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Fitzcarraldo

Play trailer Poster for Fitzcarraldo PG 1982 2h 40m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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78% Tomatometer 32 Reviews 92% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Opera-loving European Brian Fitzgerald lives in a small Peruvian city. Better known as Fitzcarraldo, this foreigner is obsessed with building an opera house in his town and decides that to make his dream a reality he needs to make a killing in the rubber business. In order to become a successful rubber baron, Fitzcarraldo hatches an elaborate plan that calls for a particularly impressive feat -- bringing a massive boat over a mountain with the help of a band of natives.

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Fitzcarraldo

Fitzcarraldo

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Critics Consensus

With a production as audacious as the feat it's depicting, Fitzcarraldo comes by its awe-inspiring spectacle honestly, even when it declines to examine the darker implications of its hero's dream.

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Critics Reviews

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Pauline Kael The New Yorker Sep 12, 2023
The film itself is a leaden variation on [Herzog's] Aguirre, the Wrath of God. It’s Aguirre without the inspired images or great subject. Go to Full Review Michael Sragow Rolling Stone Jun 21, 2022
My reaction is strictly, "So what?” Go to Full Review Elliott Stein Film Comment Magazine Dec 12, 2017
1/4
This botched, shapeless, gratuitous, ignoble, neo-colonialist film is so poorly made, written, edited, and directed that its centerpiece, its raison d'tre -- the honest-to-God hauling of a boat up a mountain before your eyes -- is meaningless. Go to Full Review Mike Massie Gone With The Twins Aug 19, 2026
6/10
It has a striking, triumphant conclusion, even if the pacing and significance of the voyage aren’t nearly as momentous as in Herzog’s prior works. Go to Full Review Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand Jul 28, 2026
The film only benefits from Herzog’s location shooting and demands of realism with spectacular photography and astounding physical effects, notably the steamship’s headlong rush down the rapids. Go to Full Review Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies Aug 20, 2022
4.5/5
Much like the frazzled Fitz himself playing Caruso on his beaten up Victrola record player, we sense there is something special in the art we are consuming. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Dave V @liveevil Oct 2, 2026 I knew that Werner Herzog was a special kind of demented genius,but until I saw this masterpiece I didn't know how much of a demented genius he was.Klaus Kinski is so awesome that you are just transfixed on his performance. See more Alain E @AlainE Sep 8, 2026 A movie about monomaniacal obsession. A German immigrant in South America comes with the idea of moving a river boat over a hill into a second river in order to avoid navigating through some falls. Although the idea sounds cockamamie the plan eventually is crowned by success. He is assisted in this endeavor by a local tribe who see in him the embodiment of a religious belief. Although in the beginning he entertained plans of translating the accomplishment into business in the end he sells the boat to finance a performance of an opera. The locals are not treated as victims in the story despite the objections of many later day anticolonialists. On Cineverse. See more Kyle M @RT77296778 Aug 9, 2026 Werner Herzog’s topical exploration towards indigenous tribes is appreciatively underlying with questionable focus when the ambitiously conceptual forefront gradually dissolve its compelling edge and continuously walking at a pedestrian pace through lingering scenery, comparable to "2001: A Space Odyssey" landed in "Apocalypse Now" without the similar grip tightened in "The Wage of Fear". (B-) See more Sigmund A. @Arkol Jun 23, 2026 Fitzcarraldo. He loves Italian opera. See more Hans H. @HansHans May 10, 2026 Who would even think of taking a boat over a mountain but to make a movie of it wins the top award for audacity. Well done! See more Levi J @Lev77 Mar 29, 2026 Fascinating, ambitious, very well-done film from the great Werner Herzog! See more Read all reviews
Fitzcarraldo

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Cast & Crew

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Werner Herzog

Director

Klaus Kinski

Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald - 'Fitzcarraldo'

Claudia Cardinale

Molly

José Lewgoy

Don Aquilino

Miguel Angel Fuentes

Cholo

Paul Hittscher

Captain (Orinoco Paul)

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Fitzcarraldo

Fitzcarraldo (1982) Fitzcarraldo (1982) Fitzcarraldo (1982) Fitzcarraldo (1982) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Opera-loving European Brian Fitzgerald lives in a small Peruvian city. Better known as Fitzcarraldo, this foreigner is obsessed with building an opera house in his town and decides that to make his dream a reality he needs to make a killing in the rubber business. In order to become a successful rubber baron, Fitzcarraldo hatches an elaborate plan that calls for a particularly impressive feat -- bringing a massive boat over a mountain with the help of a band of natives.
Director
Werner Herzog
Producer
Willi Segler, Lucki Stipetic, Werner Herzog
Screenwriter
Werner Herzog
Distributor
New World Pictures
Production Co
Werner Herzog Filmproduktion
Rating
PG
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 10, 1982, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 11, 2017
Runtime
2h 40m
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