El salario del crimen

Thrilling Spanish noir film with tension, suspense, action and a lot of plot twists. It deals with stiff-upper-lip Mario, a cop who along with his colleagues Manuel Alexandre, Milo Quesada carry out a bust against some delinquents resulting in the death of a policeman. As his strict chief : José Bodalo, assigns him the investigation of the murder his partner. While Mario is investigating a suspect woman at a gowns shop, he meets Elsa : Francoise Brion, and falls for her. Things go wrong when Mario learns Elsa becomes involved into dark issues . But Mario will stop at nothing to go on with her.

Notable Noir of the Sixties with interesting plot , emotion, violence and lots of susprises. The film packs several elements belonging to American Noir genre : Corrupt policeman, fatalism, Femme Fatale, crazy love, pesimist portrayals , Venetian blinds and anything else. Interpretations are terrific, as main and support cast are frankly good. The picture coresponds to Spanish Noir of the 50s and 60s that at the time achieved successes and splendor, being the first one : Brigada Criminal by Ignacio F Iquino and Apartado de Correos 1001 by Julio Salvador. Following other prestigious films as Distrito Quinto by Julio Coll, Un vaso de Whisky, La carcel de cristal, Nunca es demasiado tarde, Los cuervos, being most of them shot at Barcelona. And this El Salario Del Crimen is well starred by Arturo Fernandez, he is very fine as the cop who becomes involved with corruption and he won't hesitate to cross the limits of the law . Francoise Brion is nice as the Femme Fatal who Mario meets in the course of an investigation, she is accustomed to highest level of life and luxury. Secondary actors are excellent, formed by a plethora of notorious Spanish players as Manuel Alexandre, José Bodalo, Milo Quesada, Alberto Dalbes, José Franco, José Sepulveda, Rufino Inglés, Luis Marin, Emilio Rodriguez, Victor Israel, Antonio Riquelme, among others.

Special mention for cinematography shot in Sevilla studios by Antonio Macasoli. Antonio was considered to be one of the best Spanish cameramen shooting various international coproductions as Fury of magnificent seven, Finger on the trigger, Grand Slam, Cesar Borgia, Ragan, Residence for spies. As well as an attractive and atmospheric musical score by Joseph Solá, plenty of jazzy sounds. The motion picture was competently directed by Julio Buchs ,1923-1973. It won prize National Syndicate Spectacle to best fim. Julio Buchs was son of a known director of silent films, in fact at 17 he began working with his father as an assistant. His debut films were 2 uneven comedies, Piedra de toque 1963 and El pecador y la bruja 1964. He made other genres as Paella Western : Mestizo, El hombre que mató a Billy el Niño, Los desesperados. Thrillers and Giallos as Alta Tension, and Las trompetas del Apocalipsis. And more comedies as Una señora llamada Andres, , El apartamento de la tentación starred by Juan Luis Galiardo and Carmen Sevilla .His best fim was a melodrama about a nun in Belgian Congo starred by Rosanna Schiafino, until his early death at 47. Rating : 7.5/10. Notable. The flick will appeal to Spanish cinema buffs.

Don't expect a dull movie here in the vein of the Spanish 50's melodramas. This is almost the Spanish version of Bad Lieutenant filmed 40 years before, obviously it's a bit exaggerated but if you see it under perspective of the political situation in Spain during these years El Salario de la Violencia turns out to be quite a quite risky film. You can find many films covering similar grounds in the US or France , but sadly that's not the case for Spain ,where due to the political situation all cinema was oriented to a more folkloric side. This is what it makes this film special , had this been filmed in the US it would be an unremarkable film but in Spain you can hardly find any film noirs nor many alumni of the works of Richard Thorpe , Phil Karlson or J.Becquer.

Plot is about police corruption , a fine cop who felt in love with a kind of rich femme fatal he met during an investigation . Obviously he can afford to follow up her expensive living with his modest salary so he starts behaving randomly in a Bad Liutenant' style, taking money and hiding evidences until finally he ends up planning a bank heist .

It's not only the subject of the film id quite audacious due to the Spanish censorship in force at that time . It's also that the film itself is well constructed , plot and actors are quite credible and realistic ( even A. Fernandez who later became a popular figure in Spain for his comical roles in popular movies and also for his total lack of any acting skills ) You can avoid to come across to a moralistic end and some bizarre turns made the plot became a bit cheesy at the end but it's well worth the time .