Jorge Fernandez Movies

Documentary filmmaker Vicente Pérez Herrero takes viewers on a behind the scenes glimpse into the European pornography capitol with this expose of the bustling Barcelona adult film industry. For anyone who ever wondered what life was like on the inside, a collection of international adult video stars including Anastassia and Nacho Vidal reveal a world that few outsiders have ever seen. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This situation comedy concerns the daydreams of people and what they would do if they suddenly had a million dollars. Maria Felix leads a cast of a dozen whose imaginations are as rich as the money they wish they had. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A moral decay leading to revolution is paralleled to the illness that is consuming the hero in this emotive tale by renowned director Luis Buñuel. Set on a fictional Latin American island, the action starts when Gov. Vargas (Miguel Angle Ferriz) is assassinated. His executive secretary Ramon Vasquez (Gerard Phillipe who died during production) is then forced to temporarily assume the mantle of power. After the new, brutal, and sadistic governor (Jean Servais) takes over, conditions steadily deteriorate. Meanwhile, the widow of the former governor, Inez Vargas (Maria Felix), and Ramon have fallen in love. Their relationship, as well as the stability of the island, is threatened by the new governor who covets Inez. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Mexico's contribution to the 1957 Berlin Film Festival was the Color-Cinemascope star vehicle Tizos. The ever-popular Maria Felix stars as a white woman who enters into a romance with a Mexican Indian, played by singing star Pedro Infante (who died shortly after the film's completion). The racial barriers between the lovers prove to be insurmountable, resulting in tragedy. Director Ismael Rodriguez spends a great deal of time establishing the folklore and traditions of Infante's people, much to the fascination of his audience. Likewise enraptured by Tizoc were the participants at the Berlin Festival, where the film scored a significant success. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Camelia is a woman who has been hurt by love but who is willing to give it another chance with her new, young and caring lover. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

No relation to the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock classic of the same name, Vertigo is a worthwhile vehicle for Mexican film favorite Maria Felix. The story concerns young swain Arturo (Emilio Tuero), who is about to marry pretty young Gabriela (Lilia Michel). His plans are radically altered when he falls in love with Gabriela's gorgeous mother Mercedes (Felix). To rid himself of his troublesome fiancee, Arturo kills the girl. Upon learning of this, Mercedes responds in kind in an ending worthy of Grand Opera. Based on a novel by Pierre Benoit, Vertigo was released in some English-speaking markets under the literal but slightly ridiculous title Dizziness. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Completed before his immensely successful Maria Candelaria, Emilio Fernandez' Flor Sylvestre was released second in the US-and not until two years after its initial Mexican release. Also known as Wildflower, the film features Fernandez himself as a character named Rogellio Torres. The lion's share of the footage, however, is devoted to the romance between Esperanza (Dolores Del Rio), granddaughter of a common laborer, and Jose Luis Castro (Pedro Armendariz), the firebrand son of a landowner. Joining a revolutionary movements, Castro is disowned by his father, but Esperanza remains loyally by his side. Later on, Castro's father is killed by outlaws; in seeking vengeance, he sacrifices his own life, while Esperanza carries on his revolutionary work with their young son in tow. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Having begun his directorial career in 1932, Fernando De Fuentes had four years' experience -- and ten pictures -- under his belt when he helmed the Tito Guizar musical vehicle Alla en el Rancho Grande. The film has been hailed by historians as the vanguard of the Mexican "Charro"-movie genre, which concentrated upon singing cowboys, golden-hearted bandits and fair senoritas. Popular radio singer Guizar is cast as itinerant ranchhand Jose Francisco, who falls in love in spite of himself with duckling-turned-swan Cruz (Esther Fernandez). It's essentially a Cinderella story, with a bit of Mexican "action dancing" and even cockfighting thrown in. On the strength of the enormously successful Alla en el Rancho Grande, Tito Guizar went on to even bigger stardom, and was still at the top of his profession as late as the 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The November 22, 1963, assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy shocked the nation and the world. The brisk investigation of that murder conducted under the guidance of Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren distressed many observers, even though subsequent careful investigations have been unable to find much fault with the conclusions his commission drew, the central one of which was that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone. Instead of satisfying the public, one result of the Warren Commission Report was that an unimaginable number of plausible conspiracy theories were bruited about, and these have supported a sizeable publishing mini-industry ever since. In making this movie, director Oliver Stone had his pick of supposed or real investigative flaws to draw from and has constructed what some reviewers felt was one of the most compelling (and controversial) political detective thrillers ever to emerge from American cinema. Long before filming was completed, Stone was fending off heated accusations of artistic and historical irresponsibility, and these only intensified after the film was released. In the story, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is convinced that there are some big flaws in the investigation of Oswald (Gary Oldman), and he sets out to recreate the events leading up to the assassination. Along the way, he stumbles across evidence that a great many people had reason to want to see the president killed, and he is convinced that some of them worked in concert to frame Oswald as the killer. Among the suspects are Lyndon Baines Johnson (the next president), the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Mafia. Over the course of gathering what he believes to be evidence of a conspiracy, Garrison unveils some of the grittier aspects of New Orleans society, focusing on the shady activities of local businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones). Garrison's investigations culminate in his conducting a show trial that he knows he will lose and which he is sure will ruin his career in order to get his evidence into the public record where it can't be buried again. This movie won two of the many Academy Awards for which it was nominated: one for Best Photography (Robert Richardson) and the other for Editing (Joe Hutshing). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi