Rita Macedo Movies
Distinguished Mexican actress Rita Macedo is best known outside of her native country for her performances in Bunuel's The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955) and Nazarin. She began her 40-year career at the age of 14 in Las Cinco Noches de Adam (1942). In 1971, Macedo earned an Ariel (the Mexican Academy Award) for her work in Tu, Yo y Nosotros. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi- 1974
- R
In this disturbing drama, a father, seeking to protect his family from the evils of the outside world, locks them away in his ancestral home for eighteen years. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1965
An innocent convict that is released after ten years seeks revenge on the people that set him up. ~ Rovi
- 1965
In this Mexican supernatural drama, a bereaved mother is granted three wishes after she makes a pact with the devil. Her first wish is to bring her son back from the dead. Unfortunately things don't turn out as well as she'd hoped they would. The story is based on The Monkey's Paw. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
A rebellious young man sets out to find himself in this melodrama by Roberto Rodríguez (of the brothers Rodríguez, well-established in Mexican cinema). The setting is Acapulco and the young man is one of the divers who throw themselves off the incredibly high cliffs known as the Quebrada, for recompense from tourists. That calling is dangerous enough but the unhappy home life of the diver sends him away, looking for his niche in the world. Just because of his dysfunctional family he is not so good at engendering relationships himself and when he does meet someone interesting he hurts the woman's feelings -- which does not bode well for finding the love he needs. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rodolfo De Anda, Patricia Conde, (more)
- 1961
Starring two well-known Mexican actors, the comic Clavillazo and Pulgarcito ("Tom Thumb"), this standard drama about an adoptive father-son relationship features good acting and directing (the latter by René Cardona). When the son of a decent family is bereft of his father he happens to make the acquaintance of a simple street vendor who sells balloons for a living. The vendor has no son of his own, and the son is without a father, and so the two quickly take to each other. Their relationship then becomes the focus of the rest of the tale. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- El Clavillazo, Rodolfo Landa, (more)
Based on the authentic Mexican legend first filmed in 1933 as La Llorona, this film begins with a flashback to a gruesome railway murder, setting up the legend of the wailing woman. In the present, a couple (Abel Salazar, Rosita Arenas) travels to a spooky mansion where evil Rita Macedo is trying to revive the mummified La Llorona. Macedo, the wailing ghost, and a deformed caretaker (Enrique Lucero) terrorize the central couple in fairly standard, ho-hum fashion, but director Rafael Baledon uses some interesting techniques to build atmosphere, and Arenas is solid as the imperiled heiress. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
The life of a powerful actress is examined in this tragedy. The film begins with her demise during a plane crash. Later, the men who loved her try to figure out why she was always so unhappy. Her story is told in flashback. It begins in a small town where she was a dress shop model. She used the money from that job to pay for her acting lessons. Later she is seen meeting the director of a theater group. This encounter eventually gets her involved with a Mexican film studio. As she becomes increasingly popular, she has a series of men in her life. Though she has become rich, powerful, and sought after, the woman still feels a great void in her life. To begin a new life, she takes a plane to Europe. Unfortunately the plane crashes and her life tragically ends. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maria Felix, Carlos Lopez Moctezuma, (more)
This is a dramatic, entertaining, and largely fictional interpretation of a very non-fictional event and a real set of characters in the Mexican Revolution. The heroine, Juana Gallo is portrayed by one of Mexico's most famous female leads, María Felix. Gallo was born and raised in the state of Zapatecas, and after the man she loves is killed during the Revolution, her anger leads her to fight alongside the men from her region. Joining her in battle are a noble career military man (Jorge Mistral), a lowly, impoverished fellow (Luis Aguilar), and a humble campesino (Ignacio Lopez-Tarso). Gallo and her compatriots are headed for the climactic battle of Zacatecas, a heroic struggle that is written large across the pages of Mexican history. The actual Juana Gallo died in poverty in 1959. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maria Felix, Jorge Mistral, (more)
- 1960
This drama is adapted from a novel by B. Traven and contains a potent anti-capitalist message as it tells the story of a peasant who truly loves the land he lives upon. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1958
Acclaimed director Luis Buñuel displays several of his trademark interests in this drama about a priest who leaves his order. The director's disdain for organized religion and the establishment, as well as his tendency to shock through visual imagery, are both apparent. Nazarin (Francisco Rabal) is the priest who leaves his order and decides to go on a pilgrimage. As he goes along subsisting on alms, he shelters a prostitute wanted by the police for murder. He is released from suspicion and she eventually catches up with him when she escapes imprisonment. Another woman joins the duo and soon the ex-priest is learning more about the human heart and suffering than when he wore robes. As for the shocking scenes, suffice to say the ravages of a plague are also shown. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Francisco Rabal, Marga Lopez, (more)
- 1956
Bandidos de Rio Frio translates literally as The Bandits of Cold River. The film is based on a 19th-century novel by Manuel Payno, though what emerges on screen is rather far removed from the original. Singing star Luis Aguilar heads the cast in this story of a band of lighthearted bandits whose exploits are more amusing than despicable. Though technically primitive (at least by Hollywood standards), the film scored a hit in Mexico, thanks to the popularity of Aguilar and his leading lady Rita Macedo. Bandidos de Rio Frio represented the final screen appearance of revered Latin American actor Jose Maria Linares Rivas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Luis Aguilar, Rita Macedo, (more)
- 1955
This Mexican-filmed black comedy (distributed in the U.S. seven years after its initial 1955 release date) is one of the minor but no less characteristic works of director Luis Buñuel. The film begins with Archibaldo (Ernesto Alonso) being triggered by a music box into a lengthy reminiscence of his childhood. It was an average, everyday incident, one that undoubtedly has occurred to us all: Archibaldo was caught dressing up in his mother's clothes by his governess, who was then instantly killed by a revolutionary's bullet before she could tell on him. The experience proved to be Archibaldo's "first rush," and he spends the rest of his life trying to re-create the sexual euphoria of that moment -- by murdering attractive women. Buñuel's characteristic perverse black humor then adds a twist, which prevents Archibaldo from fulfilling his desires. Perverse, but darkly funny, Ensayo de un Crimen is a slyly shocking delight. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ernesto Alonso, Ariadne Welter, (more)
Produced in Mexico, Stronghold was distributed in the U.S. by Lippert Pictures. The studio hoped that the presence of American film stars Veronica Lake and Zachary Scott would prove beneficial at the box-office. Set during Juarez' revolution against Austrian emperor Maximillian, the film casts Lake as Mary Stevens, a wealthy American visitor who is kidnapped by gentleman bandit Don Pedro Alvarez (Arturo de Cordova) and his gang. Alvarez plans to use the ransom money to help finance the revolution, but Mary manages to orchestrate governmental resistance against the bandit's schemes. Eventually, however, she realizes that Alvarez is a man of honor and patriotism. Conversely, Don Miguel Navarro (Zachary Scott), the "heroic" overseer of a silver mine owned by Mary, is actually a double-dyed villain, finally showing his hand in the film's spectacular finale. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Veronica Lake, Zachary Scott, (more)
- 1950
Based on a story by Guy de Maupassant, Las Joyas del Pecado begins when an otherwise faithful wife enters into an illicit affair when she is offered a pearl necklace. After the wife dies giving birth to her illegitimate child, her husband discovers that the necklace is fake. Feeling that his wife was twice betrayed, the embittered husband goes on a lifelong quest to seek out and kill the man responsible. No one in 1950 denied that Las Joyas del Pecado was well-acted and meticulously produced. Still, something was missing: the film died at the box-office in Mexico, and didn't fare much better when distributed to other Spanish-language markets. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Fernando Soler, Rita Macedo, (more)
- 1949
El Rencor de la Tierra was a box-office bonanza in Mexico, thanks in no small part to the presence of award-winning actor Carlos Moctezuma Lopez. The film concerns the plight of the humble tiller of soil in a region where the wealthy landowners call the shots. Lopez is cast as a farmer who tries his best to cope, but is overwhelmed by circumstances. Particularly effective is the supporting performance by Isabella Corona as Lopez' sexually frustrated sister. The film was produced by Rudolph Loewenthal, a past master at combining penetrating social commentary with "sock" entertainment values. Though denied a widespread American release, the film did reasonably well in Latino communities. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roberto Cañedo, Isabela Corona, (more)
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