''La venganza de Huracán Ramírez'' (in English, "The Revenge of Hurricane Ramírez") is a 1969 Mexican ''lucha libre'' film co-written and directed by

Joselito Rodríguez Joselito Rodríguez (12 February 1907 – 14 September 1985) was a Mexican screenwriter and film director.Biltereyst & Gennari p.76 Selected filmography Director * ''The Priest's Secret'' (1941) * ''Angelitos negros (1948 film), Angelitos negros ...

, and starring Pepe Romay, Titina Romay,

David Silva David Josué Jiménez Silva (born 8 January 1986) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played mainly as a Midfielder#Central midfielder, central or an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder and o ...

, Jean Safont, Freddy Fernández and Tonina Jackson. It is part of a series of films centered on the character of Mexican masked ''luchador''

Huracán Ramírez Daniel García Arteaga (April 9, 1926 – October 31, 2006), best known under the ring name Huracán Ramírez ( English: "Hurricane Ramírez"), was a Mexican ''luchador enmascarado'' (or masked professional wrestler) and actor. García was nei ...

, which began with ''

'' (1952).

Plot

The film consists of various plots, which are as follows: *Mad scientist Landru (Jean Safont) subjects himself and his two assistants to experiments that turn them into beasts, and they test the results by facing a couple of ''luchadores'', Huracán Ramírez and Tonina Jackson, in a series of matches. Fernando Torres (David Silva), the man who wrestles as "Huracán Ramírez", is in financial difficulty, leading him to agree to participate in Landru's matches. *Fernando's son Pancho (Pepe Romay), a college engineering student, works in an auto repair shop during the semester break. He makes friends with Gina (Karina Duprez), the owner's daughter, incurring the wrath of the shop's boss Hernández (José Luis Caro), Gina's rejected suitor. *Fernando's daughter Margarita (Titina Romay) begins a pop singing career under the name "Margot de Córdova". She's discovered in a record shop by Pepe Chico (Carlos Piñar), the son of a network head, who gets her a spot on a television show on the network, but lets Margarita think that he's just Pepe Chico's "friend". Margarita's relationship with Pepe causes the jealousy of Margarita's friend and suitor, Pichi (Freddy Fernández). *Obnoxious ''gringa'' Mary (Carolina Barret), who has attached herself to Tonina Jackson. She loans him money to pay the wrestling arena's debts, and declares herself owner of the cafe run by Fernando's wife Laura (Carmelita González) as a result. When she attempts to change the cafe to her image, she causes a conflict between herself and Laura.

Cast

* Pepe Romay as Pancho Torres * Titina Romay as Margarita Torres/Margot de Córdova *

as Fernando Torres/

** Daniel García portrays Huracán Ramírez in wrestling scenes (uncredited) *

Carmelita González Carmelita González (July 11, 1928 – April 30, 2010) was a Mexican lead actress known for her film roles during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. She appeared in nearly 100 Mexican films during her career, opposite such actors as Mario Moren ...

as Laura * Jean Safont as Professor Landru * Freddy Fernández as Pichi (as Fredy Fernandez "Pichi") * Tonina Jackson as himself * Carolina Barret as Mary * Marco Antonio Arzate as Landru's bearded assistant/Man with baton * José Luis Caro as Hernández (as José Luis Carol) * Karina Duprez as Gina * Emma Rodríguez *

Queta Carrasco Queta Carrasco (July 4, 1913 — August 8, 1996) was a Mexican character actress. Early life Enriqueta Carrasco Navarrete was born in Mexico City, the daughter of Honorato Carrasco and Ada Navarrete. Her father was an engineer and her mother was ...

(as Enriqueta Carrasco) * Felipe del Castillo * Manuel Trejo Morales * Carlos Piñar as Pepe Chico * Antonio Padilla "Pícoro" as Ring Announcer (as Pícoro)

Production

The film is part of a series of wrestling films centered around the fictitious

character, created by director

and his son Juan Rodríguez Más, that began with ''

'' (1952). This is the last film in the series in which actor

and his character Fernando Torres, the man who in-story dons the Huracán Ramírez mask, would appear; neither Silva nor his character would appear in the remaining two theatrical Huracán Ramírez films, '' Huracán Ramírez y la monjita negra'' and ''

De sangre chicana ''De sangre chicana'' (in English, "Of Chicano Blood") is a 1974 Mexican ''lucha libre'' crime drama film written and directed by Joselito Rodríguez, and starring Pepe Romay, José Chávez Trowe and Elizabeth Dupeyrón. The film concerns a fa ...

''. This is also the last film in the series in which Tonina Jackson appeared, as he died in 1969 (the film was shot in 1967). In an edition of ''The Mexican Film Bulletin'', David E. Wilt speculated that the sci-fi, fantastic and horror themes of the film were the result of the popularity of the

El Santo Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (23 September 1917 – 5 February 1984), best known by his ring name El Santo (English language, English: "The Saint"), was a Mexican ''Lucha libre, luchador Wrestling mask, enmascarado'' (or masked professional wrestlin ...

and

Blue Demon Alejandro Muñoz Moreno (October 12, 1922 – December 16, 2000), better known by the ring name Blue Demon (''Demonio Azul'' in Spanish), was a Mexican film actor and ''luchador enmascarado'' (Spanish for masked professional wrestler). Blue D ...

films, which featured similar fantastic themes.

Reception

David E. Wilt in ''The Mexican Film Bulletin'' wrote about the film that "''La venganza de Huracán Ramírez'' isn't poorly made but rarely have 90 minutes been crammed with so many disparate elements". Wilt said in regards of the Pancho sub-plot that the film "spends (wastes) a lot of time on Pancho", but that ultimately the Margarita and Mary sub-plots "run neck-and-neck for the 'most annoying' honors. Titina Romay is introduced gushingly as a 'great new young discovery' but her singing is weak at best; her relationship with Carlos Piñar is unbelievable (she never even gets his name but follows his direction unquestioningly), and Freddy Fernández is mostly a pain to watch as her jealous boyfriend. On the other hand, Carolina Barret's performance as the middle-aged ''gringa'' also grates on the nerves exceedingly, and the final food fight is hardly a hilarious climax to this part of the film." Wilt ultimately concluded that the main Landru plot "has some major holes (such as his ultimate purpose, how a wrestler became a scientist or a scientist became a wrestler, why he enters into a contract with Fernando in the first place, and so on) and is quite derivative of earlier wrestling movies ('' Ladrón de Cadáveres'', for example), but if it had been developed and made the main point of the movie, this would have been a more mainstream ''lucha'' adventure. As it stands, the picture is a comedy-melodrama with sports drama andscience-fiction overtones (and music!). Hard to think of an audience for that particular combination."

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Venganza de Huracán Ramírez, La 1969 films 1960s Spanish-language films Mexican science fiction films Lucha libre films Films directed by Joselito Rodríguez 1960s Mexican films