El vikingo

It deals with a mature executive called Ramón (José Luis López Vázquez) married to Ana (Concha Velasco) who thinks he is a self-made-man , but actually his promotion as a notorious estate agent results to be thanks to his wife who deceives him with the president (Javier Escribá) of the real estate company in which he works . As his advancement at the enterprise due to Ana who makes love with powerful suitors as Juan de la Encina (Máximo Valverde) and Don Luis Alcoriza (Javier Escrivá) . Then , Ramón receives a anonymous letter , noting him as a ¨Viking¨ and things go wrong .

The film partially portrays the society of the seventies with the urban boom and being full of frivolity , egoism , duplicity , adultery and deceits . This film is made to entertain , and this movie , especially for a good time and a pleasant entertainment but results to be a a little bit boring and overlong . Fun though mediocre Spanish comedy/drama but extremely moralizing with the great José Luis López Vazquez who became himself a big star during the seventies , especially thanks to Carlos Saura .In the early 70s he surprisingly started to do good dramatic performances in films like Peppermint frappé (1967) , El jardín de las delicias (1970), Bosque del lobo, El (1970) , Mi querida señorita (1971) (Best Actor Award in the 1972 Chicago Film Festival, Cabina, La (1970) (TV)(winner of an Emmy Award), or Habla, mudita (1973). He made a great success with these films which even got stronger after the international effects caused by his TV film 'La cabina' and his contribution to George Cukor's Travels with may aunt (1972). And this success set the rest of his career, full of successful films both dramatic and comic as Escopeta nacional, La (1978) , Verdad sobre el caso Savolta, La (1979) , La colmena (1982), Corte del faraón, La (1985) , Mi general (1987), Largo invierno, El (1991) and many others . This El Vikingo displays a very good support cast giving acceptable interpretations , such as Máximo Valverde , Javier Escribá , Manuel Zarzo , Milo Quesada , Mary Francis , Queta Claver and brief appearances from Raul Sender , Guadalupe Muñoz Sampedro , José Riesgo , Pilar Bardem , Lone Fleming , Saturno Cerra , Manuel Alexandre and the TV presenter Jose Luis Urribarri. Evocative musical score by Antón García Abril in his usual style of the 70s . Atmospheric cinematography by Francisco Sempere , being necessary a perfect remastering beacause of the film copy is washed-out.



¨The viking¨ was regularly directed by the prolific Pedro Lazaga and it was a flop at Spanish box office . Lazaga directed various film with the popular comic player Paco Martinez Soria . Lazaga was born in Valls , Tarragona , Catalonia , and died on November 30, 1979 in Madrid . He was a prolific director and writer , specially known for Los Chicos del Preu (1967), María Morena (1951), Cuerda De Presos (1956) and Posición Avanzada (1966). Pedro was a craftsman , a notorious director and writer who directed all kind of genres such as Peplum : Siete Espartanos , Wartime : Cuerda De Presos , Posicion Avanzada , Torrepartida , La Patrulla ; Drama : Rostro De Asesino , Otro Arbol De Guernica , but especially known for comedies in low budget . Director Pedro Lazaga made , during the fifties and early sixties , eight films , mostly comedies : ¨Muchachas De Azul¨, Ana Dice Si¨. ¨Luna De Verano¨, ¨Económicamente Debiles¨ , ¨Trio Damas¨ for screenwriter and producer Jose Luis Dibildos and his ¨Agata Films Productions¨. The best of all them resulted to be ¨Los Tramposos¨. He continued making comedies such as Patrulla De Los Once , Los Tramposos , Sabian Demasiado , El Vikingo , ¡No Firmes Más Letras, Cielo! , Vente a Ligar Al Oeste , Hasta El Matrimonio Nos Separe , La Amante Perfecta , Fulanita y Sus Menganos , Vota a Gundisalvo , Terapia Al Desnudo , Tres Suecas Para Tres Rodríguez , Yo soy Fulana de Tal , 5 Almohadas Para Una Noche , En La Cresta De la Ola and several others . His most known films were with the popular comic player Paco Martinez Soria , such as : Abuelo Made in Spain or Old made in Spain, , Padre De La Criatura , Alegre Divorciado , Estoy Hecho Un Chaval , Vaya Par Gemelos , among others.