Famed Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro returns to Peru for one final mission — to conquer the Inca Empire, convert its people to Christianity and capture a supposedly massive cache of gold. Upon arriving in the Incan capital, Pizarro and his men secure the palace of the new Incan king, Atahualpa. As the assault on the natives continues, the typically ruthless leader and his doomed hostage begin to respect — and even admire — each other.
Director: Irving Lerner.
Stars: Robert Shaw, Christopher Plummer, Nigel Davenport, Michael Craig, Leonard Whiting, Andrew Keir, James Donald, Alexander Davion, Sam Krauss, Percy Herbert, David Bauer, Danny Yordan, Alfredo Porras, Joaquín Parra, José Panizo, Óscar Álvarez, Lisardo De La Inglesia.
Both Shaw and Plummer are excellent in this well made film based on Peter Shaffer’s play. Worth seeing. Thanks Jon
In a mother load of shoddy DVD releases, this is the very best copy I’ve yet seen. In the missing 15 minutes of the original’s 121 minute runtime, there was more time spent on the gradual development of the relationship between Pizarro and Atahualpa as well as its decline and movingly, tragic end. What we get instead here is a “jump” into the meat of it and a quick exit. A real shame given the excellent writing and the top-drawer performances of the two leads. The original stage play was a wonderful theatrical event, highly stylized and ritualized it kept the focus front and center on the two men. Plummer was originally Pizarro and David Carradine was the Incan king. As with Shaffer’s equally theatrical EQUUS, both film transitions were originally thought to miss-out on their original power. To this viewer, Time has been kind to both, and each stands alone on it’s on terms quite well. “Problems” aside, as the previous commenter stated: Worth seeing. And yes, thank you very much, Jon — another great find!