Back when I was a teen I was fortunate enough to see one of the 2328 productions of Man Of La Mancha in the original Broadway run. It ran from 1965 to 1971 which explains why it took so long to make it to the screen. Richard Kiley as Cervantes(Don Quixote) and Joan Diener as Dulcinea were magnificent, they could sing as well as act.
Sad that Kiley and Diener were never movie names because it would have been worth seeing them preserve their performances for future generations on film. In the acting department no one could complain about Peter O'Toole or Sophia Loren. It is unfortunate that they couldn't bring equally good singing voices to the songs that Mitchell Leigh and Joe Darion wrote.
Don Quixote is the story of a man who chooses to retreat from reality and go into a world that he thinks is better in the past. That's not a unique situation to a problem, some of us who don't like the world as we see it develop all kinds of mechanisms to cope. Wasn't that what Harvey was all about?
Jimmy Stewart had his giant rabbit and Peter O'Toole tilts at windmills, but the principle is the same. You can even see people not as they are, but their better natures like Sophia Loren as the tavern serving wench and friend for the night if the price is right. But to O'Toole she's the lady Dulcinea.
In real life Cervantes never faced the Inquisition which was a religious court. He did spend some time in jail for irregularities in his accounts when he was a purchasing agent for the Armada. It certainly did give him a perspective on prison and the people inside.
From the Broadway cast Gino Conforti repeated his role as the traveling barber who has a shiny shaving basin that O'Toole thinks is a golden helmet of invincibility. It's a funny and very cute role that Conforti seems to have made his own.
Man Of La Mancha also had the misfortune to be up against another long running Broadway musical which made it to the big screen in 1972. That also required a singing/acting lead and Cabaret got it with Liza Minnelli. Cabaret which won several Oscars that The Godfather didn't win that year sadly made Man Of La Mancha pale in comparison.
Allan Jones who had eschewed Hollywood years ago did summer stock productions of Man Of La Mancha for years. He would have been a perfect lead here, but he was way out of the Hollywood scene for too long.
In fact this version of Man Of La Mancha is a good film, but won't ever qualify as one of the great film adaptions of a Broadway musical.
Sad that Kiley and Diener were never movie names because it would have been worth seeing them preserve their performances for future generations on film. In the acting department no one could complain about Peter O'Toole or Sophia Loren. It is unfortunate that they couldn't bring equally good singing voices to the songs that Mitchell Leigh and Joe Darion wrote.
Don Quixote is the story of a man who chooses to retreat from reality and go into a world that he thinks is better in the past. That's not a unique situation to a problem, some of us who don't like the world as we see it develop all kinds of mechanisms to cope. Wasn't that what Harvey was all about?
Jimmy Stewart had his giant rabbit and Peter O'Toole tilts at windmills, but the principle is the same. You can even see people not as they are, but their better natures like Sophia Loren as the tavern serving wench and friend for the night if the price is right. But to O'Toole she's the lady Dulcinea.
In real life Cervantes never faced the Inquisition which was a religious court. He did spend some time in jail for irregularities in his accounts when he was a purchasing agent for the Armada. It certainly did give him a perspective on prison and the people inside.
From the Broadway cast Gino Conforti repeated his role as the traveling barber who has a shiny shaving basin that O'Toole thinks is a golden helmet of invincibility. It's a funny and very cute role that Conforti seems to have made his own.
Man Of La Mancha also had the misfortune to be up against another long running Broadway musical which made it to the big screen in 1972. That also required a singing/acting lead and Cabaret got it with Liza Minnelli. Cabaret which won several Oscars that The Godfather didn't win that year sadly made Man Of La Mancha pale in comparison.
Allan Jones who had eschewed Hollywood years ago did summer stock productions of Man Of La Mancha for years. He would have been a perfect lead here, but he was way out of the Hollywood scene for too long.
In fact this version of Man Of La Mancha is a good film, but won't ever qualify as one of the great film adaptions of a Broadway musical.