In Spanish with subs.
I admit it. This is my first Santo film after hearing about him for years.
Twenty whiplashes later from a film cult nerd. The idea of a masked wrestler
superhero just felt like a step too far even for me who has seen more low
budget Hong Kong films than should be legal but titles like Santo vs the
Zombies, Santo vs the Diabolical Brain, Santo vs the Martian Invasion didn't
really inspire me. Maybe I got lucky with my choice in this one but it neatly
falls into the same bucket of crime and spy films being made worldwide. If
this was in German, you could mistake it for a Krimi or all the Euro Co-Productions
going on. Except it is actually better than many of them. If this is a typical
Santo, I hope to see more of them. It has all the typical trappings of the
genre - evil all-knowing villains, beautiful women, nutty action, crazy gadgets,
a Q like character, long chases, multiple locations and a sense of the absurd.
It also of course has a masked hero who never takes it off and makes a living
wrestling when he is not fighting villains and saving the world. That is
a lot on your plate. How often do the heroes of other crime/spy films
spend sizable time in the ring banging people and getting banged in return.
I know most of the cool kids out there are familiar with Santo but for all
those who would rather eat at Arby's than watch a low budget Mexican cult
film - here is a bit about him because he is a fascinating figure and much
beloved in Latin America. He was born in 1917 and by the mid-1930s he was
wrestling professionally. In the 40's he took on the name of El Santo (the
Saint) and began wearing the silver mask that had holes for his eyes, nose
and mouth and looked like he picked it up at the Salvation Army. As his popularity
grew, he first became a comic book figure and then began appearing in films.
His first big hit was the 1961 Santo vs the Zombies. He was to make about
50 films, always appearing as Santo and always wearing his mask. He never
took it off in public until after he retired when he did for just a few seconds
on a TV talk show. He then died month later. So maybe he shouldn't have.
His physical skills are amazing for a big man. The two wrestling matches
here allow him to display how agile and tough he is and there is a scene
in the film where he jumps down from a level above in a parking garage and
then avoids getting run over by a number of cars who are trying to kill him
and they come within inches of hitting him. Between this film and The Wrestling
Women vs the Aztec Mummy (seen yesterday), I have seen more wrestling than
I have since the days of Bruno Sammartino.
Santo is in Paris when he has a video conference with Interpol. They tell
him that an international criminal group has designs on finding and keeping
the hidden Treasure of Moctezuma - aka Montezuma - who was the ruler of the
Aztecs till Cortés overthrew him and destroyed the Aztec Empire.
Cortez, Cortez
He came dancing across the water
Cortez, Cortez
What a killer
Santo and his fellow wrestling tag-team friend Jorge Rubio (Jorge Rivera)
go to Mexico to stop them. Jorge Rivera was to play this character in a few
Santo films and is happy to show his face and his sculpted body. He was to
become a star in Mexican films as well but as a handsome leading man. It
turns out through some fluke of nature that Jorge has an emerald that the
bad guys need to find the treasure. So they send a beautiful woman to get
it knowing that he can never say no to a pretty face. He later picks up a
stunning blonde on the streets - Stella - who is played by Amadee Chabot
who was an American with few Spanish speaking skills but appeared in a number
of Mexican films. She was a true California girl who was in fact Miss California
1964. She was also in Peligro...! Mujeres en acción aka Danger Girls
in a small role but she stands out.
Some good action, a cool gadget that you pin to your lapel that allows you
to be seen on TV from outside your body looking at you - so Santo watches
his friend seduce Stella on TV and there is one very neat scene on top of
the Pyramid of the Sun which Santo takes five minutes to run up only to find
a booby-trap waiting for him. This is directed by the father/son Cardona's
who keep the film moving and trim it to a sensible 77 minutes (IMDB has it
at 87 minutes but 77 was just fine).
