Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992)

Genoese navigator overcomes intrigue in the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and gains financing for his expedition to the East Indies.

Director:

John Glen

Writers:

Mario Puzo (story), John Briley (screenplay)

Stars:

Marlon Brando, Tom Selleck, Georges Corraface

2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marlon Brando	...	Tomas de Torquemada
Tom Selleck	...	King Ferdinand
Georges Corraface	...	Christopher Columbus (as George Corraface)
Rachel Ward	...	Queen Isabella of Castille
Robert Davi	...	Martin Pinzon
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Beatriz (as Catherine Zeta Jones)
Oliver Cotton	...	Harana
Benicio Del Toro	...	Alvaro Harana (as Benicio del Toro)
Mathieu Carrière	...	King John (as Mathieu Carriere)
Manuel de Blas	...	Vicente Pinzon
Glyn Grain	...	De La Cosa
Peter Guinness	...	Fra Perez
Nigel Terry	...	Roldan
Nitzan Sharron	...	Benjamin
Steven Hartley	...	Terreros

Storyline

Genoan navigator Christopher Columbus has a dream to find an alternative route to sail to the Indies, by traveling west instead of east, across the unchartered Ocean sea. After failing to find backing from the Portugese, he goes to the Spanish court to ask Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand for help. After surviving a grilling from the Head of the Spanish Inquisition Tomas de Torquemada, he eventually gets the blessing from Queen Isabella and sets sail in three ships to travel into the unknown. Along the way he must deal with sabotage from Portugese spies and mutiny from a rebellious crew.

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Plot Keywords:

queen isabella | spain | spanish inquisition | torquemada | christopher columbus | 

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Taglines:

Chosen by a queen. Driven by a dream. He dared to go to the edge, and kept going.

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some action violence, and for nudity

Details

Country:

UK USA Spain

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 August 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cristóbal Colón: el descubrimiento

Filming Locations:

Atlantic Ocean

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$8,251,071

Company Credits

Production Co:

Christopher Columbus Productions,Quinto Centenario

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Variety Magazine, Marlon Brando was paid $5 million for his cameo as Torquemada. Over ten years earlier, Brando had set an industry record when "Christopher Columbus" producer Ilya Salkind had paid him $3.7 million for twelve days work on Superman (1978) against a percentage of the gross. That deal yielded Brando $14 million, though he had to sue the producer to get it. It was widely suspected that Brando took the role to raise money to pay for the defense of his son Christian Brando, who had been indicted on murder charges after shooting his sister Cheyenne's lover, Dag Drollett.

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Quotes

Christopher Columbus: [to the prostitute who tried to mug him] Stick to your profession, beware the Genoese, and shun the Devil!

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Connections

Featured in For Our Eyes Only: John Glen (2018)

User Reviews

Far better than it's got credit for

This was heavily based by critics all over in 1992, when compared to "1492 - Conquest of Paradise". That film was also OK (7/10), and it took me years to seek out this, as it was bashed the way it was. However, I've seen later DVD-reviews being far more favorable, and they're right!

This film is more of a dramas than an action movie. And it's most certainly way more true in depicting how the long sea trip took place, as well as how it all got to get that far. I found the waiting for them to see land as exciting as the action which is probably what was the reason critics didn't like it back in 1992. It was also said the acting was bad back them. That's pure crap. The acting is good.

The way the film depicts the bad parts of the conquering is simply great. It goes down through the bone marrow. Sometimes critics just follow each other like a flock of seagulls. And all around the world they copy what's been said "over there". This premiered in USA and Germany 14 days before the rest of the world, which just followed up the bad critics. This was before the world had seen much of Internet.

It shows Columbus as a kind, but also hard man. He is not shown as a pure hero. He steal the gold and silver from the Indians, and he lets crime happen. He also took slaves back, and forced the Christian religion upon them, to show how good the Indians were when brought back to Spain. It was purely awful. It's grim in many ways. No wonder it was seen upon as a travesty back at the 500 years anniversary.

See it. See a much more true story than the other films, though it has no happy ending! Just as it was. The modern world ruined the Central Americas in an awful way.