Man of La Mancha is a 1972 film adaptation of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion. The musical was suggested by the classic novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, but more directly based on Wasserman's 1959 non-musical television play I, Don Quixote, which combines a semi-fictional episode from the life of Cervantes with scenes from his novel.

Plot

As Miguel de Cervantes and his manservant wait to be called before the Spanish Inquisition for putting on a play critical of the tribunal, his fellow inmates subject him to a sham trial of their own in order to justify taking all of the possessions he has with him. Only concerned about the fate of a manuscript, Cervantes mounts his defense in the form of a play, in which he takes the role of Alonso Quijana, an elderly gentleman who has lost his mind and now believes he should go forth as a knight-errant to right the wrongs of the world. Quijana renames himself Don Quixote de La Mancha and sets out with his "squire", Sancho Panza, attacking a windmill he thinks is a giant, and going to an inn, where he meets, woos, and tries to save Aldonza, a world-weary serving wench and prostitute, who he sees as the ideal woman and calls Dulcinea. Quijana's niece, Antonia, is concerned about the effect her uncle's behavior might have on her upcoming marriage to Sanson Carrasco, a rational man whom the local priest convinces to try to rid Quijana of his delusions. Carrasco eventually succeeds, but the shock of the cure leaves Quijana on the brink of death. A visit from Sancho revives him, but he thinks his adventures were all a dream, until Aldonza visits and gets him to remember. As Don Quixote, Sancho, and Aldonza prepare to go off to have more adventures, Don Quixote drops dead, having accomplished little other than providing Aldonza with a fantasy that makes her difficult life a bit more bearable. Back in the dungeon, the inmates return the manuscript to Cervantes as he and his manservant leave to face the Inquisition.

Awards