''The Knight of the Dragon'' (), ''Star Knight'', is a 1985 Spanish

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

Fernando Colomo Fernando Colomo Gómez (born 2 February 1946) is a Spanish film producer, screenwriter and film director. He has also acted in small roles in his own and other's films. He is regarded as the father of the so-called '' comedia madrileña''. Fi ...

. It stars

Miguel Bosé Miguel Bosé (born Luis Miguel Dominguín Bosé; 3 April 1956) is a Spanish-Italian Pop music, pop singer and actor. Early life Bosé was born in San Fernando Hospital in Panama City, Panama, the son of Italian actress Lucia Bosè (1931–202 ...

alongside

Klaus Kinski Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor. Equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality, he appeared in over 130 film roles in a ...

Harvey Keitel Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor and film producer, known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running associatio ...

and

Fernando Rey Fernando Casado Arambillet (20 September 1917 – 9 March 1994), best known as Fernando Rey, was a Spanish film, theatre, and television actor, who worked in both Europe and the United States. A suave, international actor best known for hi ...

Plot

A knight sets out to rescue a princess from a dragon, but the dragon turns out to really be an alien spacecraft.

Cast

Production

The film had initially a 200 million pesetas budget, and received an additional 50% subsidy. Eventually the budget had to be raised to 300 million, making for a 400 million total (equal to about $4 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

, adjusted for

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

), the highest in Spanish cinema at the time."Klaus Kinski era un mierdecilla". Así se arruinó la gran marcianada del cine español

El Confidencial ''El Confidencial'' is a Spanish-language general-information digital newspaper located in Spain, specializing in economic, financial and political news. It was established as an online newspaper in 2001. Its target readership is professional ...

, 18 January 2021

Casting

Imanol Arias Manuel María Arias Domínguez (born 26 April 1956), better known as Imanol Arias, is a Spanish actor. In his career beginnings, Arias was a recurring face of Basque cinema. His career in the 21st-century is marked by his portrayal of Antonio ...

was initially chosen for the alien's role, and the actor liked the idea, but it was eventually decided that he wasn't suitable for the character. Looking for a more androgynous profile, he was replaced by

. For alchemist Boecius the staff was interested in signing a former

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

star. The producers successively tried to sign

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year caree ...

Charlton Heston Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor. He gained stardom for his leading man roles in numerous Cinema of the United States, Hollywood films including biblical epics, science-fiction f ...

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...

and

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He is known for his antihero roles and film noir appearances. He received nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. He received a star on the Holl ...

. An agreement with

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor. He was known for his work in the horror film genre, mostly portraying villains. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price ...

fell through due to surgery, and his agent offered them

instead.

Filming

The film was shot through the province of

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

. The crew was set in

Roses A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

, and the

Requesens Castle Requesens Castle is situated on a hill overlooking the southern valleys of Mount Neulós, approximately 7 km east of the Requesens neighbourhood. For centuries, it has controlled the passage into Spain and corresponds to the ancient village of Reque ...

and the volcanic landscape around

Olot Olot (; ) is the capital city of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' of Garrotxa, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The city is known for its natural landscape, including four volcanoes scattered around the city center. The municipali ...

were used. The shooting is mostly remembered for the tense relationship between Kinski and most of the cast and crew. According to

, having to wait on a horse for a while angered him for the rest of the entire production and he was disrespectful to everyone except for Miguel Bosé and the

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

people who took care of the animals used in the film.

Release

The film was theatrically released in Spain on 20 December 1985. After the film's theatrical run in its native Spain,

CineTel Films CineTel Films Inc. was an independent film production company and distributor based in West Hollywood, California. History The company was founded in Chicago in 1980 as Chicago Teleproductions and later moved the company's headquarters to Los ...

picked up the film for a US theatrical release in the summer of 1986. However, the film was not released on

videocassette Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocasset ...

in the US until 1992, when it was released by Vidmark Entertainment.

Reception

The film was the seventh most attended Spanish film in 1985, far from the box office performance expected to make up for its record budget. The production also resulted in a dispute with the American distributors, which broke off their contract following a delay. Colomo was left with a 50 million pesetas debt that he covered with the gains from his next film, '' La vida alegre''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight Of The Dragon, The 1985 films 1980s science fiction adventure films Spanish science fiction adventure films 1980s Spanish-language films Films directed by Fernando Colomo Films set in the Middle Ages Films shot in the province of Girona Films scored by José Nieto 1985 science fiction films