Wooden acting undermines the spontaneity of Spanish director Javier Setó's "The Castilian," an epic account of a nobleman, Fernán González (Spartaco Santoni), who emerges from exile to unify a deeply divided Spain against its treacherous Moorish invaders. Tenth century Spain constitutes the setting for this sprawling historic peplum which was lensed on location in Spain on the actual battlefields where the bloodshed took place. After the death of his older brother, González enters the city of Lara with his long-time mentor and companion, Jerónimo, (Caesar Romero of "Donovan's Reef"), and lays claim as the rightful heir to the throne. Earlier, the future Count of Castile encountered Don Sancho's lovely daughter, Sancha (Tere Velázquez of "Stray Bullet"), as she and her contingent are riding through the countryside. Sancha admires the handsome González but prefers to have nothing to do with him until he halts the ignominious tribute of a hundred maidens to the barbarous Moors. This is the most interesting part of this two-hour plus saga. Initially, the Moors remove the hoods from a couple of prize maidens, but they realize too late that the rest of the gals are guys bristling with weapons. If the invading Moors didn't pose enough of a problem for our valiant hero, González must clash swords with one of his own countrymen, principally, the merciless King of Navarre, Don Sancho (Broderick Crawford of "All The King's Men"), who has nothing but hatred for Castilians. González kills Sancho at a pitched battle at a river. In an effort to mitigate their differences with Navarre, González has the dead on both sides interred together after their battle, and he brings Sancho's embalmed body home to his grieving family. No sooner has González delivered Sancho's body than he finds himself imprisoned by Navarre at a remote dudgeon. The love that González shares with beautiful Sancha prompts our daring heroine to engineer his escape. González desperately wants peace with both the King of León (Fernando Rey of "The French Connection") and Sancho's vengeful heir Don Garcia (Ángel del Pozo of "Catlow") so they can join forces and run Abderramán (Germán Cobos of "Reverent Colt") and his Moorish army out of Spain. "The Castilian" takes on a supernatural flavor in the last quarter hour when the two patron saints of Spain, Millán (George Rigaud) and Santiago, with flaming swords show up at our hero's side and convince Don Garcia to ride with González rather than against him. During the slightly gory battle, González's friend Jerónimo is mortally wounded. Eventually, a saddened González' watches with happiness as Jerónimo rides away alongside Millán and Santiago to be taken up into Heaven.
The supporting cast is first-rate. Indeed, Caesar Romero, Broderick Crawford, and Frankie Avalon are all put to good use. Surprisingly enough, they don't appear to have been dubbed. Avalon is cast as a non-combatant minstrel named Jerifan who strums the yarn on his lute. Unfortunately, leading man Spartaco Santoni generates not so much as a modicum of charisma, while actress Tere Velázquez, appears as just listless as his queen. Luis de los Arcos and Paulino Rodrigo penned the screenplay with director Javier Setó based on the anonymous poem "Poema de Fernán González." Inferior dubbing of the principals and some lackluster battle scenes with extras milling around amateurishly don't help matters.
The supporting cast is first-rate. Indeed, Caesar Romero, Broderick Crawford, and Frankie Avalon are all put to good use. Surprisingly enough, they don't appear to have been dubbed. Avalon is cast as a non-combatant minstrel named Jerifan who strums the yarn on his lute. Unfortunately, leading man Spartaco Santoni generates not so much as a modicum of charisma, while actress Tere Velázquez, appears as just listless as his queen. Luis de los Arcos and Paulino Rodrigo penned the screenplay with director Javier Setó based on the anonymous poem "Poema de Fernán González." Inferior dubbing of the principals and some lackluster battle scenes with extras milling around amateurishly don't help matters.