Don Quixote has long been hailed as the most famous fictional character to come out of Spain. And it’s no surprise why. His novel, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha, is considered the first fictional story with characters and heart. For as long as film has existed as a medium, so has Don Quixote rode through film reels, tilting at windmills and flying wooden horses to the moon.
For this article, I will be reviewing one Don Quixote film from (approximately) every fifty years, starting in the 1900s and ending in the 2010s. At the end, I will be ranking all of these films and saying which one is the best and which one is the worst.
1900s
The oldest surviving Quixote film is 1903’s Aventures de Don Quichotte. The picture is 8 minutes long, but captures a large amount of Quixote lore in that time. The movie begins in the study of Alonso Quijano, a rich hidalgo. His study is filled with chivalry books and paintings of knight-errants.
Suddenly, the knights on his back wall come alive, beckoning him to join their ranks.
Quijano grabs a lance off his lance rack and leaves, returning to the study with Sancho Panza, who is portrayed as a drunk and stupid peasant, complete with a faux-pot belly and a bottle of XXX.
After guzzling down a whole bottle of beer, Panza puts a suit of armor onto the old Quijano, in a manner very similar to the opening number of the musical Man of La Mancha.
This opening, though rather simplistic, is pretty effective at setting up the basic characteristics of the two main characters. And I mean very basic characteristics. Sancho, as mentioned above, is portrayed as being a simple minded, drunk villager, a portrayal that completely ignores his often wise and kind moments.
Quixote, however, has a much kinder introduction in this film. A man who spends all his time in his studies, reading stories and obsessing over knightly tales.
After their introduction, Sancho and Quixote leave the study through a back exit. Immediately after, a group of villagers, led by the padre, rush into Quixote’s study. They grab books off the shelf and begin burning them, crushing suits of armor and snapping lances (they really only throw things out the window).
The biggest problem with this film becomes evident in this scene. If you were not already familiar with Don Quixote, you would have absolutely no idea what was happening at this moment. Why is the padre throwing away books? Aren’t priests supposed to be good people who don’t destroy others belongings?
The reason the villagers are destroying Quixote’s personal collection of knight objects is because they want Quixote to stop dreaming of knight-errantry.
I’m not sure whether to fault the film for this or not. Reportedly, there are about six minutes of film that are lost. So perhaps there was an explanation in those six minutes? Or maybe more people had read Don Quixote in 1903 then in 2023? Or maybe the film was more interested in the spectacle and magic of film than in telling a story?
And the spectacle of this movie is great. Wooden cutouts fill the screen, sheets are used for water. It uses common “Méliès” style tricks like hand painting every frame with oils, and blacking out parts of the screen to create the illusion of paintings coming to life.
After the burning of the books, the rest of the film is entirely focused on some of Quixote’s most famous adventures. The episodic nature of Quixote’s books works well in the silent film genre. I suspect Quixote would work great as a television series.
The movie ends with Sancho becoming the governor of his own island (There is no explanation in this movie that Sancho was promised an island by Quixote.) Then, in a short scene, Don Quixote dies.
Thus leaving the first Quixote film with a bleak yet expected end.
Should you watch this movie? I think that really depends on who you are. The film in itself is fine but I think it’s elevated if you already appreciate movies from that time.
1950s
The Orson Welles version of Quixote is not well known for its contents (in fact I suspect most people who talk about it haven’t seen it) but for the behind the scenes chaos.
The film’s development began in 1955, where Orson Welles was tasked with creating a 30 minute TV version of Cervantes’ novel.
By 1957, the TV movie grew into a black and white feature film. By 1972, the movie was abandoned. It seemed impossible to finish.
Then, in 1992, the film was released posthumously. Most of the film is intact, however there is quite a lot of cutting to concept art.
The premise of the movie is very interesting. A 17th century Don Quixote riding through 20th century Spain. The first 10 minutes of runtime are spent introducing the story and world of Don Quixote.
There once was a rich hidalgo by the name of Alonso Quejana. He read so many chivalric stories that his brain dried up, and he became convinced he was a knight-errant.
So, he decided to sally forth through the Spanish countryside, along with his faithful “squire,” Sancho Panza. Sancho was convinced to join with Quixote because Quixote promised to make him governor of an island.
The costumes remind me of Gustave Dore’s famous Quixote illustration, with the lighting creating striking silhouettes of Sancho and Quixote.
The makeup of Quixote looks like stage play makeup, with dramatic shading. It further adds to the painterly aesthetic the whole movie has.
Everything seems par for the course, until Quixote, atop his horse Rocinante, begins riding across a dirt road.
Suddenly, a Vespa speeds across the road. Rocinante rears. Quixote begins to panic, thinking the moped is a monster. He stops the driver and begins swinging his lance at the vehicle.
The driver speeds away furiously.
The movie was hard to follow at times, however I could hardly look away. Everything got more and more dreamlike the further into the movie I got.
I wouldn’t really recommend it as your Saturday movie night pick, but you should still watch it if you’re interested enough in the material (plus you’ll sound really smart saying you’ve watched an Orson Welles version of Don Quixote).
2000s
The great Shrek-Mania of the early 2000s, the birth of many a mediocre, CGI film. And Donkey Xote is no exception. The whole film is an absolute bore from beginning to end, with only one entertaining moment in the whole 90 minute run time. It was the first five minutes, when the narrator directly quotes from the far funnier and more action packed original novel (which was published in 1605 by the way).
Everything else was dreadfully boring, with the unnecessary addition of Sancho’s donkey being a talking creature, just to cash in on the Shrek & Donkey craze.
The whole film also felt very misogynistic, with multiple shots pointing straight at women characters breasts.
It’s not even entertaining, it’s just annoying. Little kids probably won’t even like it.
‘Nuff said.
2010s
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote isn’t a film I feel like I can talk about. So much happens in it and it feels so heartfelt, but I’ll do my best.
The film began in the 1990s as an idea in the head of Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame). By 2000, the film began development. It would star Johnny Depp as the disgruntled film director Toby Grummet, with Jean Rochefort playing Quixote.
But then, everything went wrong. Jean Rochefort began having back problems so he couldn’t ride atop his horse. Rain began falling heavily, causing mud storms and floods that caused weeks and weeks of delay. Finally, it became clear that the film wouldn’t be made. And so, the movie was canceled.
That was until twenty years later, when it was brought back to life.
It now starred Adam Driver rather than Johnny Depp, with José Luis Ferrer now set to play Quixote. And then, the film came out in 2018.
The only thing I can compare it to is Orson Welle’s Quixote. But there’s so much more to it.
It begins with disgruntled director Toby (I suspect he was written as a self insert of Terry Gilliam), on the set of his Don Quixote epic. We soon find out about his original Don Quixote film (called The Man Who Killed Don Quixote), a college project starring a poor shoemaker named Javier Sanchez as the titular knight-errant.
Toby eventually find the village where he shot his original Quixote flick. He soon finds Sanchez, who has become convinced he is the real Don Quixote de la Mancha. He believes Toby is Sancho Panza.
Soon, after Quixote attacks a police vehicle, the pair sally forth, mostly as a way to run from the authorities.
Quixote and Toby disagree on most things and nearly constantly bicker. There is a sort of magic to the rest of the film. It becomes unclear what is real and what is just in the imagination of Quixote and Toby.
The movie ends with a friendship between Quixote and Toby. Then, Quixote dies. In his last moments, he stops believing he’s the dauntless knight errant.
“I am Javier Sanchez, a shoe maker,” he says quietly.
Toby responds, “No, you’re Don Quixote de la Mancha.”
And then, Quixote dies. But his spirit lives on.
As Toby begins riding home, he sees a group of windmills who he believes are giants. He charges towards them.
“ I was born at the behest of Heaven, in this iron age, to revive the lost age of chivalry,” Toby says as the final frames fade out of view, “I am the one to whom the dangers are reserved. I am Don Quixote de la Mancha. And I will live forever.”
This film was amazing. It is the greatest Quixote film that I’ve ever seen.
I don’t even know what to say about it. You should watch it.
Final Ranking
(One is best, Four is last)
- The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018) – So much heart and soul went into this film and you can tell in every second. It is not a perfect movie. But Don Quixote is not a perfect book.
- Orson Welles Don Quixote (1957-1972) – This movie is unfinished, but it has a strong concept. However, the concept is much better executed in The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. This is an interesting piece of history but isn’t worth watching unless you’re an avid Orwellean or Cervantite.
- Aventures de Don Quichotte (1903) – This movie is really quite good for the time it was made, but it really doesn’t hold up. It lacks story and would be confusing to someone who knows nothing about Don Quixote.
- Donkey Xote (2007) – This is the least surprising place. This movie was genuinely terrible.
