Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Lamberto Quintero's January 28th.

In the mid 1970's in Culiacan, Sinaloa, there was a man by the name of Lamberto Quintero who was quite powerful. He was a drug boss who was well-respected by all of Culiacan. After Lamberto Quintero was murdered, he became a legend throughout Mexico thanks to a song that was written about him. It was written by Paulino Vargas and the song was covered by many musicians. One musician made the song very popular and his name was Antonio Aguilar. Aguilar's song was so successful that he also being a movie producer/actor, decided to turn the song into a movie.


Lamberto Quintero starts off just like the song does, Lamberto (Antonio Aguilar) and his gatilleros (gunmen) are just driving around in their van, drinking, laughing and just having a good time. One of the gunmen notices a car following them, they try losing the car, but they then pull over, get out of the van and shoot everyone inside the car with their AR-15's. The men inside the car are gatilleros of Lamberto's rival Don Oscar Valderama. Oscar Valderama and his family despise Lamberto and try to murder him several times. Lamberto of course continues to live despite the assassination attempts. He even shows the Valderama's to not underestimate him by sending severed heads to weddings of theirs and blow up their vehicles with bombs that were intended for him. That's pretty much how the movie goes. One person shoots the other and dead people pile up. Lamberto of course ends up dead like the song says so, but his death is avenged perfectly. Also can't forget Lamberto's love interests. He seems to have plenty of those through the entire movie. The real Lamberto was apparently a ladies man, so naturally they had to portray that in the movie.


Antonio Aguilar's Lamberto Quintero is a pretty good movie. Now the movie does break out in music a lot since Antonio Aguilar is a singer, but the songs he sings are not bad at all. They're famous songs of his and to this day they're still played by many of his fans everywhere. Next to a lot of music, the movie surprisingly has a lot of action too. Some of it is pretty bloody. Like I mentioned before, Lamberto Quintero sends a severed head to a wedding of the Valderma's and one of the Valderama's sons (played by a young Sebastian Ligarde) brutally stabs a girlfriend of Lamberto's to death. I also can't forget the guns firing. That happens a lot of course. So many bullets firing & blood splattering. Nice.


I like Lamberto Quintero since it is entertaining all the way through. If you like Mexican crime movies like myself, then this one will whet your appetite for sure.

Check out Lamberto Quintero sometime. Either on DVD, VHS or online streaming.


Since the song is an important part of the movie (duh), I translated the lyrics in English. Not 100% perfect, but it is enough to understand what exactly is said in the song and how more or less the movie goes. Hope it helps!
Song: 

Lyrics (Translated):
It was January 28th, oh how this day hurts me.

A van was chasing Don Lamberto Quintero. They were going to El Salado just for a drive... 

They passed the reedbeds, they were drinking some beer... 

His partner told him, "A van is following us". Lamberto said smiling, "What are the machine guns for?" .

Close to El Salado, two AR-15’s fired. They left one dead, an enemy of Lamberto's. 

Wish this was only a story, but my friends it is all true.

A man who was happy and in love, was talking to his girlfriend. 

He was off guard when the bullets fired. His life was taken away.

Santa Maria Clinic you are my witness.

Two days after his death, bullets fired again. 10 were left dead, for the same reasons.

The bridge that goes to Tierra Blanca, the one that saw it all.

Remember that Lamberto can never be forgotten.

For my part I assure, he's still needed in Culiacan...



Friday, July 11, 2014

It was all for a Savage Love.

Many times people get love and lust confused with one another. Just because someone wants to have sex with you, doesn't necessarily mean they love you as well. That's pretty much what Por Un Salvaje Amor (aka "For A Savage Love") is about. It's about a young woman that gets love and lust confused with one another.

By night, Esteban (Sebastian Ligarde) is an assassin for the mob. His specialty is castrating with a scalpel and so he's called "El Medico" by his superiors. By day, Esteban is a pimp and his boss explains to him that the demand right now are prostitutes that are very average looking. The secretary type of look. Esteban then searches in shopping malls for that secretary type of girl so he can round her up in his stable. He manages to find one girl and her name is Julia (Vanessa Yudic). Julia is a young secretary who mostly keeps to herself, but longs for a good man in her life. Julia at first is contemplated by the job offer Esteban has offered her considering it's prostitution- but since she's very attracted to Esteban, she takes the job and let's him take fully advantage of her and her innocence. Julia, young, naive, and virginal, thinks Esteban really loves her because she gives herself up to him. She thinks all that he does is out of love and "tough" love.


According to the back cover of my VHS copy, Por Un Salvaje Amor was well-received by a hand full of movie critics in Mexico. We got quotes from reviews saying "The most shocking movie of the year" (Revista Enlace), "A movie with audacious scenes" (El Universal), and "A love story with peculiar characters that take their relationship to unimaginable limits" (Esto).  All these quotes definitely sound legitimate since Por Un Salvaje Amor does have peculiar characters and has plenty of audacious scenes. Also it is a love story. A fucked up one for sure though. 

Being a fucked up kind of love story- Por Un Salvaje Amor is very sexual. Very nasty & sexual that is.

When Esteban meets with Julia about the job- Esteban forces his fingers inside Julia's vagina and tastes her. She tastes virginal according to him. When they have sex for the first time- it is indeed the first time for Julia since she was a virgin prior to this. The sex they had was far from average considering they do it in a kitchen counter and Esteban pours a small gallon of milk all over Julia's body and even uses some of the milk as lubricant. Esteban also forces Julia to suck his dick at a crowded restaurant. He can care less if people stare at them. When Esteban is commissioned to kill a rich man- he of course uses Julia as bait. She is forced to have sex with the rich guy, but the rich guy turns out to be a creep since he takes a hot light-bulb and sticks it up Julia's vagina. He's killed afterwards at least.

Por Un Salvaje Amor is a very fucked up and nasty movie, but I still enjoyed it very much since it did indeed have a great story. It also has great characters of course. I really liked Esteban and Julia. Esteban, being fucked up & all, was still likable since he's just very vulgar and he's one hell of a crazy hitman. He dresses up like a surgeon just to cut off dicks. Amazing, right? Esteban was played by Sebastian Ligarde and he once again plays a fucked up guy that can still charm women with his good-looking appearance. Julia, I felt so bad for her that I cheered for her salvation. Sadly, she doesn't have salvation, but at least I had the hope for it to happen. Vanessa Yudic's portrayal of Julia was excellent. She's played the same kind of character in other movies (a sexually-manipulated young woman), but in Por Un Salvaje Amor, Vanessa showed off more of her talent as an actress. She was a great actress and this movie really showed that. Sure she was scantily dressed through most of the movie- but even then she still played a fascinating & tragic character. It was a great role for Vanessa and it should be very much appreciated. 


Again and again, Christian Gonzalez impresses me with his earlier movies. Por Un Salvaje Amor is now added that collection of impressive movies made by him. Por Un Salvaje Amor is a movie not to be missed at all. If you liked La Cumbia Asesina (91'), then you will enjoy this movie for sure. Maybe even a little more.