Los bingueros

Bemusing story with embarrassing moments and fun acting by likable comedians : Esteso and Pajares . It deals with a sympathetic pair of unlucky cons who carry out their bingo betting with unexpected consequences . In this flick there is humor , fun and guffaws . An amusing but average Spanish comedy film and with its ups and downs . It deals with two unfortunate as well as botcher people : Amadeo (Andres Pajares) and Fermin (Fernando Esteso) . Amadeo is a hard-working bank clerk submitted to his stiff boss (Rafael Alonso) . While Fermin (Esteso) lives without working quite well using thousands of tricks and fakes . Both of them meet during the game and scheme to win an amount of money in bingo , at whatever cost . But things go wrong when they ask a credit to Gerarda (Florinda Chico) , a mobster-alike who has some bouncer relatives .

Fernando Esteso and Antonio Ozores are two cool Spanish actors , usually playing a duo of unfortunate , roguish , swindlers as well as bungling people . They usually made couple in a lot of films and achieved much success in the 80s . And ¨Los Bingueros¨ was one of their greatest hits . The movies they played were funny and with many support's actors . The films were with short budget and lackluster but including comedy and lots of fun . Those contained many nude girls , laughs and slapstick , being mostly directed by Mariano Ozores , a craftsman filmmaker and writer , in fact he wrote the disconcerting screenplay , he recently won a Goya Award (2016) to his long and fruitful career . The latter made with these two famous comedians , -Fernando and Andres Pajares- several films , as they had various years partnership between the two leads , such as ¨Agitese Antes Usarla¨ , ¨Al Este Del Oeste¨, ¨Los Liantes¨, ¨Los Energeticos¨, ¨La Lola Lleva Al Huerto¨ , ¨El Currante¨, El Hijo Del Cura¨... This ¨Los Bingueros¨ is a charming as well as embarrassing comedy that contains crazy events , nudism , amusement and absurd situations . There are some nice jokes in the film and the cast , playing eccentric characters , make a cosy fit . It takes a simple concept , a duo of shameless friends execute petty thefts and tricks in similar style to classical films of Commedia all'Italiana of the fifties . It is a nutty Spanish comedy that offers no intellectual stimulus whatsoever , though it has some fun and hilarious moments . Humor is sometimes cheesy and gross-out with numerous naughty and picaresque situations such as sex jokes , adulteries , jealousy , and erotic scenes . The film attempts to give laughs and it works here and there , resulting in an amusing though middling film . My feelings are extremely mixed but I must admit there are some brief and no very enjoyable laughters ; however , it also packs uneven comedy , piggy humor , and some political themes . ¨Los Bingueros¨ partially reflects the mood and the reality of Spain in the immediate Post-Franco era , dealing with politic juncture about the post-Franquismo in similar style to other films from this period . It gives a silly but ironical Spain and Madrid outlook and describes some ¨Timos¨or ¨Fakes¨ carried out by the peculiar protagonists . Supporting cast is plenty of familiar faces such as : Rafael Alonso , Adrián Ortega , Carlos Lucena , Luis Barbero , Florinda Chico , and addition , Antonio Ozores who often appears in films directed by his brother Mariano Ozores and along with Esteso , and Pajares . Including several ¨Destape¨ or nudist actresses such as : África Pratt , Isabel Luque , Roxana Dupre , and of course , the beautiful co-starring , Norma Duval, also shows his splendid body .

¨Los Bingueros¨ is a mediocre picture , being regularly directed by Mariano Ozores in his usual style and had much success in the Spanish box office . Mariano's family origin is into show business , being son of Mariano Ozores Sr and brother of José Luis Ozores and Antonio Ozores . Furthermore , uncle of Adriana Ozores and Emma Ozores . He has a prolific career , and many actors and technicians worked and ate thanks to the huge success of his films . Ozores is a writer and director , especially in comedy genre such as : Disparate Nacional , Tahiti's Girl , Brujas Magicas , Los Presuntos , Cuatro Mujeres Y Un Lío , Tío ¿De Verdad Vienen De París? , Alcalde Por Elección , Ellas Los Prefieren... Locas , El Apolítico , Jenaro El De Los 14 , Manolo La Nuit , El Abuelo Tiene plan , La Llamaban La Madrina , La Graduada , Venta Por Pisos and many others . Being his ordinary actors , the followings : Alfredo Landa , Lina Morgan , Paco Martínez Soria , Antonio Ozores , Jose Luis Ozores , Juanito Navarro and , of course , Fernando Esteso and Andrés Pajares .

Some people told me that this movie is just another "Cocido con papas thriller". I'm just totally disagree with that point of view. My personal opinion, as Journalist Critic is: The characters are just strongly designed, made of an incredible mix of humor, "caspa" and drama. The story is hard as a rock, and dynamic like a GTO. The performance of the actors is just a rock hitting your ceiling. All about this piece of the recent Spanish day-by-day history is great. And I'm not sure that this should watch just like the most shocking Comedy ever filmed. The Drama (with capital) of the gameaholic housewives are just perfect described, and everybody should exclaim "ole tus huevos" at the end credits. The translation is just quite as well done as the rest of the film , as long as Pajares is actually from Romania and his accent was too complicated for a commercial release. However I should recommend the director's cut, with the original voice of Pajares.

No reason to pass this one. Long life Mari cielo Pajares.

I think my comment will be very interesting for all the earth: We cannot avoid talking about the importance in Spanish society of this picture. If you want to know how the kingdom of Spain (former Spanish state) is, you should see "Los Bingueros". No matter if you are a "guiri", or from Almería or Ondarrivia (former Fuenterrabía) you will feel a deep emotion and an identification with your own people. The story is very simple, but anyone who is Spanish and loves bingo will realize that the important things are to laugh with the movement and hilarious gags of colored actors such as Pajares, Esteso and Don Antonio Ozores (AND THIS IS IN FACT A BETTER CAST THAN "GRAN HOTEL"). Now, I am living in Puerto Rico, and in think a lot about Spain and these films and I would like to ask the industry for a DVD remaster copy and new luxury edition of some of the films that these people did. Fortunately they are all still alive, so it would be a great idea to have lots of extras with interviews and audio-comments of them for new generations. It is a shame that "socialistas" and Pilar Miró thought that these films were rubbish, (like Uncle Jess', although hundreds of people ate during years thanks to the huge success of the films). They stopped these artists from making more films and after a moment of glory (perhaps with the best comedies in Spanish language) they had to work in serious and boring films (Pajares with Paco Saura or Fernando Trueba) or on TV, like the great Esteso, who deserves a help after the bad experiences of the last years with "Hacienda" (T-men, IRS) , Tele 5 and women. Please, try to see this film. It is not made movies like that now-days. (The only bad thing is that there are not many naked gals, but you will laugh as never before).

Not a bad movie... if you take it for what it is.

2 famous actors, one of them (Esteso) really shadowing the other (Pajares). Some funny scenes, and sometimes a little to slow. You will find some great jokes along the movie (watch for Ursula Andress, also known as Florinda Chico in Spain), mafia-style people, bingos with lots of glamour, oriental medicine, Spanish banking system (some 25 years ago there where lots of banks in Madrid!), and the great Norma Duval in a short appearance. Good ingredients for an OK movie.

Still, worth giving it a try if you are into a laugh-and-don't-think kind of night.

This film perfectly reflects the mood and the reality of Spain in the immediate Post-Franco era. I'm tempted to compare it to a British 'Carry On' movie but it isn't quite the same, for a start, the characters and story line are considerably darker. This film marks the start of a four year partnership between the two leads (Esteso & Pajares) and despite seeming quite grotesque, I acknowledge, with a degree of discomfort, that the majority of what it depicts is quite accurate - the mood inside the Bingo Hall especially is spot on. I don't miss this Spain, but I do appreciate it having been faithfully captured in this film. I cringe when I watch this, and only some of the humour still holds up (especially for those not easily offended) but it is a treasured part of my collection and a reminder of summer evenings at an outdoor cinema.