Amelia de la Torre Movies
- 1985
This entertaining comedy is set in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War when a group of Republican soldiers sneak into a village in enemy territory to steal a bull with plans of butchering it to feed themselves. Fate and the bull itself, however, have other plans. One of the surreptitious bull-snatchers knows the village well -- he grew up there, but that advantage alone cannot guarantee their success, as it turns out. The group of five would-be thieves dress themselves in uniforms of the Nationalist troops in an attempt to dissimulate their true identity. But instead of a neat getaway with a bull in tow, they are caught up in the "correo" or running of the bull, they get involved in a religious procession, and in the end, watch as the bull breaks out of a flimsy ring in a bullfight and heads for the hills. Still hungry, the group of men now have to worry about getting back to their own battalion before they are found out. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guillermo Montesinos, Alfredo Landa, (more)
- 1984
Fernando Rey plays a Spanish cardinal who returns to his home town thirty years after leaving for Rome. Rey knew that he'd left an illegitimate daughter behind, but was unaware that he also has a granddaughter (Victoria Abril). The girl is embroiled in an affair with Rey's own brother (Francisco Rabal), a Marxist activist. The filmmakers' sympathies are more with Marxism than Catholicism, but politics are secondary to the kinky romantic intrigues. Evidently Fernando Rey didn't consider Our Father (original Spanish title: Padre Nuestro) significant enough to list on his official, published resume. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernando Rey, Francisco Rabal, (more)
- 1979
In this comedy, a conservative schoolteacher encounters a foul-mouthed boy and a kind prostitute, and in each case, he is shocked. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Birkin, José Luis Lopez Vasquez, (more)
- 1974
When an elderly relative (Francisco Rabal) who has made a fortune in the Americas returns to Spain for a visit with his relatives, the mother (Conchita Velasco) of a bevy of daughters feels certain that at least one of them can snare him for a secure future. Imagine her frustration, then, when the old fellow falls in love with the family's servant girl (Ana Belen). Not only is she haplessly preventing the family's daughters from snaring a mate, the servant has been having an affair with a priest which was not good for anyone. In the end, the old man's love prevails, the conscience-ridden priest is freed of his entanglement, and the newly married couple move out of the country. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Long before Shakespeare was revolutionizing English theater, great Spanish playwrights like Fernando de Rojas were writing popular, fully-scripted plays like La Celestina (1499). This international production is based on that play and concerns the tribulations of two star-crossed lovers who must rely on the arch-conniver Celestina to even manage to see one another briefly. However, one after another of them is betrayed in this grandmother of all subsequent tragicomedies of the modern age. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julián Mateos, Amelia de la Torre, (more)
- 1961
This is an effective satire directed by Luis Berlanga that pans charity from the head -- the cold, calculated or unthinking kind -- as versus charity from the heart. The focus is on Placido (Casto Sendra-Cassen), a truckdriver who has little money and so making regular payments on his truck can be difficult, so much so that he gets behind and is in danger of having his vehicle repossessed. Meanwhile, he gets involved in a local, annual charity drive that opens up his eyes to the problems and foibles of other impoverished people. After those experiences, Placido has a different attitude toward his monthly payments. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Luis Lopez Vasquez
