Aroused by a fanatical Moorish warlord, emir-king attack a Castilian village, where they are captured by Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar
Vigorously brave and compassionate, the noble Rodrigo hates bloodshed and vows to see his country at peace, frees the prisoners on their solemn pledge never again to attack Castile
For this act of courage and mercy, one of the Emirs, Moutamin, calls Rodrigo "El Cid," and pledges eternal friendship to the Cid of Vivar
And so, in freeing the Moors, Rodrigo, accidentally, stumbled onto a battle, not to his luscious bride, but to a battle that will change his whole life
In the court of King Ferdinand, Rodrigo's act of clemency is misinterpreted, and he's accused of treason by his rival Don Ordonez for refusing to turn over to him the captures Moors
Unfortunately, Rodrigo's aged father, Don Diego, is slapped by the Champion of the king, Count Gormaz, father of his beloved Chimene
Rodrigo begs Gormaz an apology; it is refused
A duel begins and the champion is badly wounded
Before he dies, however, he asks Chimene to avenge his death
Chimene's wish is fulfilled when King Ramiro of Aragon challenges King Ferdinand for the possession of the city of Calahorra by the outcome of a single combat
El Cid convinces the king to permit him to fight Don Martin
Thus, according to the custom of trial by combat, God would judge Rodrigo's guilt or innocence
"El Cid" is an intense film, lavish and spectacular, bigger than any in terms of cast and impressive as any in visual terms
Miklós Rózsa gave a new dimension to the emotion that Anthony Mann was trying to express
Mann gives us a human story with a love story balanced with the most strongly image of a hero the world has ever seen
He presented a man of honor who thinks always of his wife, his country, and his king first
Even in death, his thoughts are for others and not himself
El Cid insults kings and noblemen in the name of justice and integrity and does what he knows to be right
He battles the king's living sword in respect of his father
He accepts the challenge of a champion of a king to prove himself innocent of treason and other things
He shows a prince how any man can kill and only a king can give life
He fights 13 knights, at the same time, to free a prisoner
Yet he is in addition to all of this an extremely principled leader
He accepts exile for life from the country he loves, and yet he is the only man in Spain who 'could humble a king and would give a leper to drink from his own pouch
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The joust sequence called "The fight for Calahorra," is perhaps the most rousing, exciting, one-to-one combat ever filmed
The battle scenes at Valencia are taken on an epic scale
But the value of Anthony Mann's movie is the characterization in which Charlton Heston played El Cid's life
For this reason alone, the film is of greater value than most any other motion picture experience
