Manuel Alexandre Movies
- 1978
At the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), there was still some resistance from small groups hiding in Spain's numerous small rural mountain regions. In this story, Juana is a schoolteacher who misses her lover, one of those hold-out guerillas who is hiding in the hills to continue fighting the Guardia Civil. She takes a school-teaching job in a remote area of the Santander Province in order to have a chance to see him once more. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marisol, Antonio Gades, (more)
- 1978
Chosen by the leaders of his political party to stand for election, in this satire, Gundisalvo is a building developer with next to no interest in politics. He prefers eating well and making love with his mistress to the hurly-burly of campaigning. Still, duty is duty, and he methodically practices his cliche-filled speeches at home, at first afflicting his maid and butler with them and later reciting them to groups gathered on the street who are paid to listen. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antonio Ferrandis, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, (more)
- 1976
On long summer weekends, Juan (Alfredo Landa) is in the habit of hopping on his motorcycle in Madrid and driving for many hours to Torremolinos, a popular hangout for foreign tourists. There, he indulges in his fondness for romancing foreign girls. In this movie, which won a Gold Prize at the 1977 Moscow Film Festival, the people he meets on his journey form a microcosm of modern Spain. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfredo Landa, Paco Algora, (more)
- 1974
In Los Nuevos Espanoles, the slow-paced and happily inefficient lives of the "old" Spaniards is transformed as international corporations demand that they conform to more modern standards. In this spoof/satire, five "old Spaniard" insurance brokers suffer through the training techniques of the American company which has bought out the little company they worked for. Not only that, their wives come in for training too. Before long, they are "new Spaniards and are energetically selling insurance "the Bruster way." Though they win awards for being top salesmen, each meets with tragedy as a consequence of this radical change. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José M. Sacristán, Maria Luisa San Jose, (more)
- 1971
This shoot-em-up is set in Valencia, Spain at the end of the 19th century, and stars Terence Hill as a close-mouthed gunslinger. The bad guy in this case is the local landlord and aristocrat (Fernando Rey), who horribly abuses the laborers in his community. Romantic interest is provided by Maria Grazia Bucella, as the local inn-keeper. Efforts to depict an actual historical situation keep the pace from being too rapid, but otherwise this is a more-or-less standard western with an unusual locale. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1969
A bank clerk and his mother visit the beach the day before his wedding to a beautiful Spanish woman. He leaves his mother alone to talk to some nude female sunbathers, and returns to find she had drowned. Not wanting to delay his wedding with the standard period of mourning, mommy dearest is packed in ice in the resort hotel managed by his fiance. Jose Luis Lopes Vasquez plays the eager groom who won't delay the marriage for his mother's funeral in this offbeat comedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Luis Lopez Vasquez, Jose Maria Prada, (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
- 1959
A Marquis (Francisco Rabal) has a comfortable, predictable life until the women in his life inspire him to greater deeds. He first loves the wife of a Spanish nobleman, then the mistress of a Mexican dictator. He is convinced by his experiences to join the forces of the Mexican revolution. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Felix, Francisco Rabal, (more)
- 1956
The Franco-Spanish Calle Mayor (aka Main Street and The Lovemaker) is an excellent showcase for the underrated and brilliant American actress Betsy Blair. In a reprise of her characterization in Marty, Blair plays Isabelle, a repressed, unmarried 35-year-old. As a cruel joke, a group of middle-aged men persuade a handsome but thick-headed hunk named Juan (Jose Suarez) to romance the reclusive Isabelle. When it becomes clear that she is hopelessly in love with him, the pangs of conscience begin exercising their prerogative on Juan. He is able to extricate himself from this awkward emotional entanglement, but the price that he and Isabelle are forced to pay is precious indeed. Calle Mayor was able to secure American bookings on the strength of the success of director Juan Antonio Bardem's previous film Death of a Cyclist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betsy Blair, José Suárez, (more)
- 1956
The Spanish/Italian Rocket From Calabuch is significant only as the last film of beloved character actor Edmund Gwenn. The 78-year-old star plays a retired atomic scientist who settles in a peaceful Spanish village. But he can't remain sedentary for long, and soon he's off and about developing a new kind of rocket. So much for his retirement, and so much for the peace and quiet in his village, which is soon overrun with reporters and spies. Rocket From Calabuch was originally released in Spain as simply Calabuch; the film didn't make it to the states until after Edmund Gwenn's death in 1959. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Gwenn
An adulterous couple is forced to take responsibility for their actions in this tense drama from Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bardem. Maria Jose (Lucia Bose) is a beautiful woman whose husband Miguel (Otello Toso) is a wealthy and powerful businessman. Juan (Alberto Closas) is a mathematics instructor at a Spanish college who is distantly related to Miguel, and owes his position to Miguel's influence. Juan was also Maria Jose's boyfriend when they were younger, and now they're carrying on an affair behind Miguel's back. One night, while driving home from an assignation, Juan and Maria Jose accidentally run over a man on a bicycle; the stranger quickly dies, and the lovers speed away rather than deal with the consequences. But over the next few days, Juan's conscience begins to bother him, and finds it hard to bear the knowledge that he took another man's life. Maria Jose is also troubled, but for different reasons; Rafa (Carlos Casaravilla), a devious socialite, infers to Maria Jose that he knows about her secret life, but she's not certain he he's just speaking about her infidelity or her role in the cyclist's death. A major critical success in Spain, Muerte de un Ciclista (aka Death Of A Cyclist) was released in Europe in 1955, the same year director Bardem published a controversial essay on the decline in Spanish cinema under the rule of Franco. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
