EL CID (USA-Italy-UK/1961)
PATTON (USA/1970)

These war epics constitute two of the most glaring gaps in my film viewing. I was too young to watch Patton in a theater when it was released. Whenever either were shown on TV, they were "formatted to fit the TV screen" and often abbreviated. El Cid and Patton belong to the Hollywood epic genre that must be watched on a big screen to be fully appreciated, especially because they were filmed on 70 mm stock. Realizing they're unlikely to be re-released theatrically and given that they've become available on state-of-the-art dvd which preserves their correct aspect ratio, I decided it was finally time to check them out.

Both films revolve around protagonists who are famous warriors at the moments in history which defined them. Both Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (alias El Cid) and Gen. George Patton were well versed in military history and excellent field commanders. El Cid is set in Spain in mid-11th century when Christians and Moors were in constant battle for territory in the Iberian peninsula. Patton is set in the North African and European theaters of war between 1943 and 1945.

Similarities aside, what makes each film essential viewing is completely different. Patton is biography that provides a complex and multifaceted portrait of a man who was brilliant, sadistic, patriotic, arrogant, loyal, irreverent, confident and a bit eccentric (he was convinced he was the reincarnation of a number of famous historical leaders, for instance). The excellent script co-written by a young Francis Ford Coppola and performance by a perfectly-cast George C. Scott add up to one heck of a character study. El Cid was decidedly a less controversial figure, especially as portrayed here. He gets basically the "hero treatment" in this film. The performances by Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren (as his beloved Ximena) are based solely on the iconic public image of the stars. What makes El Cid special are the production values, and the masterful compositions and choreography of the action sequences characteristic of director Anthony Mann (his 50s westerns are the equal of Ford's).

Both films are thoroughly engaging and entertaining. They feel shorter than their almost-3 hour duration. I would say they are just a notch below the historical epics I consider to be the best of the genre: Griffith's Intolerance, Kubrick's Spartacus, Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, Beatty's Reds, and Bertolucci's The Last Emperor.