Paco (Luis Ferrín) is a teen who specializes in reselling bullfight tickets to tourists on Madrid's Calle de la Victoria. Paco's father, before he died, placed the boy in a hotel as a bellhop. Paco loses his job as a bellboy in a luxury hotel due to a mistaken scene with a tourist. So Paco with 18 years, becomes unemployed. Seeing his beloved mother (Ana María Noé) who never stops working and sewing, he is determined to find a new job again and in the meantime he commits misdemeanors and parties with his gang of friends. Paco looks then for another job, but for a young unprepared as himself is not easy at all and as a consequence he will go from failure to failure until he decides to take a shortcut to obtain fame and money: to be a matador. He looks for work in different places that never satisfy him and finally his love of bullfighting makes him throw himself into the ring as a spontaneous.
Interesting drama dealing with an unemployed young man along with Madrid habits , bullfighting , mother-son relationship and many other things. This an enjoyable and feeling movie full of mirth , humor touches and agreeable message based on a story and screenplay by Eduardo De Santis, along with Victor Andrés Catena and director Jorge Grau himself. At the same time the film gives us an ample panorama about Madrid life , its pity and goodness ; furthermore, showing the citizens , men at work , swindlers , thieves , rascals and various situations happen in this big city . The scenarios in which develops the deeds are perfectly designed , a Madrid in the sixties where lived all kinds of pickpockets , street vendors , counterfeiters , waifs and a host of roles that are cropping out in the movie .
Halfway between the neorealism discovered in Italy and the experimentalism that surrounds some of his later works, this second film written in collaboration and directed by Jorge Grau has a clear itinerary structure, including an effective mix of debuting: Luis Ferrín and established actors such as: Ana María Noé, Emilio Laguna, Alfonso del Real, Luis Sánchez Polack : Tip, Francisco Camoiras, José Franco, Laly Soldevilla, Pastor Serrador, Félix Fernández, Antonio Riquelme, Xan das Bolas, Antonio Moreno, Ángel de Andrés, Terele Pávez, and special appearance from the great Fernando Rey as a lascivious and weird painter, as well as bullfighter Paco Camino himself. And it results in one of the best films that best reflect the Madrid atmosphere of the time.
Musical score by Antonio Pérez Olea responds appropriately to the ambient , originating a careful atmosphere . Well produced by Jaime Comas Gil, to retain this last name, as he has financed several international co-productions made in Spain, such as: Cabo Blanco, La sfinge d'oro (La esfinge de cristal), El cazador de tiburones, La iguana and even For a fistful of dollars. Precious and luminous cinematography by Federico G. Larraya who gives us an accurate scenario of the times is developed .
The film was professionally directed by Jorge Grau, although it developed with some ups and downs. And won some nominations and Awards, such as: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Jorge Grau 1964 Nominated Crystal Globe Best Film and 1964 winner Special Mention Best Actor Luis Ferrín . Jorge Grau worked as a radio scriptwriter before embarking on his film career and was also a playwright and painter. He was a versatile filmmaker who was immersed in most film genres. He began studying at the 'Centro Sperimentale' film school in Rome, Italy. In Grau there is always a good filmmaker, who uncorked himself in the sixties and seventies with truly modern cinema, developing what was not widespread then, such as high-profile plots. Jorge Grau was an artisan, but he is best remembered for a couple of horror films that he directed, thus he made all kinds of genres such as Drama, suspense, comedy, such as: "The Stranger on Cruz del Sur Street", "The punyalada", "El spontaneo", "La siesta", "Death penalty", "Tutset Street", "Love Letters from a Nun", "Club Girls", ¨Hunting Ground¨, ¨la Trastienda¨, "Acteon". Being his two greatest hits within the horror genre, such as: ¨Bloody Ceremony¨ (also titled¨Ceremonia sangrienta¨,¨The Legend of Blood Castle¨, ¨The Femaler Butcher" or "Countess Bathory") and especially the horror classic, ¨No profanar el sueño de los muertos¨ (1974) ("Living dead in the Manchester Morgue"), in fact internationally and particularly in the United States it has a certain status of a "Cult Movie". El espontáneo(1964) rating: 6,5/10. Passable and decent film that will appeal to Spanish film lovers.
