El caballero del dragón (1985)

User Rating:

3.7/10   

Director:

Fernando Colomo

Writers:

Fernando Colomo (writer)
Andreu Martín (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 December 1985 (Spain)

Genre:

Romance | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Fantasy

Tagline:

One Man's Quest is Another Man's Destiny

Plot:

Princess Alba (Lamor) is abducted by a dragon, and it's up to Klever (Keitel) to save her. But, it turns out that this dragon is an alien spacecraft...

Plot Keywords:

Princess | Spacecraft | Medieval | Knight | Alien

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Klaus Kinski	...	Boecius
Harvey Keitel	...	Klever
Fernando Rey	...	Fray Lupo
Maria Lamor	...	Princesa Alba (Princess Alba)
José Vivó
Julieta Serrano
Josep Maria Pou		(as José María Pou)
Santiago Álvarez
Carlos Tristancho
Miguel Bosé	...	IX
Paco Catalá
José María Cañete
Jordi Batalla
Gabriel Jiménez
José López Ballester

Also Known As:

Star Knight (USA) (video title)
The Knight of the Dragon

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Norway:15 | Spain:T

Filming Locations:

La Junquera, Girona, Cataluña, Spain

Company:

Salamandra Production

Trivia:

Imanol Arias turned down the role of IX.

Mr. Keitel! Mr. Kinski! Why are you guys starring in rubbish like this?

Of course this movie is a bunch of silly nonsense but, hey, at least it's a very entertaining bunch of silly nonsense! "Star Knight" is some sort of comical Sci-Fi fantasy/adventure with the most amazingly far-fetched plot ever and quite a deranged cast of characters. I can't but notice that the opinions of IMDb-users towards this cheaply made Spanish film are very much differing! Some reviewers seem to think it's pure crap, whereas other ones claim that it's a rather efficient spoof. I'm somewhat in the middle of both opinions. To me, "Star Knight" is a hugely inept and forgettable movie, but nevertheless an amusing one that honestly made me chuckle a couple of times. It's really astonishing that TWO eminent actors – Harvey Keitel and Klaus Kinski – agreed to star in bizarre rubbish like this. Klaus Kinski stars as Boecius; a brilliant alchemist in the 15th Century and working for a rich monarch. For no apparent reason, Boecius summoned a spaceship from the future and the poor superstitious villagers believe that it's a fiery dragon. The 'pilot' of the spaceship kidnaps and falls in love with the monarch's daughter Alba and hopes to take her back with him to the future. Harvey Keitel plays Clever; a knight who doesn't really lives up to his name and talks rather funny. Clever's duty is to free the gorgeous princess from the claws of the 'dragon'. No matter how crazy it all sounds, the screenplay contains some truly ingenious ideas. The blending of the two totally different eras, for example. Spaceships, whether alien and futuristic, usually just land in our present time but rarely ever in medieval times. It's also well observed that the villagers automatically assume that the flamboyant machine is a dragon that comes to devour their cattle and crops. This mix-up leads to gags and comical situations that could have come straight out of a Monty Python movie, only the processing is slightly poorer. Keitel and Kinski are seemly having fun in their roles (maybe it was a welcome break from their usually serious type of characters they play?) and most of the decors & set pieces are fairly adequate. The whole thing gets boring near the second half of the film, though, and particularly the silent star knight character (portrayed by the Spanish singer Miguel Bosé) becomes dreadfully annoying very quick. Worth a peek in case there really isn't anything else to rent.