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Morgan Bell
Matt Shea
David O'Connell
Mountain FogREVISITING THE FILMS OF LUCHA LIBRE
July 2nd 2009 08:29
Blue Demon may be used to grappling with the men, but he knows how to dress for the ladies as well
by Matt Shea
A pack of masked wrestlers push their motorcycles through the night. The engines of the two-wheelers howl as they ride in a loose formation. It’s a bizarre site: one third intimidating, two thirds hilarious.
Later, the wrestlers are taking part in an atomicos (four a side) competitive match. Led by the brick privy-built Blue Demon, they deal out a swift justice to their dastardly competitors, who look suspiciously like gringos, but are perhaps just some Mexicans with peroxided hair. What seems to be an irresistible victory is interrupted when a midget fires upon the ring using a machine gun he folded out of a transistor radio.
Later still, the brilliantly-dressed wrestler Mil Mascaras is forced from his motorcycle on a slippery mountain pass. Grainy cinematography captures all the action as Mascaras clings to dear life from a cliff with an angle of about 25 degrees.
Finally, our heroes take on a gang of midgets given super human powers by an evil genius. The battle waxes and wanes with the power-giving properties of the bracelets the midgets wear. Throughout, a heroin addled jazz troupe tinkles a strung out tune for the most incongruous of musical cues.
***
This is just a clutch of scenes taken from 1971’s “The Champions of Justice” (“Los Campeones Justicieros”), perhaps the film when it comes to the cinematic adventures of Lucha Libre. And that’s no small feat when you consider there are over 150 of these brash, balls-out and often highly confusing movies.
Lucha Libre is of course a phenomenon in its own right, regardless of the irresistible and slightly wonky march of Mexican cinema. The term is used in Mexico to refer to the dominant form of professional wrestling, identified by its varied high-flying moves, rapid athleticism, and of course the colourful and distinctive masks worn by the wrestlers themselves.
Lucha Libre has existed for well over 100 years but was first organised into a national sport by Salvador Lutteroth in 1933. The Vince McMahon of his time, Lutteroth established the Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre, or Mexican Wrestling Enterprise. The promotion company flourished in its early years, and an immensely popular national sport only became stronger with the advent of television in the early 1950s.
Of course, wrestling in the United States has always been a staged affair, and the luchadores took this to a whole other level, with most maintaining their persona (kayfabe) in public and going to great lengths to conceal their true identities.
The reverse nipple cripple!?! Blue Demon must be in a spot of bother
And perhaps it’s this aspect of Lucha Libre – the absolute dedication to their character – that made the wrestlers’ transition to the big screen so seamless. Beginning with "Huracan Ramirez" in 1952, the films of Lucha Libre were a massive success in their homeland, as the heroic luchadores took on everything from reanimated lady vampires (“Santo vs. las Mujeres Vampiro”(1962)) to aliens from Mars (“Santo el Enmascardo de Plata vs la Invasión de los Marcianos” (1967)), and always dressed in their wrestling gear and mask (even when turning in for the night).
Watching a Lucha Libre film is a mind-bending experience. Many of the releases on offer to English-speaking audiences lack subtitles or a dubbed voice track, but it’s of little real consequence – you don’t sit down to a Lucha Libre flick for some insightful subtext. Instead, you’re treated to bizarre non-stunts, ham-fisted photography, fast and loose plots, and fuzzy character logic.
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“The Champions of Justice” follows this recipe very closely as Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras, the Killer Doctor and friends take on the evil genius Black Hand and his army of super powered midgets. Black Hand and the midgets have kidnapped the contestants of the Miss Mexico beauty pageant, who just happen to be the goddaughters of the wrestlers. Over the next 90 minutes you’ll witness everything from hair-flattening car chases and door-busting midgets slapping around beauty queens to our heroes battling the bad guys on land, under sea and freefalling through the air (all in their wrestling costumes, of course).
It might sound ridiculous and it is, but you’ll also have yourself such a good time that the implausibilities hardly matter. It may also sound antiquated, which it’s perhaps not, with Mil Mascaras recently making an action packed comeback with “Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy”(2007). It’s a sincere and critically successful resurrection of the formula, and illustrates that while these films are the frothiest of concoctions, their appeal continues to stretch well beyond both their country and era of origin.
Check out the greatest fight scene in history below, taken from “The Champions of Justice”:
*First image is from Da-Flow
*Second image is taken from Badmovies.org
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Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
they sound fabulously camped up movies, that would go well with a bottle or two of mescal worm laced Tequila!!
cheers
fog
Comment by Morgan Bell
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Comment by Matt Shea
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Screen Trek
Morgan - Great init?! That old lazy idea of the evil genius seemingly having cameras hovering above the action lots of Sgt Pepper's style noise - gold.
Comment by Matt Shea
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
And as you promised, hilarious clip with accompanying lounge music!
Comment by Matt Shea
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Comment by David O'Connell
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Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
got your test email through to my address, but did you get my response back to you?
Or, did you get my questions about your comment disappearing from my Knowing review, via the Orble email?
In case not, basically, your comment and comments by Marley, and Mia have all been totally erased off my two film reviews, (Mia from "New In Town") and the other from "Knowing".
Do you have any answers why they disappeared, as I presume you didn't remove your own comment?
cheers
fog