IMDb plot summary: The funny story of mad but kind and chivalrous elderly nobleman Don Quixote who, aided by his squire Sancho Panza, fights windmills that are seen as dragons to save prostitute Dulcinea who is seen as a noblewoman.
Directed by Arthur Hiller. Starring Peter O'Toole, Sophia Loren, James Coco, and Harry Andrews.
While I've never seen the theatrical show, this is, as far as I understand, a pretty faithful adaptation of it, with nearly all songs intact. The songs are still powerful and beautifully crafted, but this film never quite holds together. Some of that is probably due to the less-than-stellar vocals provided by O'Toole and Loren (though Loren struggles more by far) which tamps down some of the grandiose nature of the songs. These characters sound the way they look, just like regular everyday people with no special gifts, and that makes it a little harder to enter into Quixote's imaginary world of extraordinary beauty. Additionally, there's an unexpected amount of slapstick in this film, especially early on, with O'Toole giving comedic eye rolls to the camera just before falling over after an injury. It has some good moments, and some of the musical numbers actually work pretty well as standalone pieces, but it struggles to hold its vision together and never quite reaches greatness.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Man of La Mancha > The Misfits
Man of La Mancha < Safe
Man of La Mancha < Charlie St. Cloud
Man of La Mancha < Real Life
Man of La Mancha > Mr. Nice Guy
Man of La Mancha > The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Man of La Mancha < Minority Report
Man of La Mancha > The Bishop's Wife
Man of La Mancha > The Client
Man of La Mancha < VeggieTales: Josh and the Big Wall!
Man of La Mancha < My Favorite Year
Man of La Mancha > The Guard
Final spot: #1523 out of 3411, or 55%.
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