The 1961 El Cid With Charlton Heston and Sophia Lauren

It went up on Amazon Prime. In terms of the historical Cid, this isn't ... really ... the thing. It's so Hollywood.

But o lordessa, does it have the Best Castles! And big scenes of armies and so on.

We've advanced so much in our study and learning about Spain, the Muslims, and all those warring kingdoms since 1961. The rulers did not divide themselves as "xtian" or "muslim" anywhere near as much as people in 1961 liked to fantasize. It was all who paid who to do what, who ganged up with whom to take out a mutual foe, etc. Shoot, even Charlemagne fought with and for Muslim kingdoms sometimes.

This is the age in which strong warriors could and did dream of making themselves kings and rulers, and some of them succeeded. Which el Cid did, as did William the Bastard.

Anyway, this el Cid is worth looking at!