Los pedigüeños (1961) Poster

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7/10
A fun and entertaining comedy about three false beggars with likable and enticing characterizations by Spanish star-studded cast
ma-cortes3 March 2023
Three clever scoundrels Goyo (José Luis López Vázquez) , Casimiro (Venancio Muro) somehow manage to live quite well without working--by using thousands of tricks, fakes, and set-ups. But Fortunato gradually change his attitude and devious way, when true love finally arrives for a beautiful young , Alicia (Licia Calderón) , and takes over his heart. The three deceivers living in different lies and trying to achieve higher revenues, they get into more tangles. But one of them marries and has a son. Years later they meet again.

This agreeable picture concerns about three swindlers pulled off a lot of little frauds but things go awry . The flick contains silly incidents , fun plot twists , tongue-in-cheek , grotesque situations and above all , it especially contains catching touches of humor and irony . Sitting in a strange middle ground between the completely absurd and the stylishly enjoyable . There are some nice jokes in the film and the cast , playing eccentric characters , make a cosy fit . It takes a simple concept , a trio of shameless friends execute petty thefts and tricks in similar style to classical films of Commedia all'Italiana of the fifties . ¨Los pedigueños¨is a comical and sometimes disconcerting account of a bunch of lower class people from the personal , social , cultural , and economic perspective , because needing all of them , urgently , amount of money to resolve their problematic lives . It gives a realistic Madrid outlook and describes various ¨Timos¨or ¨Fakes¨ with our three protagonists posing to be blind men , cripples or entering the funerals of strangers pretending to be friends of the deceased and asking the patients for money . The magnificent main cast gives sensational actings such as Tony Leblanc , Licia Calderón , José Luis López Vázquez , Venancio Muro , Gracita Morales , accompanied as secondaries by a lot of familiar faces , such as : José María Caffarel , Lola Gaos, José María Tasso, Miguel del Castillo , Aníbal Vela, Francisco Bernal , Manuel Tejada, among others.

The motion picture was well directed by Tony Leblanc , following similar style to ¨Pedro Lazaha's Los Tramposos¨who heplayed as well. Leblanc made his professional acting debut in 1944 with Celia Gámez's company. His earliest appearances on film were in Eugenia de Montijo (1944), Los últimos de Filipinas (1945, Antonio Román), and Por el gran premio (1946, directed by Pierre-Antoine Caron). His greatest prominence was from about 1955 to 1965, in popular titles of Spanish cinema of the era such as El Tigre de Chamberí (1957, Pedro Luis Ramírez), Muchachas de azul (1957), Los tramposos (1959, both by Pedro Lazaga), Las chicas de la Cruz Roja (1960, by Rafael J. Salvia), Tres de la Cruz Roja (1961, by Fernando Palacios) or Historias de la televisión (1964, by José Luis Sáenz de Heredia). During this decade, Leblanc formed an artistic partnership with Concha Velasco which was to endure for many years. He was also involved in a comedy trio with José Luis Ozores and Manolo Gómez Bur. In this way, he established his popularity working mainly in comedy roles, on both film and stage. Leblanc found success in theatre with revue productions such as Te espero en el Eslava (1957-1958) and Ven y ven...al Eslava (1958-1959), both alongside Nati Mistral. Leblanc's decline began in the mid-70s, after theatrical hits like Paloma palomita palomera and Esta es mi vida (1975), when an old ailment was aggravated, leaving him semi-disabled and unable to continue his acting career. However, before his retirement, Leblanc did some of his best work in El astronauta (1970, by Javier Aguirre) and the remake of Rafael Gil's El hombre que se quiso matar (1973). A true pioneer of television in Spain in the 1950s and 1960s, Leblanc combined his cinema career with comedy specials, various comedic performances and a few programmes for TVE .
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