El Cid cabreador (1983) Poster

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4/10
Fun and funny spoof , including an amusing parody about historical roles : El Cid , Jimena , Alfonso VI , Sancho , Urraca ..
ma-cortes29 January 2018
Silly spoof about El Cid and his relation to Jimena , Alfonso VI , Sancho , Urraca and being starred by all-Spanish-star cast but really wasted . El Cid Cabreador¨ by Angelino Fons boasts popular actors as the circus artist Angel Cristo , Carmen Maura , Manolo Gómez Bur , Pepe Da Rosa , Adriana Vega , Roberto Camardiel as Count of Oviedo and Paquita Rico as Doña Urraca .This ironic film is an "alternative " vision of ¨Rodrigo Diaz De Vivar¨ history and it displays a good cast , most of them playing known roles . The film follows partially the known history of El Cid from classic picture ¨El Cid¨ by Anthony Mann with Charlton Heston , Sofia Loren , Raf Vallone Massimo Serato and Douglas Wilmer as Emir . As Rodrigo Diaz Vivar, alias Cid (Angel Cristo) was a Spanish warrior and famous medieval hero , he was born in Burgos (1043) and died in Valencia(1099) . Being dead Fernando I (Luis Escobar , in the classy picture played by Ralph Truman) , succeeded Sancho of Castilla (Francisco Cecilio in Anthony Mann's movie played by Gary Raymond) . Then Sancho is killed by Bellido Dolfos and Alfonso VI (Luis Varela , in serious version performed by John Frazer) rules over the kingdom . In the church of Santa Gadea , Cid ordered to king Alfonso VI swear to have not murdered his brother Sancho . In punishment Cid is banished out Castilla . Almoravides's invasion of Spain commanded by Ben Yusuff (Pepe Da Rosa in Heston's rendition interpreted by Herbert Lom) and defeat of Sagrajas made Alfonso VI forgot the humiliation of Cid and asked him for the command of Castillian troops against Muslims . Cid vanquished the Moors in Cuarte, Bairen and Valencia that lost and retrieves. Cid is married to Jimena (Carmen Maura) and were born two daughters : Elvira and Sol , who once grown-up , they were raped by the Infants of Carrión . According to legend, El Cid was fighting one of the men when he was shot in the heart with an arrow . Valencia's troops were losing spirit when Jimena thought if she set the corpse of El Cid atop his horse Babieca, the morale of Valencia's troops would soar .

In this ridiculous tale there are anachronisms , goofs , abstract incidents , musical numbers , songs and amusement . The parody is continuous , hilarious , surrealist , absurd and sometimes gross-out , but in some moments here and there is also bold and risible . The sour comments and the past-present mixture loosely based on historic facts are extended in similar style to Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975 ). It's almost the same kind of picture , but with Spanish roles and typical Spaniard idiocracy . EL Cid is ironically portrayed by Angel Cristo who takes a contemporary approach as an ambitious warrior who finally gets the beautiful Jimena . This ¨Cid Cabreador¨ concerns an insane story of a brave hero with silly political confrontation behind , including crazy characters, as the sympatethic Manolo Gómez Bur as Emir de Zaragoza , a nutty José Luis López Vázquez as Conde García Ordóñez , among others . This picture contains acid political remarks with inclusion some embarrassing re-enacting of historical deeds as the Valencia siege . Adding several observations to political aspects of Spain of the eighties ; including the past-present politicians , trade unionist , famous people , such as : Manuel Fraga , Adolfo Suarez , Felipe Gónzalez , and several others . The flick belongs to a trio mostly written by the comedian writer Juan José Alonso Millán and produced by Jose Frade , in which there are deep as well as acid satires to historic events mingled with actual political events , such as : ¨Juana la Loca... De Vez En Cuando¨ (1983) by Jose Ramon Larraz with Beatriz Elorrieta , Lola Flores , Jaime Morey , José Luis López Vazquez , Guillermo Montesinos and ¨Cristóbal Colón , Oficio Descubridor¨ by Mariano Ozores with Andres Pajares , Alfredo Mayo , Rafaela Aparicio , Tomas Zori , Santos , Alberto Fernández , Angel De Andres , José Carabias . In similar style was made ¨La Loca Historia de Los Tres Mosqueteros¨ (1983) by Mariano Ozores with Martes Y Trece , Antonio Ozores and Paloma Hurtado . The flick will appeal to lunatic humor lovers .

The motion picture produced by the notorious producer Jose Frade was regularly directed by Angelino Fons and it got a big hit at box office . Being realized in his Mariano Ozores usual style with plenty of comical sketches , amusement , humor , nudism and entertainment . Fons was an acceptable writer and filmmaker who directed some good movies . He was a director and writer, known for Mar Brava (1983) , Esposa y amante (1977) , Emilia... parada y fonda (1976) , La casa (1976) , Fortunata y Jacinta (1970), Cantando a la vida (1969) , La busca (1966) and Peppermint Frappé (1967). He was married to actress Coral Pellicer. He died on June 7, 2011 in Madrid.
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5/10
Quality? no. Laughs? lots :)
shaddack12 March 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I know, I know... this movie is not a quality production. You can say it's bad as hell. My friends look at me differently when i say i've seen this movie... and it liked me. But it's a comedy; its purpose is to make you laugh. And you DO. So i give it a 5.

The movie is an "alternate" vision of the Cid Campeador life. He was a real historic man who conquered Valencia for its King. Then, in a battle defending city against moors, he died. The legend says he came back from the death to win another battle. This film is based in all of that, but... well, lets say that the goofs section should be full of anachronisms.

My favorite cut: (ATTENTION: SPOILER) Valencia (the city being defended) has a soccer team. Its traditional competitor is the Barcelona F.C., aka Barça. Of course, soccer wasn't invented until some hundreds years after the battle for Valencia. Here you have the city of Valencia surrounded by the ones who want to conquer it... and they are claiming "Barça, Barça, Barça!!".

Other "great" things: the US army, the camcorder, the gunshot sounds when swords fight, the electronic door entry system, and, of course, the Cid's suite: it's like the one from Superman, but with a big C in its chest, instead of the big S.

A detail for non Spanish spoking people: Cid Campeador was the nickname for Rodrigo Diaz De Vivar. "Cid" came from the Arabic "Sidi", equivalent to "My lord". "Campeador" came from "Campidoctor", title obtained in combat. "Cabreador" is a word-game... it doesn't exists as a Spanish word, but it would mean something like "the one who makes other people to be angry".

Well, thats all... if you have something better to do, don't see the movie... but if you want easy laughs (somewhat ancient), see it.
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