Los cobardes

An effective, properly made and competently performed Spanish Film Noir . A well paced and compellingly played production that stunningly brings most of the roles of the classsic Noir Film. Stars Juan (Vicente Parra) , an orphan who suffered the mistreatment of his stepfather, joins a gang of delinquent youths. In one of his raids he is caught along with his best friend and they are both interned in a reformatory . Passing the time, once grown-up he learned a trade as a car mechanic and after reaching the age of majority he left the reformatory ready to rebuild his life. However , the only job he finds results to be as a car cleaner. When everything finally went as he wished, he meets a cabaret singer called Irene Rubio (María Martín) , with whom he feels a dangerous attraction who drags him along , once again . This bad woman will make him become an outlaw chased by the police . After a robbery that went wrong, and traumatized by a misfortune, he decides to break with his past thanks to his girlfriend María (Nadine Tallier) that she is about to have a child. But before this purpose of emendation, the criminals led by a nasty boss (Yves Massard) with whom he has been associated go after him.

The picture is developed in a long flashback with tension , suspense , emotion , and the exciting deeds are unfolded with absolute logic until the predicable outcome . First work by the Argentine director Juan Carlos Thorry who, like many films at the time, deals with a young delinquent who undertakes a criminal activity to eventually send a message that is too explicit to pass through : crime always pays, since on up to three occasions an attempt is made to harass the viewer through the voice-over or the use of posters . Of these , we can highlight some thought-provoking sentences : ¨There is always an opportunity, even for cowards¨. ¨We would like to produce a persuasive and healthy impact on the minds of those young people who, cowed by the first setbacks in the hard struggle for existence, allow themselves to be dazzled by the apparent skill with which others manage to satisfy their ambitions or caprices¨. ¨This is the story of a man who believed he had cheated justice, but suddenly the inexorable past cuts him off, leaving a street between man and his home, where death awaits¨. Stars Vicente Parra , a youthful idol at the time , he gives an acceptable acting as a fine man who reluctantly becomes involved into delinquency . Vicente Parra began his career in the theater, integrating, among others, in the companies of Luis Prendes and Amparo Rivelles, and in small film roles. He made his cinematographic debut in 1949 at the age of 18, with the help of Ramón Torrado, in the film Rumbo. In 1956, with Francisco Rovira Beleta's El expreso de Andalucía, he achieved a certain popularity. His moment of greatest popularity is reached thanks to "¿Dónde vas, Alfonso XII?" (1958), by Luis César Amadori, a film in which he plays the Spanish King Alfonso XII. Two years later he starred in a sequel titled ""¿Dónde vas, triste de ti?". At the beginning of the seventies, he tries to turn his career around, overcoming his stage of gallant, to give life to a psychopath in cult movie : The cannibal (1972), by Eloy de la Iglesia. From now on , he went on playing all kind of genres that include films as El Espiritista , El Juego del Adulterio, La siesta , El transexual , ? Cariño que has hecho? , among others. Later, he repeated his experience with De La Iglesia , also working as a producer, in the thriller Nadie oyó gritar with Carmen Sevilla. His works gradually spread, and during his last artistic stage he participated in the TV series Platos rotos (1985), the plays La jaula de las locas (1977), Isabelita la Miracielos (1978), Isabel, reina de corazones (1983), La barca sin pescador (1984), El cianuro, ¿solo o con leche? (1985), Los ladrones somos gente honrada (1985), La decente (1988) and La noche del sábado (1991) or the films Suspiros de España (y Portugal) (1995) and Tranvía a la Malvarrosa (1997), both by José Luis García Sánchez . He's well accompanied by a good cast , and being a French/Spanish co-production show up French players as Nadine Tallier , Yves Massard , Claudine Dupuis and a lot of Spanish people as María Martín , Manuel Gas, Eugenio Domingo , Estanis González , among others.

This nice film belongs to the Spanish Film Noir whose main center was in Barcelona and Madrid, at times ; other great titles also located within a Barcelona or Madrid production are the following ones : "Distrito Quinto" (Julio Coll,1957) , ¨Brigada criminal¨(1950) Ignacio F Iquino , ¨A sangre fría (1959)¨by Juan Bosch , ¨Un vaso de Whisky¨(Julio Coll) , or "A Tiro Limpio" (1963), by Francisco Pérez-Dolz , ¨091 Policia al habla¨ by Jose Maria Forqué and the best Noir resulted to be "Los Peces Rojos" (1955) by José Antonio Nieves Conde . The motion picture was professionally directed by Juan Carlos Thorry , though he fails to impress in any of the sections but the narrative is unclear and has its strengths and weaknesses.

That's what the Spanish title means ;the crew is mostly Spanish,but the two leads ,Yves Massard ,a former Pierre Fresnay's student ,and Claudine Dupuis are French.

This is the story of a boy born under a bad sign; a brutal father who had him work as a newspaper boy when he was hardly twelve,the premature death of his mother,little thefts and a reform school where good priests try to inculcate the straight and narrow in him.He learns mechanics,but the only job he finds is car cleaner.A bad girl introduces him to a gang and he soon becomes a part of them ; when he wants to call it quits ,it's too late .

The movie is a long flashback and ends on a note of hope .