Luis Alcoriza

Writer

September 5, 1918 (74 years)

† December 3, 1992

Badajoz, Spain

Biography

Luis Alcoriza de la Vega (5 September 1918 – 3 December 1992) was a respected Mexican screenwriter, film director, and actor. Alcoriza was born in Spain and established himself in Mexico from 1940. His 1962 film Tlayucan was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His 1987 film Lo que Importa es Vivir was entered into the 15th Moscow International Film Festival.

Filmography

8.0

The Young and the Damned

A group of juvenile delinquents live a violent life in the infamous slums of Mexico City; among them Pedro, whose morality is gradually corrupted and destroyed by the others.

7.9

The Exterminating Angel

After a lavish dinner party, the guests find themselves unable to depart... and, over the next few days, all of their elaborate societal pretenses and façades deteriorate as they are reduced to living like animals.

6.4

Robinson Crusoe

The titular adventurer, after defying his parents to go to sea, survives a shipwreck and becomes a castaway on a deserted island for nearly thirty years, learning to build a new life from scratch, discovering companionship with a native man he names Friday, and eventually returning to civilisation a changed man, finding wealth and new challenges.

6.8

The Gangster

An old gangster returns from the United States to Mexico City to live with his sister-in-law and his two nephews, where he will face the daily life of a middle-class family.

7.7

Él

Gloria encounters Francisco, a man whose social veneer betrays a truer self burrowed underneath.

6.9

The Innocent

After a quarrel with her boyfriend on New Year's Eve, Mane drives her car from Mexico City to Cuernavaca to meet her parents in their country house. The car breaks down in the highway and Mane has to ask for help. Mechanic Cruci arrives and, after testing the car, offers Mane a ride on his motorcycle. Back in Mane's house, she invites him some drinks to celebrate New Year's Eve. They get drunk and, the morning after, Mane's parents arrive and find them sleeping together. Not knowing what happened, Mane and Cruci are forced to get married against their will.

5.8

Dangerous Game

Two dark-comedy stories involving blackmail, murder and love triangles in Rio de Janeiro

7.0

The Brute

A tough young man, who helps to kick poor people out of their houses, falls in love with a girl. She lives with her father in the building about to be demolished.

6.5

Illusion Travels by Streetcar

Confronted with the unfortunate news that their favorite Streetcar, no. 133, is going to be decommissioned, two Municipal Transit workers get drunk and decide to "take 'er for one last spin," as it were. Unfortunately, the "one last spin" ends up being an all-night and all-day scramble to stay out of trouble, as they are confronted with situation after sometimes bizarre situation that prevents them from returning the "borrowed" Streetcar!

7.3

The Great Madcap

Portrayal of a family’s attempt to change the spending habit of the indulgent and hedonistic patriarch, Alfredo. The family decides to try to fool him into spending less by telling him that his large fortune is gone.

8.1

El Siete Machos

Rosario, the niece of the rancher, returns to the ranch after ten years of absence. She takes in Margarito, a worker at the ranch, who is immediately smitten by her. Rosario is rescued from a runaway horse by the Seven Men, an outlaw a la Robin Hood that steals from the rich and gives to the poor. He also happens to be the twin brother of Margarito, unbeknownst to him. The confusion between Margarito and the Seven Men generates great comical situations in the film.

6.4

Death in the Garden

In a remote Amazon jungle village, a group of angry diamond prospectors revolt when the local government undertakes a violent crackdown.

8.0

The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales

A taxidermist decides to murder his wife after having to put up with her after twenty years of hellish marriage.

6.1

Fever Mounts at El Pao

After Caribbean despot Mariano Vargas is murdered at the hands of his enraged populace, his secretary Ramón Vázquez takes not just control but also Vargas' widow Inés, with whom he's been having an affair. Special military unit leader Alejandro Gual arrives to overthrow Vázquez by turning the people and Inés against him.

5.0

Omen

While attending the birth of Isabel, the wife of foreigner Felipe, Mama Santos predicts that "something terrible is going to happen in the town." From this omen, calamities will torment the locals.

6.9

Untouched

With the purpose of using barbasco roots in the production of cortisone, a pharmaceutical company sends a scientist to investigate the possibilities of exploitation in Veracruz, but the man gets lost in the jungle and lives a strange romantic adventure in a remote location called Paradise.

6.3

Paradise

Problems arise between the divers Román and Lauro when the former falls in love with a prostitute on the beaches of Acapulco.

6.4

The River and Death

A useless and bloody vendetta has been going on for ages between two families in this Mexican village. Men, sons, have killed each other for generations, for a so-called conception of honor in a revenge that never ends since it is also triggered by people of the village. Now, today, there are only two sons left, one in each family. One has become a doctor in the big city and his culture is modern. The other last one - of the other family - hasn't left the village and is waiting for the doctor to come "home" as he plans to kill him, to settle this war on this matter of honor once and for all. And the people of the village want blood.

7.4

National Mechanics

A mechanic takes his family to a car race and a series of events occur which brings problems, betrayals, violence and the unexpected death of an elderly person.

6.1

Terror and Black Laces

A psycho with a hair fetish is caught in the act of disposing of a body and the lonely housewife that witnesses it must fight for her life.