Dragonslayer
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| Dragonslayer | |
|---|---|
 Original 1981 theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Matthew Robbins |
| Produced by | Hal Barwood Howard W. Koch |
| Written by | Hal Barwood Matthew Robbins |
| Starring | Peter MacNicol Caitlin Clarke Ralph Richardson John Hallam Peter Eyre Sydney Bromley Chloe Salaman |
| Music by | Alex North |
| Cinematography | Derek Vanlint |
| Editing by | Tony Lawson |
| Distributed by | - USA - Paramount - non-USA - Disney |
| Release date(s) | June 26, 1981 |
| Running time | 108 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $18,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
Dragonslayer is a 1981 live action fantasy movie set in a fictional medieval country similar to Britain. It follows a young wizard (played by Peter MacNicol) who experiences danger and opposition as he attempts to defeat a dragon.
A co-production between Walt Disney Productions and Paramount Pictures, Dragonslayer was more mature and realistic than other Disney films of the period. Because of audience expectations for a more child-friendly film from Disney, the movie's violence and adult themes were somewhat controversial at the time (it was rated PG in the U.S.; TV showings after 1997 have carried a TV-14 rating). The film grossed just over $14 million in the U.S.[1] with an estimated budget of USD$18 million. Often regarded as a commercial failure, it later became a cult classic on home video.
The film was directed by Matthew Robbins (later director of *batteries not included), from a screenplay he co-wrote with Hal Barwood. It starred Peter MacNicol, Ralph Richardson, John Hallam and Caitlin Clarke.
Dragonslayer also featured then-unknown actor Ian McDiarmid as the minor character, Brother Jacopus. McDiarmid's next film role after Dragonslayer would be that of the villain Palpatine in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, a role which he would reprise in the subsequent Star Wars films.
The special effects were created at Industrial Light and Magic, where Phil Tippett co-developed an animation technique called go motion for the film. Go motion is a variation on stop-motion animation, and its use in Dragonslayer led to the film's nomination for the Academy Award for Visual Effects; it lost to Raiders of the Lost Ark. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Original Music Score; Chariots of Fire took the award.
The film was also nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Again, it lost to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
In October 2003, Dragonslayer was released on DVD in the U.S. by Paramount Home Video.
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[edit] Plot
The setting is the Middle Ages. A kingdom called Urland is being held hostage by a dragon named Vermithrax Pejorative (which means "the Worm from Thrace which makes things worse"). An expedition led by Valerian (Clarke) sets out to find a sorcerer to help them. The expedition travels a hundred leagues (300 miles) before they find Ulrich of Craggenmoor (Richardson), who may be the only remaining living wizard (just as Vermithrax seems to be the only dragon left alive). They explain to the sorcerer that their king, Casiodorus (Peter Eyre), desperate to assuage the monster, has begun a lottery that all of the town's virgins are required to enter; the girl whose name is chosen is sacrificed to the dragon. The wizard foresaw their arrival and agrees to help, but then dies in an attempt to prove his magical powers to a brutish knight from Urland named Tyrian (Hallam), who has followed the expedition under orders from the king. The wizard's servants then burn Ulrich's body and place the ashes in a leather pouch.
Ulrich's inexperienced apprentice, Galen Bradwarden (MacNicol), decides to take the job himself when the wizard's magical amulet begins to obey his Latin incantations. This allows Galen to cast spells just as a true wizard might do, so he conceals it beneath his tunic and catches up to the delegation. He accidentally discovers Valerian to be a girl when swimming with her. He discovers that Valerian and her father hid the truth of her gender as the poorer villagers suspect that the daughters of wealthy or powerful people are secretly kept out of the lottery.
In an effort to discourage the expedition, Tyrian and his soldiers, still following them, kill Hodge (Sydney Bromley), the old manservant of the wizard. With the death of Hodge, it is up to Galen alone to try to complete Ulrich's charge.
As the delegation returns with the apprentice, Galen rashly seizes upon a chance to seal the dragon inside its lair. He drops a large boulder over the entrance with the magic amulet. The attempt backfires when his spell causes a full avalanche instead (presumably due to Galen's inexperience with magic in general, or an imperfect understanding of Latin). The avalanche nearly kills him and the delegation, but the lair is buried beneath the rubble just as he had hoped.
Later, when Galen attempts to impress the town's ruler with a demonstration of his powers, his spells misfire. After seeing Galen's incompetence, King Casiodorus guesses that he is not a real wizard and complains that his attack may have angered the dragon instead of killing it. The king then takes the amulet and has Galen locked away, but his fears are soon realized when the dragon burns through the rubble and emerges from its lair with a vengeance. An earthquake ensues, and the king's daughter Elspeth (Chloe Salaman), who feels her name was wrongly kept from the lottery, releases Galen in the confusion. Galen escapes on horseback, but without the amulet.
When Galen returns to the village, he finds that Vermithrax has already begun to retaliate by setting it on fire. Valerian (no longer masquerading as a boy) and her father the blacksmith (Emrys James) conceal Galen from the king's soldiers. Galen still wants to kill the dragon, but must steal back the amulet from the king to do it. When the lottery begins anew, Princess Elspeth rigs the drawing so that only her name can be chosen. She explains that she has proof the king kept her name out of all previous drawings, and she demands that she be sacrificed to make amends.
After the lottery, Galen is caught searching the king's quarters for the amulet. But instead of imprisoning him again, the king returns it to Galen so that he might save Elspeth. Then, with the blacksmith's help, Galen uses the amulet to enchant a heavy spear (dubbed Sicarious Dracorum, or "Dragonslayer") that the blacksmith has forged strong enough to pierce the dragon's armored hide. Meanwhile, Valerian gathers pieces of dragon hide and uses them to make Galen a shield. She makes a discovery while doing so: Vermithrax has a litter of kits.
Galen sets out to kill the dragon and rescue the princess. Valerian thinks his plan is suicide, but gives him the shield. She suggests that he has feelings for the princess, but he admits to being in love with someone else, and that someone is Valerian; she confesses that she too has feelings for him.
As Galen attempts to rescue Princess Elspeth, he is confronted by Tyrian, who demands that the sacrifice be made to save the kingdom. The Princess likewise believes the sacrifice must be made; when Galen cuts her chains, instead of fleeing she descends into the dragon's cave. Her dying screams are heard at the same moment Galen kills Tyrian with Dragonslayer. He then enters the cave and finds the Princess's body. The dragonlings are feasting upon it. He slays the kits, then searches for Vermithrax. He confronts the dragon in a lake of oil & water (a burning lake) and severely wounds her, only to break the spear. He flees the cave. Vermithrax finds the bodies of her young and sets out to destroy the nearby village.
After his failure to kill Vermithrax, Galen sets out to leave the village with Valerian, but as they board a small boat together the amulet gives him a vision that explains his teacher's final wishes. Ulrich had asked that his ashes be spread over "burning water", and Galen realizes that the wizard had planned the whole thing, possibly even his own death. He was too frail to make the journey to kill Vermithrax himself, but had his servants make the trip for him by carrying his ashes. Galen returns to the cave, spreads the ashes and speaks an incantation, and the wizard is resurrected from the flames of the burning lake.
Before Ulrich engages the dragon in combat, he gives Galen a message: when Galen knows the time is right, he must destroy the amulet and Ulrich with it. Then the wizard teleports to a mountaintop and the battle begins. The sorcerer attempts to kill Vermithrax with lightning, but only wounds her. Valerian repeatedly tells to Galen to destroy the amulet (even seizing it herself, in order to smash it with a rock), but Galen remains firm in that he will know when the time is right. The wounded dragon seizes the sorcerer and flies off with him.
The relationship between the wizard and the amulet is unclear, but when Ulrich is scooped up by Vermithrax, Galen realizes that now is the time to destroy the amulet, and with it, his only hope of ever gaining real magical power without Ulrich's training. Reluctantly, Galen crushes the amulet with a large rock while Ulrich is in the dragon's grip. At the same moment, the wizard literally explodes and obliterates the dragon.
Afterward, the villagers credit God with the victory, while the king arrives and drives a sword into the dragon's broken carcass to claim the glory for himself. No one thanks Galen or praises the late wizard's sacrifice.
As Galen and Valerian leave Urland together, he confesses that he misses both Ulrich and the amulet. But then he says, out loud, "I just wish we had a horse." As if on cue, a horse appears, suggesting that Galen may have inherited the wizard's powers after all.
[edit] Cast
- Peter MacNicol - Galen Bradwarden
- Caitlin Clarke - Valerian
- Ralph Richardson - Ulrich of Craggenmoor
- John Hallam - Tyrian
- Peter Eyre - King Casiodorus
- Albert Salmi - Greil
- Sydney Bromley - Hodge
- Chloe Salaman - Princess Elspeth
- Emrys James - Valerian's father
- Roger Kemp - Hosrik
- Ian McDiarmid - Brother Jacopus
[edit] Shooting Locations in North Wales
Nearly all of the outdoor scenes were shot in North Wales. The final scene was shot in Skye, Scotland.
- The filming crew were based in Betws y Coed, and the artists were stabled further down the Conwy valley.
- Dolwyddelan Castle was used for all outdoor shots of Ulrich's Castle. This includes the arrival of the delegation from Urland, the arrival of guards from Urland, Ulrich's first death scene and funeral burning.
- The external long shots of the dragon's lair were of the main face of Tryfan, from within yards of the A5, opposite Llyn Ogwen. The lair was shot looking upwards from the road, towards the broken face of Tryfan, Nant Ffrancon.
- Shots of Galen and Hodge on the trek to Urland were shot on the old road from Cobdens to Bryn Engan, in Capel Curig.
- The early morning camping scenes on the trek to Urland, Tyrian's shooting of Hodge, and Hodge's death scene all take place on a 500 yard section of Fairy Glen between Betws-y-Coed and Penmachno.
- The scenes of the delegation crossing over into Urland were shot above Ogwen Cottage, Nant Ffrancon.
- Galen fleeing on horseback from Casiodorus's castle was shot high above Llyn Crafnant.
- The scene where Galen Bradwarden sees an apparition in the lake was shot at the bottom end of Llyn Crafnant.
- The bleak rocky outcrop where Valerian gathers Dragon scales is Castell y Gwynt, above the Pen-y-Gwryd hotel.
- The scenes where Valerian delivers a shield made from the Dragon's scales and the intimate scene between Valerian and Galen were shot in the boulder field below Tryfan, about 300 yards from the A5 near the Llyn Ogwen Car Park.
- The procession scenes in which victims are transported to the Dragon's lair were shot on Gelli behind the main shop in Capel Curig.
- Vermithrax crashes into Llyn Llydaw, below Snowdon.
[edit] Trivia
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- Including the hydraulic 40 foot model, 16 dragon puppets were used for the role of Vermithrax, each one made for different movements; flying, crawling, fire breathing etc. [1]
- One of the Vermithrax puppets would eventually end up on the set of Return of the Jedi, where it would be jokingly posed with the rancor for a photograph. The image can be seen here. This gag is referenced in the book "Star Wars" Complete Locations: Inside the World of the Entire "Star Wars" Saga in which the map of Jabba's palace shows Vermithrax to be in a pen outside the rancor enclosure.
- A myth that the metal band Slayer was originally called "Dragonslayer" after this movie.[2]
- Kliff Undersn from the Guilty Gear series wields a cleaver blade on a staff named "Dragonslayer".
[edit] Novelization
A novelization was written by Wayland Drew which delved deeper into the development of many of the characters.
- Galen apparently was rejected by his parents as a toddler due to exhibiting magical abilities. Ulrich took him as an apprentice, but cast a spell on Galen which severely inhibited his inherent magic abilities, thus keeping them under control.
- A prologue implies that sorcerers could have been responsible for the creation of dragons.
- Vermithrax, along with the rest of her kind, was androgynous but required copulation with another dragon for fertilization.
[edit] External links
- Dragonslayer at the Internet Movie Database
- Dragonslayer at Rotten Tomatoes
- Dragonslayer at Box Office Mojo
