|Klaus Kinski||Don Lope de Aguirre|
|Ruy Guerra||Don Pedro de Ursua|
|Del Negro||Brother Gaspar de Carvajal|
|Peter Berling||Don Fernando de Guzman|
Don Lope de Aguirre, a ruthless Spanish conquistador, vies for power while part of an expedition in Peru to find El Dorado, the mythical seven cities of gold. Accompanied by his daughter, Flores, Aguirre faces off against his superior, Don Pedro de Ursua, and grows increasingly volatile after seizing control of the group. As Aguirre presses deeper into the Amazonian jungle, he descends further into madness.