Mario Almada Movies
In a rather far-fetched action thriller about horse thieving, an otherwise upright rancher is blackmailed into stealing a pricey, champion racehorse that some gangsters want for their own stables. The two gang leaders, Bruno (Toño Infante) and Killer (Rubén Recio) connive to enlist a commando from the Korean War named Felipe (Mario Almada) to carry out the theft of the racehorse Excaliber, soon to run at the Tijuana track for the first time. They dispatch the evil Osaka to twist Felipe's arm, which he successfully does by kidnapping Felipe's son and then beating his ranchhand nearly to death, blowing off his leg for good measure. Thus coerced, Felipe looks up an old army buddy and with some of the money that Osaka left in payment for the deed, Felipe covers the cost of his friend's help. Next, another vet from the Korean War is recruited as a helicopter pilot and the three begin to rehearse the planned horse-napping. Their objective is to pick up the horse by helicopter in mid-race, and to ensure the success of that imaginative heist, Osaka kidnaps the jockey's wife to force his cooperation. When the big day comes, the horse caper is successful -- with a few glitches here and there -- yet Felipe is a long way from getting his son back safely and at the same time, escaping arrest. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Almada, Rosenda Bernal, (more)
When an ambitious gang of international terrorists target the Pope for assassination, it's up to one lone cop to ensure the safety of the revered Catholic icon hit in director Avinadain Bautista's explosive action thriller. The Pope is all set to visit Mexico, but this fateful trip abroad may be his last. When a top Mexican cop catches wind of a complex assassination plot, he leaps into action in hopes of saving the high profile holy man from a most violent fate. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Blood Screams, a fairly entertaining, bloody horror thriller filmed in Mexico and directed by Glenn Gebhard, is the familiar story of two young people who must fight a supernatural killer. When the townspeople of a small Mexican village start mysteriously disappearing, the frightened, superstitious local townspeople become suspicious of two young visitors (Stacey Shaffer and Russ Tamblyn), new to the town. In order to save their lives, they must find out the truth, which to their horror involves a legendary madman who begins to hunt them. Blood Screams was originally released as Los Monjes Sangientos. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Russ Tamblyn, Stacey Shaffer, (more)
Cabalgando Con La Muerte concerns a lone-wolf cowboy named Candido. His sense of personal honor puts him in a situation where he enters in a land war against the ruthless Sebastian, a greedy unethical man aiming to control vast sections of land. To that end Sebastian has sent his henchmen to terrorize the farmers of the area. Only one of the farmers, Isidro, has the resolve to stand up to Sebastian. Isidro and Candido combine their talents to make a final stand. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Life is good for the good Dr. César Fuentes. He has plenty of money, a good marriage, a healthy young son and a nice house in addition to his interesting job. When a man who used to be his gardener teams up with a drug baron to kidnap his son, that's bad. They want a mere $20,000, which should be all right, except that what with one thing and another, the spoiled child is soon killed by the kidnappers. When the doctor sees his son's pathetic body, he plans his revenge. In this crime thriller, the unhappy doctor decides to kidnap the drug lord's son. In between massive mayhem and many car chases, we learn that the drug baron's son is much happier with his abductor than he ever was at home. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Almada, Mario Almada, (more)
- 1984
A Southwestern lawman must prevent his deranged brother from becoming a killer. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
One man's success brings out the evil instincts in his enemy in this drama from Mexico. Don Pancho Murguia is an honest man who has built a successful business making tequila, which is regarded as the best Mexico has to offer. But he has a bitter rival in Mateo San Juan, whose corruption matches Don Pancho's skills. Determined to overtake Don Pancho in the marketplace, Mateo and his men set out to steal the elusive formula to his tequila, and when this proves difficult, Mateo declares that human lives are not too high a price to get what he wants. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Almada, Marisol Santacruz, (more)
- 1987
In Central America, the peasants are nearly all "Indios," or people whose cultural values are those of indigenous people (rather than European or Spanish). Since the landowning and propertied classes abuse them horribly, these same ruling-class types live in perpetual fear of a bloody uprising. As a result, they suppress and abuse the peasants even more. Ironically, for the most part these peaceable people only want to be left alone. Those who do want to foment revolution have virtually no weapons and few allies to help them. In this action/adventure movie, based on a true incident, a group of Guatemalan peasants who have sought refuge in Mexico are sought out by Guatemalan death squads, and those who aren't tortured and killed are taken away in captivity. The hero in the story is a Mexican hunter whose family is mistakenly included in the raid and who teams up with a few of the survivors to win his family back and take revenge. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Almada, Gilberto Trujillo, (more)
