Man of La Mancha (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Man of La Mancha is a 1972 film adaptation of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion. The musical was suggested by the classic novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, but more directly based on Wasserman's 1959 non-musical television play I, Don Quixote, which combines a semi-fictional episode from the life of Cervantes with scenes from his novel.
Though financed by Italian producer Alberto Grimaldi and shot in Rome, the film is in English, with all principal actors either British or American, excepting Loren. (Gino Conforti, the Barber, is an American of Italian descent.) The film was released by United Artists, and is known in Italy as L'Uomo della Mancha.
Produced and directed by Arthur Hiller, the film stars Peter O'Toole as both Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote, James Coco as both Cervantes' manservant and Don Quixote's "squire" Sancho Panza, and Sophia Loren as scullery maid and prostitute Aldonza, whom the delusional Don Quixote idolizes as Dulcinea. Gillian Lynne staged the choreography and fight scenes.
Plot
Cervantes and his manservant have been imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition, and a manuscript by Cervantes is seized by his fellow inmates, who subject him to a mock trial in order to determine whether the manuscript should be returned. Cervantes' defense is in the form of a play, in which Cervantes takes the role of Alonso Quijano, an old gentleman who has lost his mind and now believes that he should go forth as a knight-errant. Quijano renames himself Don Quixote de La Mancha, and sets out to find adventures with his "squire", Sancho Panza.
Cast
- Peter O'Toole (Simon Gilbert, singing) as Don Quixote de la Mancha / Miguel de Cervantes / Alonso Quijano
- Sophia Loren as Dulcinea / Aldonza
- James Coco as Sancho Panza / Cervantes' manservant
- Harry Andrews (Brian Blessed, singing) as The Innkeeper / The Governor
- John Castle as Sanson Carrasco / The Duke
- Ian Richardson as The Padre
- Brian Blessed as Pedro
- Julie Gregg as Antonia Quijano
- Rosalie Crutchley as The Housekeeper
- Gino Conforti as The Barber
- Marne Maitland as Captain of the Guard
- Dorothy Sinclair as The Innkeeper's wife
- Miriam Acevedo as Fermina
