Rodrigo Puebla Movies
The owner of an aircraft salvage company (Viggo Mortensen) is reported killed in a crash. However, his wife (Andie MacDowell) knows better, and she decides to find him and his secret bank accounts. She travels around the world, and winding up in Cairo, she meets Liam Neeson, who helps her uncover her husband's smuggling scheme. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andie MacDowell, Liam Neeson, (more)
- 1991
This historical drama set in the last years of the Aztec Empire before the arrival of Europeans is told entirely in Nahuatl, the ancient Aztec language. It tells the story of a warrior-priest's journey to Aztlan, the original (and very poor) homeland of the Aztecs. Ollín (Rodrigo Puebla) is making a religious pilgrimage in hopes of properly petitioning the gods to bring about the ending of a drought. Many magical events happen over the course of his journey and prayers in this unusual feature, which boasts historically accurate music, body-painting, and costumes, in addition to being told in the actual language of the Aztecs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rodrigo Puebla, Rafael Cortes, (more)
- 1991
- PG
This wacky buddy comedy was the fifth in a series of Hollywood remakes of films by French director Francis Veber, none of which were box office successes. Sheila Kelley is Valerie Highsmith, an heiress who, despite her family's wealth, suffers from horribly bad luck. On a vacation to Mexico, she takes a fall, causing amnesia, then is mugged and kidnapped for ransom. When her father (Sam Wanamaker) becomes frustrated with the failed attempts of a detective, Ray Campanella (Danny Glover) to find his daughter, he teams a very reluctant Ray with Eugene Proctor (Martin Short), an accountant whose bumbling bad luck is even worse than Valerie's. The theory is that perhaps two such incredibly unlucky people will act like magnets, with Eugene leading Ray to Valerie's location. Although Ray finds Eugene irritating, the unlikely partners eventually begin making surprising progress in the case, despite Eugene's never-ending screw-ups and pratfalls. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Short, Danny Glover, (more)
- 1988
Elise (Arielle Dombasle) is content being the lover of Alex (Omar Sharif), a wealthy magnate who lavishes her with attention and money. When she gets religious and decides to hide from him in a French convent, Alex hires agents to bring her back. He offers money to the corrupt cult leader Noah (Pierre Vaneck), who then orders his young follower Marc (Hippolyte Girardot) and Elise to head a delegation traveling to Mexico. Marc turns out to be a journalist doing secret research on cults, but he quickly falls in love with Elise. She must chose between Alex and Marc in this uneven distaff melodrama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Omar Sharif, Arielle Dombasle, (more)
- 1987
This film came into existence because the screenwriter and director won a 1983 screenplay-writing competition. In the story, a family of eight "Chilangos" are vacationing in the Mexican countryside. "Chilangos" are long-time residents of Mexico City, and they are famed for having loud, quarrelsome, demanding and generally obnoxious behavior when outside their city, similar to the reputation of New Yorkers off their home turf. Quite soon during their vacation, a group of revolutionaries have stolen the family's money, and they are thrown on the mercy of police, politicians, and celebrities looking for opportunities to gain some publicity. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Carlos Ruiz, María Rojo, (more)
- 1987
In this cautionary tale, based on a novel by Luis Spota, the travails of four "wetbacks" are told. These men have left their homes throughout Mexico in order to sell their labor north of the Border in the U.S. Along the way, one dies while crossing the Rio Grande, another is deported, a third is killed, and the remaining one suffers horribly while working in the U.S. Indeed, such illegal Mexican immigrants are routinely abused and roughed-up, in addition to being poorly paid for back-breaking labor. However, in this movie at least, the lead characters are not particularly admirable people, as they are prepared to rob the only person who shows them kindness. This is clearly a movie with one simple, overriding theme for its intended viewers: no matter what, stay at home in Mexico. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Héctor Suárez, Tony Bravo, (more)
In yet another slick, formulaic Charles Bronson vengeance film (they would continue until the actor was in his mid-70s, still playing the morally insulted friend/husband/lover), Bronson is Holland, an assassin for hire who has just come out of retirement to finish off a Guatemalan thug by the name of Moloch (Joseph Maher). Moloch tortures and terrorizes the good guys and is protected by a misguided American government agency -- though nothing can stop Holland once he starts killing his way to the chief villain. No one except the wife of one of Moloch's victims -- and perhaps a few viewers now and again -- raises any questions about Holland's trail of corpses. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Theresa Saldana, (more)
Kathleen Turner plays a writer of adventure stories, Joan Wilder, who has been having trouble selling her works of late because they aren't remotely believable. The basic problem is that the mousy Joan has never had any real adventure in her life. All this changes when she receives a frantic phone call from her sister, whose is being held prisoner by evil art dealers in Colombia. It seems that sis has mailed Joan a map leading to a valuable treasure. Nasty but cowardly Ralph (Danny DeVito), cousin of the principal villain (Zack Norman), has been assigned to claim the map from Joan. But upon arriving in Colombia, Joan and Ralph learn that others of a more homicidal bent are also after the map. Joan is rescued by soldier of fortune Jack Colton (Michael Douglas), who isn't quite clear about his stake in the proceedings. Jack and Joan undergo several perilous adventures in the wilds of Colombia. The treasure turns out to be a valuable jewel, which changes hands (one of them severed!) many times before it is swallowed by an alligator. Joan manages to break free from her pursuers, but Jack is presumed dead. Jack returns at the end of the film in Manhattan to surprise Joan. The sequel to Romancing the Stone was 1985's The Jewel of the Nile. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, (more)
El Norte is a realistic picture of both the Guatemalan government's oppression of the Quiche Indians and the hard life of illegal immigrants in the United States. After the Guatemalan army destroys their village of San Pedro, two teenage Quiche Mayan Indian siblings journey north (hence El Norte) through Mexico to the United States to start a new life. The film opens with the destruction of the village and the peasants' pointless appeals to the authorities for justice. Realizing that the government is seizing their land, Enrique and Rosa make the difficult decision to leave their people behind. As they journey through Mexico, the siblings encounter a number of helpful individuals who direct them towards the U.S./Mexican border. There they find a "coyote" (a professional human smuggler) and make the frightening run across border. Once across, Enrique and Rosa are introduced to the impossible realities of life as an illegal immigrant in Los Angeles. Living in constant fear of deportation, they struggle to survive as they are exploited by a series of employers. Eventually, their luck takes a turn for the better when the manager of their motel offers Enrique a job. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zaide Silvia Gutierrez, David Villalpando, (more)
- 1978
Picardia Mexicana tells the tale of a teacher who helps turn two classmates who hate each other into very good friends. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1977
In this anti-religious Mexican movie, based on a play by Carlos Solorzano, the actors who, every year, re-enact the Passion Play during Holy Week in Ixtapapalapa are shown to be deformed and stupid. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katy Jurado, Manuel Ojeda, (more)
Fernando Duran's action film Juan Armenta El Repatriado concerns the title hero teaming up with his twin in order to defeats group of bad guys. Their relationship complicates when, after that adventure, he begins an affair with his twin's wife. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
This 1976 Mexican feature is based on a reportedly real incident which took place in 1968. When a group of hikers happen upon a village governed by a paranoid and fanatical priest, they are labelled as communists and desecrators and are lynched by the bespelled townspeople. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernesto Gómez Cruz
- 1974
- R
In The House in the South, a group of desperately impoverished desert dwellers are induced by a government program to move to a lush tropical island if they can ever get there. Their obstacle earlier was simply the cruelty of nature; in their new situation, mankind's cruelty to mankind is the worm in the apple. Fortunately, they have a tough, hard-headed and endlessly optimistic leader. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
As violence and chaos sweeps across the Mexican landscape no one is safe from the destruction that threatens to wipe out everything in its path in a nail-biting thriller directed by Vicente Fernandez and starring Patricia Aspillaga. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
In this parody of James Bond movies, a dullard of a spy novelist finds himself the subject of an English sociology student's term papers. She travels to his Paris apartment to do her research and their relationship is interspliced with episodes from the writer's newest book that features his popular hero Bob St. Clair, master spy and anithesis to the writer, and his lovely assistant Tatiana, (who is of course, the lookalike of the lovely student). The spy's nemesis is in reality, his pushy publisher. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jacqueline Bisset, (more)
