I hear you re: Charlton Heston and the NRA thing. There are a lot of actors whose politics I either don't gel with or at the very least I would rather not know. Charlton Heston was one, John Wayne is perhaps the worst, the draft dodging in particular but the race issues too. But I still love their work product. The fact is there are actors in this era that I find problematic Rachel Ziegler for one. I don't believe I've seen anything of hers to date, or at least I wasn't aware of it. But for me the art is the art. I make a special exception for Amber Heard, I will actively refuse to watch anything with her in it, and this will surprise you... not directly because of her, but for the craven film companies that have permitted her to continue having a career while a court of law has revealed her as an abuser who actively sought to get her victim cancelled. These same film companies were willing to cancel Depp on the accusation alone, but won't do anything against her despite the court revelations. Make that make sense. These companies don't deserve my money or attention.
But back to Elcid.. I have no doubt it would be even better to watch it on a big screen, I believe I've seen a cut on wide screen before. But here's the thing.. the accompanying music mitigates this. There was a time when music could do that, add grandeur to something even if the medium was inadequate. They built films differently once upon a time
Just to be clear, I said that I didn't like Charlton Heston as an actor, politics aside. (I only mentioned his politics, lest you think it was that. He actually started out as a liberal Democrat, actively, but hardened over the years.) He just never appealed to me, especially as a romantic lead. There are films of his that I love: Ben-Hur and Touch of Evil, because they're great films! Same with John Wayne...I don't love him as an actor, but I do love some of the films he's in. I think with both of them, it's in part that they preferred to work in genres that I don't (and never did) love as much: Biblical epics, for the former, and Westerns, for the latter. I will add here, though, that I will see and can love any film in any genre, if I love the filmmaking.
I'm glad you brought "El Cid" back to my attention, though, and I will seek it out. I just want to see it properly, in some form. As to the way they made those old films...I do agree, in terms of some of those great epics, though the inclination is still there. Remember that when El Cid was made (1961), Hollywood was trying to draw people into the theaters with innovations they couldn't get from the small screen at home. Technicolor! Cinemascope! Great soundtracks. That's why I say that the inclination is still there. You have to make "big-screen" movies, or the movie theaters will die.
This is a bigger discussion, but there are a lot of forces at work that are killing theatre-going, especially since the pandemic. No longer do people have tiny, b/w screens at home. They have home theaters, with great sound systems and big screens. (Despite
@Front242 making fun of mine.
) Now Netflix makes a film, releases it in theaters for a couple of weeks, then straight to streaming. Who's going to pay $18 to see a film that they can watch at home for the price of a subscription they already pay for? That's why we have IMAX and Dolby and, for us lucky few, some 70mm film projectors left. IMO, it will be sad if one day we really have no more movie houses.
