Going Medieval: 25 films to watch while waiting for Game of Thrones season 8

3) El Cid (1961)

You can’t go wrong with an epic historical drama, and this is one of the best. Director Anthony Mann teamed up with Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren to bring the near-mythic life of the great El Cid to the big screen (in 70mm Super Technirama Technicolor!)

El Cid was actually the 11th century Spanish Castilian Knight Don Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (the name ‘El Cid’ probably derives from the Arabic term for ‘The Lord’). In the movie, El Cid struggles with his personal sense of honor and a family vendetta while leading the Christian forces of Spain against a Moorish invasion.

The response to El Cid upon release was mixed but largely positive. Upon its premiere, The New York Times’ critic Bosley Crowther adored its spectacle, writing “If the worth of a big historical movie were measured solely by its wealth of spectacle, by the castles and crowds and battles in it, and by the amount of noise it makes, then . . . El Cid would easily command attention as the worthiest historical movie ever made…In short, the spectacle is terrific. Only the human drama is stiff and dull.”

Despite Crowther’s misgivings, the film’s reputation sparkles with a rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. If the idea of Charlton Heston appeals to you, also check him out in The Warlord.

If you’re looking for epic medieval war stuff, then El Cid may well be your cup of tea. Not everybody is on the fence about it, either: director Martin Scorsese called it “one of the greatest epic films ever made.”