The Royal Hunt of the Sun | |
---|---|
Directed by | Irving Lerner |
Screenplay by | Philip Yordan |
Based on | The Royal Hunt of the Sun by Peter Shaffer |
Produced by | Robert Sisk |
Starring | |
Edited by | Bill Lewthwaite |
Music by | Marc Wilkinson |
Production companies | Cinema Center Films Security Pictures |
Distributed by | Rank Organization (Great Britain) National General Pictures (United States) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 121 minutes |
Countries | United Kingdom United States |
Language | English |
The Royal Hunt of the Sun is a 1969 British-American epic historical drama film based on the play of the same name by Peter Shaffer. It stars Robert Shaw as Francisco Pizarro and Christopher Plummer as the Inca Emperor Atahualpa. Plummer appeared in stage versions of the play before appearing in the film, which was shot in South America and Spain. The film and play are based on the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire (now Peru) by Pizarro in 1530.
With a small rag-tag band of soldiers, Francisco Pizarro enters the Inca Empire and captures its Emperor, Atahualpa. Pizarro promises to free him in return for a golden ransom, but later finds himself conflicted between his desire to conquer and his friendship for his captive.
The film has a rating of 56% on Rotten Tomatoes. [1]
The Royal Hunt of the Sun was released to DVD by Simitar Entertainment in 1997, and by CBS Home Entertainment on November 25, 2014, via its CBS MOD DVD-on-demand service.
Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos was a Spanish conquistador, best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
Robert Archibald Shaw was an English actor, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. Beginning his career in theatre, Shaw joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre after the Second World War and appeared in productions of Macbeth, Henry VIII, Cymbeline, and other Shakespeare plays. With the Old Vic company (1951–52), he continued primarily in Shakespearean roles. In 1959 he starred in a West End production of The Long and the Short and the Tall.
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. His accolades included an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards, making him the only Canadian recipient of the "Triple Crown of Acting". He also received a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as a nomination for a Grammy Award.
Huáscar Inca also Guazcar was Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire from 1527 to 1532. He succeeded his father, Huayna Capac and his brother Ninan Cuyochi, both of whom died of smallpox during the same year while campaigning near Quito.
Atahualpa, also Atawallpa (Quechua), Atabalica, Atahuallpa, Atabalipa, was the last effective Inca emperor before his capture and execution during the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
Huayna Capac was the third Sapa Inca of Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire. He was the son of and successor to Túpac Inca Yupanqui., the sixth Sapa Inca of the Hanan dynasty, and eleventh of the Inca civilization. He was born in Tumipampa and tutored to become Sapa Inca from a young age.
Gonzalo Pizarro y Alonso was a Spanish conquistador. He was the younger paternal half brother of Francisco Pizarro, who led the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Pizarro was the illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pizarro y Rodríguez de Aguilar (1446–1522), who, as an infantry colonel, served under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba during the Italian Wars. He was also the younger paternal half brother of Hernándo Pizarro y de Vargas and the older paternal full brother of Juan Pizarro y Alonso.
The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, also known as the Conquest of Peru, was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. After years of preliminary exploration and military skirmishes, 168 Spanish soldiers under conquistador Francisco Pizarro, along with his brothers in arms and their indigenous allies, captured the Sapa Inca Atahualpa in the 1532 Battle of Cajamarca. It was the first step in a long campaign that took decades of fighting but ended in Spanish victory in 1572 and colonization of the region as the Viceroyalty of Peru. The conquest of the Inca Empire, led to spin-off campaigns into present-day Chile and Colombia, as well as expeditions to the Amazon Basin and surrounding rainforest.
Manqu Inka Yupanki (Quechua) was the founder and monarch of the independent Neo-Inca State in Vilcabamba, although he was originally a puppet Inca Emperor installed by the Spaniards. He was also known as "Manco II" and "Manco Cápac II". He was one of the sons of Huayna Capac and a younger brother of Huascar.
The Sapa Inca was the monarch of the Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu), as well as ruler of the earlier Kingdom of Cusco and the later Neo-Inca State. While the origins of the position are mythical and originate from the legendary foundation of the city of Cusco, it seems to have come into being historically around 1100 AD. Although the Inca believed the Sapa to be the son of Inti and often referred to him as Intip Churin or 'Son of the Sun,' the position eventually became hereditary, with son succeeding father. The principal wife of the Inca was known as the Coya or Qoya. The Sapa Inca was at the top of the social hierarchy, and played a dominant role in the political and spiritual realm.
The Ransom Room is a small building located in Cajamarca, Peru. It is considered to be the place where the Inca Empire came to an end with the capture and eventual execution of the Inca Emperor Atahualpa.
The Battle of Cajamarca also spelled Cajamalca was the ambush and seizure of the Inca ruler Atahualpa by a small Spanish force led by Francisco Pizarro, on November 16, 1532. The Spanish killed thousands of Atahualpa's counselors, commanders, and unarmed attendants in the great plaza of Cajamarca, and caused his armed host outside the town to flee. The capture of Atahualpa marked the opening stage of the conquest of the pre-Columbian civilization of Peru.
The Royal Hunt of the Sun is a 1964 play by Peter Shaffer that dramatizes the relation of two worlds entering in a conflict by portraying two characters: Atahuallpa Inca and Francisco Pizarro.
The Incas were most notable for establishing the Inca Empire which was centered in modern-day South America in Peru and Chile. It was about 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) from the northern to southern tip. The Inca Empire lasted from 1438 to 1533. It was the largest Empire in America throughout the Pre-Columbian era. The Inca state was known as the Kingdom of Cuzco before 1438. Over the course of the Inca Empire, the Inca used conquest and peaceful assimilation to incorporate the territory of modern-day Peru, followed by a large portion of western South America, into their empire, centered on the Andean mountain range. However, shortly after the Inca Civil War, the last Sapa Inca (emperor) of the Inca Empire was captured and killed on the orders of the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, marking the beginning of Spanish rule. The remnants of the empire retreated to the remote jungles of Vilcabamba and established the small Neo-Inca State, which was conquered by the Spanish in 1572.
Francisco Xerez, Francisco de Jerez, or Francisco de Xerxes (1495–1565?) was a Spanish explorer-turned-historian, the personal secretary of conquistador Francisco Pizarro. He participated in the conquest of Peru during the first two unsuccessful expeditions led by Pizarro, Diego de Almagro and Hernando de Luque in 1524. Xerez did not stay and join The thirteen of the fame in the Isle of Gallo (1526).
The 10-month siege of Cusco by the Inca army under the command of Sapa Inca Manco Inca Yupanqui started on 6 May 1536 and ended in March 1537. The city was held by a garrison of Spanish conquistadors and Indian auxiliaries led by Hernando Pizarro. The Incas hoped to restore their empire (1438–1533) with this action, but it was ultimately unsuccessful.
The Inca Civil War, also known as the Inca Dynastic War, the Inca War of Succession, or, sometimes, the War of the Two Brothers, was fought between half-brothers Huáscar and Atahualpa, sons of Huayna Capac, over succession to the throne of the Inca Empire. The war followed Huayna Capac's death.
Cura Ocllo was an Inca queen consort, or coya, as the wife and full sister of the Inca emperor Manco Inca Yupanqui, whose reign over the Inca Empire began in 1533. During the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, she was abducted and raped by the Spanish soldier Gonzalo Pizarro in an incident that greatly exacerbated tensions with Yupanqui, who, amidst the fall of the Inca Empire to the Spanish Empire, decried the conduct of Spanish troops towards the Inca people. He subsequently founded the rebellious Neo-Inca State, which was also conquered by the Spanish by 1572.
Cuxirimay Ocllo, also known as Doña Angelina Yupanqui, was a princess and consort of the Inca Empire by marriage to her cousin, the Sapa Inca Atahualpa.
Civilizations is a 2019 novel by French writer Laurent Binet. The novel depicts an alternate history in which the Americas are never colonised by the Europeans, and the Inca emperor Atahualpa invades Europe.