Exactly How Bad Is The MAN OF LA MANCHA Movie?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:07pm

I'll admit that I've never seen it but just noticed it's available to stream on Netflix. Should I...?

[rougeduck]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:14pm

I enjoyed it. Sophia Loren is just wonderful in it, definitely worth checking out...Though keep in mind I watched it in spanish class 3 years ago so I'm not sure how much that affected my experience.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:16pm

*stretches arms out as far as they will go*

This bad!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:19pm

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:23pm

It's about the worst movie adaptation of a musical you will ever see. In comparison, even "Mame" is a masterpiece.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:23pm

Well I think I have to watch it now!

[egghumor]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:26pm

If you tend to like musical comedies that are devoid of music or comedy, then you should enjoy this one immensely.

Updated On: 7/12/11 at 07:26 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:33pm

I think the people in this thread are being kind. It's worse than possibly imaginable.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:34pm

Mama, that's the kind of review that makes me RUN to see a movie.

[Branson East]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:55pm

No no no no NO! There's no WAY it could be worse than Lucy and the gauze, and Lucy singing duets with herself, and Jane Connell shrieking that never-ending last note of her song, and those corny charts, and that...kid at the end -- and Pauline Kael didn't call it "too terrible to be boring". NO!

On the other hand I'll confess I've never seen the la Mancha movie, so you may be right. Kael also sorta kinda liked it despite "lyrics [that] sound as if they had been translated from Esperanto".

For what it's worth la Mancha rates higher on IMDb.com than Mame.

But then as Dr. Johnson said, "Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea."

[rentfan2]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 8:03pm

Honestly, Man of La Mancha is one of those shows that doesn't work as a movie because it's story is basically is supposed to be performed in one place. The movie is just weird.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 8:09pm

Sorry Branson, but I still say it's worse than the movie of "Mame."
To put in perspective, however, "Mame" is a better show than "La Mancha" to begin with. Although it's funny you mention Pauline Kael, as she was a big fan of Loren's Aldonza. I love Pauline, but I didn't always agree with her.

"Man of La Mancha" is a show that requires leads who are great singers. Without that, it is not a good show at all. Why they decided to cast two great movie stars who can't sing is anyone's guess. "Mame" required an exciting charismatic lead believable as an ebullient patrician madcap. Lucille Ball was the worst possible choice.

[egghumor]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 8:23pm

From the IMDb entry on the film:
"Peter O'Toole recorded his vocal tracks for the film, but realized that his own singing voice was not good enough for the requirements of the music, so he assisted in the search for a voice double. The man O'Toole picked sounded nothing like him, so a new search was begun, and eventually Simon Gilbert was selected as the singing voice of Don Quixote, because his singing voice sounded the most like O'Toole's speaking voice."

Jordan, this is one of those films that's not bad in an entertaining way, but simply a dull slog. That's probably why you haven't more about it, and why people don't recommend it.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 8:44pm

I love Man of La Manchca. My first Broadway Musical! Have seen in numerous times with every cast imaginable.Have the various cast recordings even one in Spanish. The movie isjust flat out horrible! Not in a campy bad kind of way. It is just BAD!

[tommyboy]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 9:05pm

A thread lilke this can't go on without mention of Richard Attenborough's ACL.

[noradesmond]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 9:18pm

"A thread lilke this can't go on without mention of Richard Attenborough's ACL."

HA! The trifecta of god awful adapted movie musicals.

[wonkit]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 9:57pm

Or the movie version of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC which makes me shudder just to write its name down.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 10:47pm

I hated MAN OF LA MANCHA on Broadway, so the fact that I hated the film, isn't so hard to believe. The film couldn't be any more boring, if it tried, and is inferior to the show. I do, however, much prefer Sophia Loren in the film to Joan whatsherface from the show.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 12:02am

It is FAR worse than Mame.
It is cringe inducing.
No one can sing.
It is dull and not bad in a campy good way.
Stay away from this awful adaptation.

One of the worst transfers ever. Really. Hands down.
Mame is a Masterpiece in comparison. So is ACL. And we all
know how awful that was.

[jasonf]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 12:21am

It's WAY worse than ACL. I haven't seen LaMancha in a LOOOOONG time, but from what I remember, ACL did a better job of keeping the score intact -- and that's saying something.

[broadwaybabywannabe]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 5:47pm

in my humble opinion, the idea of PETER O'TOOLE, and SOPHIA LOREN in the movie sounded wonderful and i remember waiting anxiously for the movie to open...but then it did...OMG!...if there was any life at all to the original Broadway production, which i never saw, that life was sucked completely out of the movie version...BAD BAD...did i say BAD?!

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 10:17pm

Isnt it amazing how these things that we think would be bullet-proof as films turn out to be truly WTF lousy? Beyond the ones mentioned already, I gotta add THE PRODUCERS. *How* do you screw up something that golden? And yet they managed to do it. Incomprehensible to me, but maybe that's why I dont make movies.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 7/14/11 at 12:18am

The good film musicals of Broadway shows are minimal, compared to how many were actually made. Hollywood, mostly, gets it wrong.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/14/11 at 2:45am

And then you get something like ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, which pretty well screams for that late 50s/early 60s style of big Technicolour Hollywood film musicals. It'll never happen, of course, but it's one of those properties like LIL ABNER that really seems almost perfect for cinema.

[Idiot]

Posted: 7/14/11 at 2:58am

It manages to bore at the level of a discussion about economics. I didn't know musicals COULD be boring until I saw that piece of ****h.