Don Quixote (Don Quijote de Orson Welles) (1992)

40% of critics liked it
(5 reviews)
35% of users liked it
(897 ratings)

Over the course of his lifetime, the legendary director Orson Welles (1915-1985) was forced to leave many of his grander movie-making projects unfinished, generally for want of sustained financial backing. Each successive unfinished effort generated buzz throughout the worshipful film community that… More Over the course of his lifetime, the legendary director Orson Welles (1915-1985) was forced to leave many of his grander movie-making projects unfinished, generally for want of sustained financial backing. Each successive unfinished effort generated buzz throughout the worshipful film community that only served to brighten the luster of his legend. Thus it was only a matter of time before one of his many admirers bought the rights to the fairly extensive footage he shot for his film Don Quixote (begun in 1955) and attempted to edit it into some semblance of a finished film, based on research into Welles' stated intentions and notes. A fuzzy, out-of-focus print of the resulting film was shown at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, and it was immediately deemed as a hashed-up job, a travesty bordering on the sacrilegious, by the assembled deeply interested and knowledgeable viewers. Their criticism focused mainly on issues that ordinary viewers would deem excessively technical, but the gist of it was that this was a very un-Wellesian use of Welles' footage. However, the film does offer viewers a unique opportunity to see some of the master's mature story ideas onscreen. In addition to footage from the film, the movie is also a kind of semi-documentary homage to Welles, showing footage of the famed director at work. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 58 min.
Directed By: Orson Welles
Genres: Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Comedy

In Theaters: Dec 31, 1992 Wide
On DVD: Apr 25, 2006
Studio: El Silencio Producciones

Critic Reviews

Todd McCarthy, Variety
[The] result is a travesty that will please no one, least of all Welles enthusiasts.
Sean Axmaker, Parallax View
[Jess] Franco's version is not even an approximation, never mind a reconstruction.... But even as a visual record of Welles' raw footage it's a travesty.
Shane Burridge, rec.arts.movies.reviews
The least of Welles' features, but just as intriguing as his major works
Phil Hall, Film Threat
Long-delayed reconstruction of Welles' unfinished Cervantes project.
Scott Renshaw, rec.arts.movies.reviews
Using guesswork and very little talent, a bunch of well-intentioned film buffs tried to piece together a lot of raw footage into something resembling the work of one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. They failed.

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Pierluigi P

An oddity, an uneven pastiche of stock footage of Welles himself and bits and pieces of his unfinished film. it has some few funny moments.
Walter M

"Orson Welles' Don Quixote" is a trippy and playful adaptation of the venerable novel that starts pretty much as expected. Don Quixote(Francisco Reiguera) is an aging landowner who decides, after a copious amount of reading of romantic adventures, to don an ancient set… More
"Orson Welles' Don Quixote" is a trippy and playful adaptation of the venerable novel that starts pretty much as expected. Don Quixote(Francisco Reiguera) is an aging landowner who decides, after a copious amount of reading of romantic adventures, to don an ancient set of armor and to have a series of (mis)adventures with Sancho Panza(Akim Tamiroff), a peasant friend, as his squire much to his perpetual consternation, in search of his beloved Dulcinea and giant windmills to battle. As austere as the budget seems to be, at least they could afford horses and the windmill sequence is captured with imagination. What sets this version apart and is the most jarring detail is its being set in the present day as Quixote brutally attacks a Vespa.(If he only waited a few decades, he would have found a much more deserving target in an SUV.) The time is important because after a while Orson Welles takes the story away from the book as Sancho Panza finds himself acting in a movie called "Don Quixote" by Orson Welles. It is evident that Don Quixote, who lives in a land that is better than the real one was, appeals to the dreamer in all of us, especially Welles. Contrary to this theory is an extended sequence revolving around a bullfight, which indicates he might have been more interested in filming the people of Spain than its classic literature which not counting Terry Gilliam might disprove the rumor of a curse being associated with films of "Don Quixote," as this was not the only incomplete work Welles left behind.(This was finished after his death.) On the other hand, "Farscape" was canceled shortly after its own take on "Don Quixote." So what do I know?

Cast

Francisco Reiguera
as Jose Mediavilla
Akim Tamiroff
as Juan Carlos Ordonez
Orson Welles
as Constantino Romero

Patty McCormack

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Don Quixote (Don Quijote de Orson Welles) (1992)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Pierluigi P

Walter M

Cast

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