasco played by John Castle . Being stunningly photographed by excellent cameraman Giuseppe Rotunno and well produced by Alberto Grimaldi and Saul Chaplin .

¨The man of La Mancha¨ results to be another of uncountable versions dealing with the unforgettable novel ¨Don Quijote De La Mancha¨ by Miguel Cervantes y Saavedra and in which Quixote and Sancho take on numerous dangers and adventures . Other recounting about this notorious story are the followings : ¨Don Quixote¨ (1933) by G.W. Pabst with Feodor Chaliapin Sr. ; ¨Don Quijote De La Mancha¨ by Rafael Gil with Rafael Rivelles , Juan Calvo and Sara Montiel ; Don Kikhot (1957) Russian recounting by Grigori Kozintsev with Nikolai Cherkasov as Don Quixote de la Mancha / Alonso Quixano ; ¨Orson Welles's Don Quijote¨ with Akim Tamiroff ; ¨Don Quijote Cabalga De Nuevo¨ by Roberto Gabaldon with Cantinflas and Fernando Fernan Gomez ; and for American TV : ¨Don Quijote¨ by Peter Yates with John Lightgow and Bob Hoskins ; latterly : ¨Don Quixote: The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha¨ (2015) by Dave Dorsey . Besides , Spanish series titled ¨El Quijote de Miguel de Cervantes" (1991) TV series 1991-1992 by Manuel Gutierrez Aragon with Fernando Rey , Alfredo Landa , Aitiana Sanchez Gijon , Manuel Alexandre , among others . And for cartoon movie was made ¨Don Quijote De La Mancha¨ by Cruz Delgado and ¨Donkey Xote¨ (2007) by Jose Pozo .

I've always heard bad things about this film until fairly recently from some posters on here so I decided to check it out since I like the original show (which I've never seen, but I have the cast album). It's a star studded affair with Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren in the leads. An elaborate framing device sets up the story as one told by Cervantes (O'Toole) to fellow prisoners awaiting trial by the court of the inquisition. I liked the framing device, and it gave opportunities for all the actors to essentially play dual roles. There's a wealth of solid character acting here in this film -- Brian Blessed appears as a sexually violent muleteer, Ian Richardson plays a Padre (and the most enthusiastic volunteer for the play) and Gino Conforti is very funny as the barber whose shaving basin is taken for a golden helm of fable. I don't usually care all that much for Sophia Loren frankly but I thought this was some of her best work. She's got just the right combination of fiery cynicism and graceful femininity to make the character Alonza/Dulcinea work. O'Toole is fine, although his singing voice (or the one dubbed for him?) leaves something to be desired. James Coco is a bit underwhelming unfortunately as Sancho Panza. The role of Sancho Panza is the kind of thing that can really appear easy, and could be easy to play in a casual or typical fat-funny-man kind of way which is how Coco played it, but it really demands a sublime performer to bring out the interesting elements of the character. You think of someone like Zero Mostel but probably he wasn't available.

Most of the music from the show is presented here pretty much the same way it is on the album, so it seems to be fairly true to the show as far as I can tell. The idea of setting Don Quixote to music is wonderful and the play was a solid effort.

Arthur Hiller's direction is as always up to the level of his work but unremarkable in its own right.

All told, not a bad version of the Don Quixote story and not a bad vehicle for O'Toole and Loren. I'm not quite sure how this got its bad reputation. Maybe people just don't like the play; I know my mom told me she doesn't like it but she also doesn't like "Gigi" so I think she just dislikes anything with sympathetic pictures of prostitues. Maybe a lot of people feel that way, I don't know. There's also a certain aspect of this film that could seem anti-religious or anti-Catholic, which is probably why the Padre character is so much more sympathetic here than he is in Cervantes' book if memory serves. But based on what I know of the original play, this is a solid adaption and I can't imagine anyone doing significantly more with it.