28 JUNE 2006

Dos tipos de cuidado

Mexico, 1953, 111 minutes ? Print Courtesy of TELEVISA

Starring Pedro Infante & Jorge Negrete Directed by Ismael Rodriguez

Los Angeles Theater
615 South Broadway

 Los Angeles, California 90014

A Collaboration with

the Los Angles Conservancy's

 "Last Remaining Seats" Series

 For more information

www.laconservancy.org or 213.430.4219

The most lavish and last built of Broadway?s great movie palaces, the Los Angeles Theatre was designed by S. Charles Lee with S. Tilden Norton. It recalls the glories of the French Baroque, with a majestic lobby featuring fluted columns, sparkling chandeliers, detailed gilt and plaster ornamentation, and a sunburst motif alluding to France?s ?Sun King,? Louis XIV. The stage curtain depicts a courtly scene in three dimensions, with figures clothed in real fabric and wigs of braided wool.

EVENING SPONSORS

Department of Cultural Affairs,
City of Los Angeles

CO-SPONSORS

Special Performance by

OLLIN

One of L.A's Hottest Bands

Touted as of Los Angeles' most talented music groups, OLLIN will open the program with a performance especially produced for the screening of Dos tipos de cuidado. A Musical Tribute to Latino L.A. will showcase the versatile talents of this amazing East LA band.

OLLIN was prominently featured in the critically acclaimed play "Chavez Ravine" by Culture Clash. They co-starred and created/performed the music of the production which received rave reviews. OLLIN is fronted by twin brothers, Scott and Randy Rodarte, classically trained musicians whose romantic good looks and charismatic stage presence have landed them theatre and film roles. They have appeared on the college circuit with Ozomatli and just had dates with Lucinda Williams and Los Lobos at San Francisco's fabled Fillmore Auditorium.

OLLIN – It's Mayan for "movement." This colorful band blazed out of East LA to take on the mantle of the great LA rock and rollers, bringing the energy and vibrancy of Chicano music to a growing number of devotees all over the US in clubs, colleges and concert halls.

Jorge Negrete and Pedro Infante, the undisputed giants of the Mexican ranchera genre and frequent performers on Broadway, star in Ismael Rodriguez' Dos tipos de cuidado - the only film they made together. The two portray friends divided by mutual affection for Rosario (Carmelita Gonzalez) and quickly find themselves entangled in scandal and misunderstanding. Equal parts melodrama and comedy, the film also features a tour de force lyrical duel between two of the most brilliant performers of Mexico?s Golden Age of cinema.

This vintage western musical teams a pair of very popular Mexican musical stars, Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, who play a pair of wandering cowboys who show up at a ranch and become involved in a series of romantic entanglements with the local senoritas.

They do their best to avoid trouble and try not to get involved with the local female population. It's a losing battle. With the arrival of beauties like Carmelita Gonzalez and Yolanda Varela, the do-not touch policy imposed on themselves doesn?t work. The young ladies become two good reasons for the adventurer's to break their own pledges The script was co-written by regional comedian Carlos Orellana, who also plays an amusing character role.

The young ladies become two good reasons for the adventurer's to break their own pledges The script was co-written by regional comedian Carlos Orellana, who also plays an amusing character role. Dos tipos de cuidado was the last starring feature for Jorge Negrete who died in 1953. This is the only movie in which these two Mexican cinema icons appear together sharing screen time. They both appear in Reportaje (1953), but never in the same shot.

Dos amigos rancheros estᮠenamorados de dos jovencitas del pueblo. Pedro ama a Mar hermana de Jorge, quien estᠥnamorado de Rosario, la hija de un abonero Სbe. Jorge tiene que irse del pueblo y al regresar un a�� despu鳠encuentra a Pedro casado con Rosario. Despechado, Jorge trata de arruinar a su ex-amigo y rival sin sospechar que todo el embrollo es producto de la nobleza de Pedro.

Pedro Infante (November 18, 1917 ? April 15, 1957) was a popular Mexican actor and singer in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born as Jos預edro Infante Cruz in Mazatlᮬ Sinaloa. He appeared in about 60 films from 1939 on, and recorded about 350 songs from 1943 on. Moving to the small, nearby town of Guam? (whence his nickname "ͤolo de Guam?") with his family. Infante worked as a carpenter from a young age. Infante's father, musician Delfino Infante Garc fostered his keen interest in music, which inspired him to make his own guitar, a labour that took two years. In 1937, Pedro Infante sang for the first time in public at a local festival in Sinaloa. His first wife, MarLuisa Le��convinced him to move to Mexico City, where he acted for the radio Station XEB, and performed the music of Alberto Cervantes, Jos頁lfredo Jim鮥z, Cuco Sᮣhez, Tom᳠M鮤ez, Rub鮠Fuentes, Salvador Flores, and others in concert halls. His first record, "El Soldado Razo", was recorded on November 19, 1943, on the Peerless label. Infante first appeared as an extra in the movie "En un burro tres baturros", and his career started with the film "La Feria de Las Flores" (1943).

During one of his many tours of South America, he was the first foreigner ever to be awarded the Medalla de Oro Sim��olr (Gold Medal of Sim��olivar) from the President of Venezuela. During this time he also conducted more tours of the United States, this time concentrating on California. When Jorge Negrete died in 1953, the throne they shared as Mexico's most popular actors was left solely to Infante, who led the funeral procession on his famous Harley-Davidson motorcycle as a uniformed member of Mexico's highway patrol. In July 1956, the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematogrᦩcas of Mexico presented Pedro Infante with the Ariel Award for his motion picture La Vida No Vale Nada.

Pedro Infante was a keen pilot and flew as often as his time permitted. In 1947, he was involved in the first of three airplane accidents. In 1949, he suffered serious injuries in his second plane crash near Zitᣵaro, Michoacᮼ/I>. After surgery and several months of rehabilitation, he was able to resume his acting career, however. On April 15, 1957, Infante was killed piloting his plane when it crashed near M鲩da in Yucatᮼ/I>. The day was declared a national day of mourning in Mexico. When his coffin arrived in Mexico City, thousands of fans waited at the airport. His body was placed at the National Association of Actors and Composers in the Jorge Negrete Theater. There, his fans and family bid farewell with mariachis playing his famous bolero, "Amorcito Coraz��I>."

Pedro Infante's songs ranged from waltzes, cha-cha-chas, and canciones rancheras to boleros, which he made popular with mariachi and ranchera singers. Some of his most popular songs include "La Que Se Fue," "El Durazno," "Dulce Patria," "Maldita Sea Mi Suerte," "Ass La Vida," "Ma�� Rosal/I>," "Cartas a Eufemia," and "Flor Sin Reto��I>." Infante was often accompanied by the great musical ensembles of that time, such as El Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlᮼ/I>, El Orquesta de Pedro Garc/I>, El Orquesta de Noe Fajardo, Trio Claveras, Andr鳠 Huesca y sus Coste��/I>, and Antonio Bisbiesca.

Jorge Negrete (November 30, 1911 - December 5, 1953) famous Mexican singing idol and movie star of the 1930's, 40's and 50's. Jorge Alberto Negrete Moreno was born in the city of Guanajuato during the depths of the Mexican Revolution to a military family. His father, David Negrete, who eventually rose to lieutenent colonel in the Federal Army, and his mother, Emilia Moreno were both related to land-holding aristocrats of the Porfiriato but were in the position of poor relations. Jorge was also related to several heros of the War for Mexican Independence, Miguel Negrete, Don Pedro MarAnaya and Pedro Moreno.

He was the second child and second son, he and his brother, David (died: 1960), and sisters Consuelo (born:1914), Emilia and MarTeresa and moved first to Le��nd then to Mexico City. Negrete later attended the Colegio Militar attaining the rank of lieutenent. Blessed with a fine opera-trained baritone voice, he once considered an offer to join the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, but rejected the offer for not wanting to accept a secondary position in the company.

Already famous for his radio work with XEW, he undertook his first movie role in 1937 with La madrina del diablo but his acting career took off in 1941 with Ay, Jalisco, no te rajes! which made him a celebrity. He was wildly popular in all Latin America and undertook several tours appearing in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Cuba, and Spain. He was mobbed everywhere by thousands of fans.

Having a reputation for arrogance and stubbornness, which was frequently contrasted with the more easy and accessible charismatic manner of Pedro Infante, he was a tireless champion of the entertainment profession in Mexico. Leader and founding member of ANDA, the actor's union, he fought hard during his brief lifetime for the rights of actors and all movie professionals.

Although largely a non-drinker, Negrete suffered advanced liver disease and cirrhosis due to hepatitis contracted while living in New York City during the beginning of his career. In November of 1953, although seriously ill, he traveled to Los Angeles for a personal appearance. Shortly after his arrival in the city, his condition worsened and he died on December 5, 1953 at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. His funeral was attended by thousands who thronged the center of Mexico City to accompany his coffin to the Pante��ardin where he was buried in the Lote de los Actores. Negrete's distinctive baritone voice is still heard frequently on Spanish-language radio and the many fans of the movies of the Epoca de Oro continue to enjoy his films. His daughter Diana and grandchildren Diana Elisa and Lorenzo planned homages to Negrete. Plans are also underway for a statue of Negrete to be erected in the Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City.

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The Latin American Cinemateca is pleased to present at the Ford Amphitheatre Últimos días de la víctima, a key Argentine political thriller of the 1980s, based on the novel of the same title by José Pablo Feinman.

Adolfo Aristarain, born in Buenos Aires in 1943, first caught the attention of Argentine critics with a tightly scripted crime picture La parte del león (1978). It showed that genre films in the style of the American noir could also be made far from Hollywood. Aristarain brought to his subsequent works set in present day Argentina, A Time for Revenge (1981) and Últimos días de la víctima, a very marked political slant, couched in classic American genre conventions. This combination of a noir style and a strong ideological voice had not been seen in Argentine cinema until then. Unlike other filmmakers of the decade, Aristarain was not looking for a niche as an “auteur”, a director expressing a personal world, in the European tradition. He was refreshingly interested in reaching a large audience, domestically and abroad. A Time for Revenge established his name internationally and its commercial success led Aries Cinematográfica, the production company founded by Fernando Ayala and Héctor Olivera, to underwrite the cost of this fifth film. (Besides A Time for Revenge Aries had also produced Aristarain’s second and third films, two musical comedies that had been popular hits).

Últimos días de la víctima is, on the one hand, an intriguing porteño variation on the crime film, and on the other a not so veiled political comment on one of Aristarain’s favorite topics until today: the alliance between big business and the powerful. A film like this, set in the early 1980s, pointed out – quite unambiguously - to the military junta and its civilian entourage, running the country since the coup of 1976.

The plot focuses on Mendizábal, a professional killer played by the notable Argentine actor Federico Luppi, and a frequent protagonist of Aristarain’s films. His job is to track and eliminate a mysterious and sexually promiscuous Mr. Kulpe (Arturo Maly). Paying homage to Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Coppola’s The Conversation, Aristarain slowly creates an atmosphere of paranoia and secrecy by restricting the plot information to what the protagonist can see, hear or infer. Thus the stage is set up for a surprising twist, which this brief introduction would not wish to reveal.

Like A Time for Revenge, the political background is a given that needs no comment or further exploration: it is a world of corruption, impunity and powerful economic interests preying on the little people. The context is unequivocally set in the introductory sequence when Mendizábal’s occupation is revealed: his victim (Julio De Grazia) is a despicable individual who has swindled several hundreds of workers participating in a government-sponsored plan for inexpensive housing, with the complicity of State officials. But unlike A Time for Revenge and A Place in the World (1991), another key Aristarain film, also with Luppi, the protagonist is no Capra hero making an ethical stand against pervasive corruption. His moral and psychological opacity becomes the linchpin of a thriller interested in showing that Buenos Aires, with its gallery of shady characters, can also be an effective locale for a plot of noir corruption.

By showing that human behavior and its motivations are never transparent or straightforward – as a Spanish reviewer noted in 1986 – Aristarain has made a valid contribution to the crime film, a genre particularly suitable for twentieth century angst and moral blindness.

María Elena de las Carreras, Ph.D.

The author is a Fulbright scholar from Argentine. She has a Ph.D. in Film Studies from UCLA.

La Cinemateca Latinoamericana de Los Angeles tiene el gusto de presenter en el Anfiteatro Anson Ford un thriller político argentino clave de los años ochenta, basado en la novela homónima de José Pablo Feinman: Últimos días de la víctima.

Adolfo Aristarain, nacido en Buenos Aires en 1943, captó la atención de los críticos argentinos cuando estrenó el policial La parte del león (1978). Demostró que una película de género al estilo del cine negro norteamericano podia rodarse lejos de Hollywood. A sus largometrajos subsiguientes, Tiempo de revancha (1981) y Últimos días de la víctima , ambientados en una Argentina contemporánea, Aristarain les dio un marcado sesgo ideológico, siempre dentro de las convenciones del género norteamericano. Esta combinación de un estilo negro con un contenido político constituía una novedad en el cine argentino. En contraste con otros realizadores de la década, Aristarain no buscaba definirse como “autor”, es decir un realizador deseoso de expresar un universo personal, en la tradición europea. Le interesaba, al contrario, llegar al gran público, nacional e internacional. Tiempo de revancha consagró su nombre y este éxito de crítica y taquilla llevó a Aries Cinematográfica – la empresa productora fundada por Fernando Ayala y Héctor Olivera – a financiar el largometraje que veremos hoy. (Además de Tiempo de revancha, Aries también produjo dos comedias musicales del director, rotundas éxitos de público).

Por un lado, Últimos días dela víctima constituye una variante porteña del género policial, y por otro un comentario poco velado sobre uno de los temas predilectos del director hasta hoy: la alianza entre el mundo de los negocios y la gente poderosa. Una película como esta – ambientada sin ambages en los años ochenta – desnudaba a la junta militar y al entorno civil que gobernaba el país desde el golpe militar de marzo de 1976.

La historia se centra en Mendizábal, un asesino professional interpretado por el notable actor argentino Federico Luppi, un colaborador frecuente de Aristarain. Su ocupación es rastrear y eliminar al misterioso señor Kulpe (Arturo Maly), un individuo de gran promiscuidad sexual. Rindiendo homenaje a La ventana indiscreta, de Alfred Hitchcock, y La Conversación, de Francis Coppola, Aristarain va creando con minucia una atmósfera de paranoia y misterio al restringir la información de que dispone el protagonista, según lo que ve, oye o deduce. De esta manera se prepara una vuelta de tuerca sorprendente, que esta breve introducción al filme no tiene intención de develar.

Como ocurre en Tiempo de revancha, el contexto político no necesita mayor explicación: es un universo de corrupción, impunidad y poderosos intereses económicos que explotan a la gente humilde. La secuencia inicial, donde se describe la ocupación de Mendizábal, resulta suficientemente explícita: su víctima (Julio De Grazia) es un sujeto despreciable, que ha estafado, con la ayuda de funcionarios oficiales, a varios cientos de obreros que participaban de un plan de viviendas patrocinado por el gobierno.

Pero a diferencia de Tiempo de revancha y Un lugar en el mundo (1991), un largometraje clave en la obra de Aristarain y también interpretado por Federico Luppi, el protagonista no es un héroe como los de Frank Capra, cuya postura ética es un cachetazo a la corrupción generalizada. La opacidad moral y psicológica del protagonista constituyen la piedra angular de un thriller interesado en mostrar como Buenos Aires, una galería de personajes siniestros, también puede funcionar como un espacio para el cine negro. Al mostrar que el comportamiento humano y sus motivaciones rehuyen la transparencia y la simplicidad – según señaló un crítico español en 1986 – Aristarain ha realizado una contribución valiosa al género policial, un tipo de cine adecuado para expresar la angustia y ceguera moral del siglo veinte.

María Elena de las Carreras, Ph.D.

La autora, nacida en la Argentina, se dedica a la crítica cinematográfica en Los Angeles.

Obtuvo su doctorado en cine en UCLA.

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