''Paño verde'' (''Green Cloth'') is a

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

gangster film A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform certain illegal acts. The ...

drama directed by Mario David. The film, based on a 1955 novel of the same name by Roger Plá, is set in Buenos Aires in the 1940s, covering the formation, rise and fall of a criminal gang. It stars

Carlos Estrada Carlos Enrique "La Gambeta" (The Dribble) Estrada Mosquera (born 1 November 1961) is a Colombian football forward who played for Colombia in the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Retrieved 1 October 2011 He also played for Millonarios Fútbol Club Millon ...

as the protagonist mafia boss, Miguel Acuña,

Luis Brandoni Adalberto Luis Brandoni (born 18 April 1940) is an Argentine actor and politician. Biography Brandoni was born in Dock Sud, a port community east of Avellaneda. He debuted on the stage in 1962, television in 1963, and on film in 1966. He joined ...

Julia von Grolman Julia may refer to: People *Julia (given name), including a list of people with the name *Julia (surname), including a list of people with the name *Julia gens, a patrician family of Ancient Rome *Julia (clairvoyant) (fl. 1689), lady's maid of Qu ...

and

Héctor Alterio Héctor Benjamín Alterio Onorato (born 21 September 1929) is an Argentine theatre, film and television actor, well known both in Argentina and Spain. Biography Héctor Benjamín Alterio Onorato was born in Chacarita, Buenos Aires, Chacarita, ...

. Víctor Proncet composed the soundtracks.

Plot

In 1940s Buenos Aires, the laconic, immaculately dressed Miguel Acuña, or "El Púa" (Carlos Estrada) leads a double life. He owns a bar and appears apathetic to the customers, but is secretly a violent criminal. He murders the local mafia boss after threatening him with a knife and shoots him dead when he reacts with a gun. He throws the knife in the river. Miguel becomes the leader. The gang pulls off a series of robberies. At one robbery by the docks, they shoot several people dead, including several of the guards and a man in a car, which they use as the getaway vehicle after the tires are shot out on their vehicle. In the next robbery, Miguel accidentally shoots a young boy dead while shooting at the guards. His guilt is only revealed when he overhears customers at the bar talking about his death, forcing him to walk out in awkward silence. While planning a bigger caper, Alma (Julia von Grolman), the wife of his associate Américo (Luis Brandoni), falls in love with Miguel. Miguel reluctantly relents to her advances but proceeds to beat her, despite professing his love for her. Tano, one of the gang members, is reluctant to participate in the imminent big bank robbery and is threatened by Miguel. During the robbery, when Tano's worries come to fruition and he is shot by one of the guards, rather than save him, Miguel shoots him dead while making their escape. The getaway vehicle catches fire, but the men escape. The police invade Américo and Alma's flat while Américo is in the bathroom shaving. Américo pretends to surrender but turns on an officer, holding his razor blade to his throat, but is shot dead in front of his wife as backup officers arrive. The police arrive at the bar and surround Miguel. Miguel manages to escape, but only by ruthlessly shooting a female admirer and an old friend to buy himself time to escape. He is eventually shot on the roof and falls to his death through the skylight onto the bar's pool table, much to the shock of the bartender, who had never suspected his wicked ways.

Cast

as Miguel Acuña, "El Púa" *

as Américo *

as Alma *

as El "Tano" Folco *

Edgardo Suárez Edgardo is an Italian-language form of the name Edgar. It may refer to: * Edgardo Abdala (born 1978), Chilean-Palestinian football midfielder * Edgardo Adinolfi (born 1974), Uruguayan football player *Edgardo Alfonzo (born 1973), former Major Leag ...

as Galíndez *

Luisina Brando Luisina Brando (born Luisa Noemí Gnazzo; December 10, 1945 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine actress. Filmography *1960: Telecómicos (TV Series, 3 episodes) *1961: Los trabajos de Marrone (TV Series) *1961: Viendo a Biondi (TV Series ...

as Chola *

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as Ambrosio * Juan Carlos de Seta *

Alicia Bruzzo Alicia Liliana Estela Bruzzo (29 September 1945 – 13 February 2007), known as ⁣⁣Alicia Bruzzo⁣⁣, was an Argentine actress, born in Buenos Aires to a family of artists. Starting in 1972, she worked in 17 films. She was renowned for her w ...

as Pola *

María José Demare Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, d ...

as Prostitute *

Raúl del Valle Raúl del Valle (1908 in Chile – 21 January 1973, in La Rioja, Argentina) was a Chilean film and theatre actor who performed for most of his career in Argentina. Career Del Valle was a prominent character actor who performed in more than 40 ...

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as Policeman * Olga Berg as Woman at dance *

Mario Savino Mario (; ) is a character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Japanese video game company Nintendo. ...

as boy in bar * Ricardo Grecco *

Osvaldo María Cabrera Osvaldo may refer to the following people: Given name *Osvaldo Alonso (born 1985), a Cuban football player *Osvaldo Ardiles (born 1952), an Argentine football player and coach *Osvaldo Bagnoli (born 1935), an Italian football coach *Osvaldo Bido ...

Tito Barceló Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 until his death ...

as singer *

María Estela Lorca Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

as woman in assault * Marta Serra * Carlos Veltri * Mara Lascio * Amadeo Sáenz Valiente * Pachi Armas *

Mario Luciani Mario (; ) is a character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Japanese video game company Nintendo. ...

Félix Caballero Félix Caballero was a Dominican priest. He played an important part in the history of the missions of Baja California, and also the opening up of the route to Tucson, Arizona. Caballero arrived at Veracruz on December 19, 1812, and traveled to B ...

* Domingo Cutri * Lucho Fabri * Juan Carlos Villegas * Andrés Midón *

Roberto Fiore Roberto Fiore (born 15 April 1959) is an Italian far-right politician and convicted criminal who has been the leader of the party, Forza Nuova, since its foundation in 1997, as well as president of the Alliance for Peace and Freedom since 2015 ...

* Clemente Bermúdez * Denis Romano * Juan Carlos Ricci * Alejandro Villordo Paz * Raimondo Diego * Domingo Barbieri * Tito Báez * Arsenio Reinaldo Pica * José María Brindisi * Lidia Lugo

Production

The screenplay was written by the director Mario David, based on the 1955 novel of the same name by Roger Plá. Cinematographer Arsenio Reinaldo Pica was hired to shoot the film, working with cameraman Roberto Matarrese. Víctor Proncet composed the soundtrack, while the editing was done by Oscar Pariso.

Reception

The film premiered on 1 March 1973 in

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 ...

. It was well received by the critics, with Edmundo Etchelbaum of ''

La Opinión ''La Opinión'' is a Spanish-language daily newspaper and website based in Los Angeles, California. It is the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States and the second-most read newspaper in Los Angeles (after '' The Los Angeles Ti ...

'' declaring it to be a "Revelation of a good commercial film director" and '' La Razón'' stating that the film has "good technical quality and a group of excellent actors". Clarín though was more favorable to the cinematography, opining that the "camera extracts much more and is so much better than some of the passages of dialogue", which they believed cooled the effectiveness of certain scenes. In his book ''Breve historia del cine argentino'', César Maranghello states that he believes ''Paño verde'' to have been David's best picture, praising the "fury and nostalgia of its protagonist", Carlos Estrada.

References

External links