Man of La Mancha (1972)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1973	Nominated	Oscar	Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation Laurence Rosenthal

United Artists
Directed by Arthur Hiller
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

Cervantes is imprisoned by the Inquisition for putting on a religious play in the town square. To prove his innocence, he spins the tale of Don Quixote using his fellow prisoners as actors. The mad knight Quixote fights windmills, falls in love with a whore and picks fights with people much stronger than himself. His madness, he argues, is actually idealism, and that to live in the real world is to be mad. In one of the best scenes, Quixote is beaten by a knight not with a sword, but with his shield that acts like a mirror, forcing him to see himself as he really is for the first time: a worn, ragged, beaten old man. The film works on multiple levels, all is not what it appears. However, as a musical it is almost a complete failure. There is not a memorable song in sight, including the wildly popular "The Impossible Dream". However, Peter O'Toole, in both the role of Cervantes and Quixote, gives a bravura performance.