Man of La Mancha has often been on people's worst movie musicals list. Seeing it recently to see whether it was as bad as all that. After seeing it, it is a long way from great but it isn't as bad as I'd heard(Hair and Annie have also been maligned and are other movie musicals that are not that bad, I personally love Annie and have done since childhood). It is nowhere near as good as West Side Story, Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, Singin' in the Rain, Mary Poppins, Fiddler on the Roof and The Sound of Music, but it is better than Xanadu, Can't Stop the Music, Mame, Grease 2, Across the Universe, The Wiz, A Little Night Music and A Chorus Line.
Man of La Mancha is far from irredeemable. The best asset is the noble and commanding performance of Peter O'Toole, even if Golden Helmet is slightly overacted and his make-up is far too heavy-looking. Sophia Loren is breathtakingly beautiful, sassy and charming, and James Coco is fun and touching, his character is much more subtle here than in the stage musical. The "maddest of all..." dialogue is incredibly poignant as is the prison scene, the sets are striking and while only two or three are truly memorable(The Impossible Dream is rightfully a classic) the songs are very easy on the ear. Unfortunately The Man of Mancha has failings too. I'm going to have to agree about the singing, not only are the singers ill-suited for the songs but those who dub don't make much of an effort to sound like the actors.
That is especially true of Simon Gilbert, an unsteady and underpowered voice that doesn't sound much like O'Toole's quite noble and baritone-like speaking voice. IMDb also seems to say that Ian Richardson did his own singing for the Padre, I'm not convinced, it may have been the case but Richardson's speaking voice isn't really that similar to the reedy sound heard with the singing. Loren took a brave risk singing her own songs but it is a risk that doesn't pay off, she sounds strained and while she does have some singing ability(Harry Andrews' singing was also rather limited) her range is too low for the songs she sings. Another problematic spot was Arthur Hiller's direction, the kind that doesn't have much of an idea in how to direct the film. Often it is rather heavy-handed, self-conscious and of the try-too-hard type.
With the visual look, the sets are lovely but the photography could have done with a brighter and a more cinematic approach. There is not a fault to be had with the score and songs themselves, but in the film they seemed to have been under-scored and anaemic, more grandeur and sweep would have been more welcome. The film does deserve a little credit in trying to translate a big and quite difficult to stage already musical but it tries so hard that much of the dialogue lose their impact and the story loses momentum. Not all the support cast work, Ian Richardson is a sympathetic Padre but Brian Blessed's Pedro is wildly overplayed attired in a rather stereotypical costume.
Overall, not as bad as touted to be from a personal opinion stand-point but the criticisms are understandable actually and even with things that were done quite well Man of La Mancha could have been far better considering the talent. 4/10 Bethany Cox
Man of La Mancha is far from irredeemable. The best asset is the noble and commanding performance of Peter O'Toole, even if Golden Helmet is slightly overacted and his make-up is far too heavy-looking. Sophia Loren is breathtakingly beautiful, sassy and charming, and James Coco is fun and touching, his character is much more subtle here than in the stage musical. The "maddest of all..." dialogue is incredibly poignant as is the prison scene, the sets are striking and while only two or three are truly memorable(The Impossible Dream is rightfully a classic) the songs are very easy on the ear. Unfortunately The Man of Mancha has failings too. I'm going to have to agree about the singing, not only are the singers ill-suited for the songs but those who dub don't make much of an effort to sound like the actors.
That is especially true of Simon Gilbert, an unsteady and underpowered voice that doesn't sound much like O'Toole's quite noble and baritone-like speaking voice. IMDb also seems to say that Ian Richardson did his own singing for the Padre, I'm not convinced, it may have been the case but Richardson's speaking voice isn't really that similar to the reedy sound heard with the singing. Loren took a brave risk singing her own songs but it is a risk that doesn't pay off, she sounds strained and while she does have some singing ability(Harry Andrews' singing was also rather limited) her range is too low for the songs she sings. Another problematic spot was Arthur Hiller's direction, the kind that doesn't have much of an idea in how to direct the film. Often it is rather heavy-handed, self-conscious and of the try-too-hard type.
With the visual look, the sets are lovely but the photography could have done with a brighter and a more cinematic approach. There is not a fault to be had with the score and songs themselves, but in the film they seemed to have been under-scored and anaemic, more grandeur and sweep would have been more welcome. The film does deserve a little credit in trying to translate a big and quite difficult to stage already musical but it tries so hard that much of the dialogue lose their impact and the story loses momentum. Not all the support cast work, Ian Richardson is a sympathetic Padre but Brian Blessed's Pedro is wildly overplayed attired in a rather stereotypical costume.
Overall, not as bad as touted to be from a personal opinion stand-point but the criticisms are understandable actually and even with things that were done quite well Man of La Mancha could have been far better considering the talent. 4/10 Bethany Cox