Comedy

In this Spanish-language comedy with echoes of a subplot in Chaplin's City Lights, the Mexican comedian Cantinflas stars as a down-and-outer who feigns an identity as the brother of a rich woman. Over time, he takes advantage of the assumed persona to elevate himself first to the maid's beau, then to 'master of the house' status, but the ruse becomes increasingly difficult to sustain over time, resulting in some fairly outrageous complications. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Richard "Cheech" Marin, of Cheech & Chong fame, directed and starred in Born in East L.A.. Inspired by Marin's music-video parody of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", the film casts Cheech as an East Los Angeles repairman. While paying a visit to a sweatshop toy factory, Cheech is caught in the middle when the feds raid the place and cart off all the illegal alien workers. Since he's forgotten to bring his own i.d., Cheech is also shipped off to Mexico-where, having next to no knowledge of the Spanish tongue, he's virtually helpless. Desperate, he takes a job with crooked Tijuana saloon owner Daniel Stern-the first of many "make-do" jobs that he assumes to earn enough money to return home. Along the way, he falls in love with El Salvadorian girl Kamala Lopez, whose English is as fractured as Cheech's Spanish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two avaricious buddies endeavor to swindle a lovely se?orita out of her inheritance. But the sting backfires when the lady proves herself to be a much better con artist than they will ever be. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Tin Tan stars as a poor railroad employee by day and a modern day Robin Hood by night. ~ All Movie Guide

The Mexican romantic film Tacos Al Carbon tells a tale of true love surviving dramatic changes in the protagonists' lives. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

The Mexican comedy El Circo De Capulina follows the adventures of a man who takes up a job with the circus in order to reacquire territory for his niece. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

After striking responsive chord at the Berlin Film Festival, Fernando Trueba's Belle Epoque (aka Age of Beauty) went on to win 9 Spanish Goya awards and an Academy Award for "Best Foreign Film." Set in pre-Franco Spain, film stars Jorge Sanz as Fernando, a carefree, pacifistic army deserter. Wandering about the countryside, Fernando is welcomed into home of the wealthy Don Manolo (Fernando Fernan Gomez). Far from upset by the boy's AWOL status, Manolo is delighted because he shares Fernando's political philosophies. What follows is sheer heaven for the peaceloving lad, who sits smilingly on the sidelines as Manolo's four voluptuous daughters (Adrian Gil, Maribel Verdu, Miriam Diaz-Aroca, and Penelope Cruz) literally fight for his attentions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Mexican wedding provides the setting for this gentle satire of middle-class values and behaviors. Disaster strikes when auto mechanic Don Carlos discovers that someone has stolen the money he was using to finance the nuptials of his daughter Alejandra to Alfonso, the son of Paulina, a snobby widow who thinks that Alfonso is marrying beneath his station. As the preparations continue, Alejandra's brother Carlos, an aspiring filmmaker, records everything on video tape. While the happy couple is off on their honeymoon, Carlos begins editing his movie and discovers that he filmed the theft. His evidence nearly causes WW III following the return of Alfonso and Alejandra. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In 1985 the exquisitely-wrought Argentine comedy-drama King and his Movie earned international awards including the Venice Film Festival's Silver Lion for "First Film." It is the story of an obsessed filmmaker's attempts to make his long-dreamed of epic account of the King of Patagonia and Araraucania. Unfortunately, the director meets major obstacles at every turn. First of all, word leaked out to the press that the director, Chaves, was making his magnum opus and he must constantly dodge them while feverishly attempting to execute his preproduction tasks. His biggest headache comes from his search for the perfect actor to portray his king. When all of the professional auditions are rejected, Chaves turns to the street. Unfortunately, he chooses a street-dwelling hippie, who mistake Chaves and his assistants for cops and flees. He later shaves his head to help hide. Still the determined Chaves manages to catch up and convince him to play the part. Finally Chaves assembles cast and crew and prepares to go south to shoot the film. Unfortunately, his backer suddenly withdraws with all the film's finances and flees abroad leaving Chavez with no money with which to pay his production people. Many of the actors immediately abandon ship and once again Chaves hits the streets to find his players. He must also pare his crew down to the bare minimum. After an arduous journey, the group make it to the locale. By this time they are so broke that they cannot afford lodging and end up staying at an orphanage until an actor makes untoward advances towards a youngster and gets them booted out. About this time, the crew, not wanting to sleep in tents, take off. The cast joins them. Despite this final crushing blow, Chaves will not abandon the film and so portrays the king himself, using mannequins for extras to create some of the films most haunting and surreal scenes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

The title of this Mexican musical comedy translates to School For Tramps. Singing idol Pedro Infante heads the cast, essaying his usual carefree-vagabond characterization. Though he has nary a peso to his name, Infante nonetheless pursues a successful romance with well-to-do Miroslava (who tragically killed herself just before this film was released). Thanks to the star power of Infante and the public's curiosity concerned Miroslava's death, Esenela de Vagabundos was one of Mexico's biggest box-office hits in 1955. Certain viewers with long memories recognized the similarities between this film and the 1933 Al Jolson vehicle Hallelujah, I'm a Bum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide