''La Raulito'' (Little Ralph) is a 1975

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

film directed by Lautaro Murúa and written by

Rocío Dúrcal María de los Ángeles de las Heras Ortiz (4 October 1944 – 25 March 2006), better known as Rocío Dúrcal (), was a Spanish singer and actress with a career spanning more than four decades. She performed pop music, bolero, mariachi and romanti ...

, Manuel Alexandre and Rafaela Aparicio. In a survey of the 100 greatest films of Argentine cinema carried out by the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken in 2000, the film reached the 18th position.

Synopsis

The film tells the story of a real life fan of

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club, María Esther Duffau, who as a teenage girl adopted the identity of a man in order to survive on the

streets Streets is the plural of street, a type of road. Streets or The Streets may also refer to: Music * Streets (band), a rock band fronted by Kansas vocalist Steve Walsh * ''Streets'' (punk album), a 1977 compilation album of various early UK punk ba ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. The film shows the teenage Raulito wandering between a

reformatory A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concern ...

for juvenile offenders, prison and

psychiatric hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...

. Raulito manages to escape, and finds work at

Constitución railway station Constitución railway station () is a large railway station in Constitución, Buenos Aires, Constitución, a in central Buenos Aires, Argentina. The full official name of the station is (in English: Constitution Square Station) reflecting the fa ...

in ''Barrio'' Constitución. Raulito meets up with another street child and they become close friends. They both eventually manage to escape to

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

Release

The film premiered in Argentina on 10 July 1975.

Cast

The cast list (in alphabetical order) was: * Adriana Aizemberg * Martín Andrade * Christina Banegas * Roberto Carnaghi * Pablo Cedrón * Mónica Escudero * Zulema Katz *

Virginia Lago Virginia Lago (born 22 May 1946) is an Argentine actress with an extensive career in theater, film, and television. She is best known for being the host of the popular film series ', broadcast by Telefe. Biography Virginia Lago was born in San ...

* Juanita Lara * Anita Larronde * Carlos Lasarte * Mario Luciani * Jorge Martínez * Duilio Marzio * Fernanda Mistral * Irene Morack * Ana María Picchio * Luis Politti * Marilina Ross * Blanquita Silván * Nelly Tesolín * María Vaner

Miscellaneous

A follow-up film was released in Spain in 1976, '' La Raulito Released'', starring Charo López with a screenplay by Eduardo Barreiros and Eduardo Mignogna. The real life ''La Raulito'', Mary Esher Duffau, died at the age of 74 on 30 April 2008, on the same day Boca Juniors played a

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

match against the

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian club

Cruzeiro Esporte Clube Cruzeiro Esporte Clube () is a Brazilian professional football club, based in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Cruzeiro is the greatest team of Minas Gerais. Although competing in a number of different sports, Cruzeiro is mostly known for its as ...

, with the players and fans observing a minute's silence in her remembrance.

References

External links