Trailer
Plot summary
Iquitos, on the Upper Amazon, is growing fast on the rubber boom of the early twentieth century. Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman and an opera lover, dreams of an opera house there, but he has no fortune. A rubber baron shows him a map: the only unclaimed rubber parcel lies on the Ucayali River, and rapids cut it off from the Amazon. Fitzgerald sees that the Pachitea, a second Amazon tributary, runs close to the Ucayali above the parcel. He leases the parcel; Molly, his paramour and a brothel owner, pays for an old steamship from the baron. After fixing the boat and hiring a crew, he sets off up the largely unexplored Pachitea, planning to drag the vessel over the hill between the two rivers.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Costante Moretas Opera 'Ernani' - Ernani
- Dimiter Petkovas Opera 'Ernani' - Silva
- Mietta Sigheleas Opera 'Ernani' - Elvira (voice)
- Lourdes Magalhãesas Opera 'Ernani' - Orchestra Pit Singer
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- For Fitzcarraldo, Werner Herzog had a 320-ton steamship moved over a hill, filmed without special effects. Herzog believed no one had ever performed a similar feat in history and likely never would again, calling himself "Conquistador of the Useless".
- When filming was nearly finished, one of the native chiefs asked Herzog in all seriousness whether they should kill actor Klaus Kinski for him; Herzog declined because he still needed Kinski to finish the film.
- Aguaruna men burned down the film set in December 1979, reportedly taking care to avoid casualties, and it took Herzog many months to find another suitable location.
- During production a local Peruvian logger was bitten by a venomous snake and amputated his own foot with a chainsaw to stop the venom spreading, saving his life.
- Jason Robards was originally cast as Fitzcarraldo but fell ill with dysentery after completing forty percent of the film and was barred by his doctors from returning to Peru. Herzog considered Jack Nicholson, or playing the part himself, before Klaus Kinski accepted it.
- The story came from Peruvian rubber baron Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald, who in the 1890s had a steamship carried across an isthmus into another river; his ship weighed only 30 tons, not over 300, and went over in pieces to be reassembled.
- Because of the production delay, Mario Adorf was no longer available to play the ship's captain, and Mick Jagger had to leave to tour with the Rolling Stones, so Herzog cut the character of Fitzcarraldo's assistant Wilbur from the script.
- Facing accusations of exploiting the Indian workers, Herzog invited Amnesty International to examine their conditions. According to Herzog's conversations with Paul Cronin, the Amnesty report found no evidence of exploitation or bad conditions.
