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When one thinks of "destape" movies, it is clear that the films which Ozores produced during that period fit into that category. Yet, I have my reservations towards putting Ozores in the same basket alongside other directors. All his films have a unique quality. You can tell when a destape movie has been made by Ozores or when it is just a vile copy (for exaple, terrible flicks like "El Cid Cabreador", "Juana la Loca de Vez en Cuando" or "El Holding de la Mosca").

Having said that, I have to say that Ozores never lost his theatrical pace and that this "Liguero Magico" has a wonderful first half before succumbing to boredom. Almost every line spoken here has a delirious and terrorist quality that almost no one has achieved in Spanish cinema. Free yourself from prejudices and enjoy, at least, the first half of this great film that could have been greater. Andres Pajares rarely performed better than here.

My memories about this film are, somehow mixed. On one hand, it his probably one of this director´s most boring films. On the other hand, it must be seen as the beginning of a new stage in Ozores career where he regained the attention of the media and even managed some screenings in big cinemas. His strategy was a wise one: having failed to achieve his own "star system" which should have replaced the Esteso-Pajares power duo, he chose to give main roles to tabloids front-pagers. In "Tahiti´s Girl" he picked the Thaiti´s Girl Vaitiare who, at that time, was dating no other than Julio Iglesias. Publicity flowed and Ozores returned like a Fenix. But it did not last. His last attempt at this formula was "Disparate Nacional", shot with doubles of the aforementioned tabloid front-pagers. It got response from tabloids but not at the box offices and marked, thus, his departure from filmmaking.

Miss ya.

Being used to seeing remakes of high-budget movies, it is somewhat delirious to watch the king of Spanish sexploitation - ladies and gentlemen, Mariano Ozores - shooting a even-lower-budget remake of his 80´s hit "Los Bingueros".

The truth is that, after the sucessive departures of his stars Fernando Esteso and Andres Pajares, don Mariano Ozores was starting to lose his punch. Spain itself had evolved and people had realized that there were more sophisticated ways of enjoying nudity. Democracy was already well-established and thus, a source of the best Ozores humour, the jokes about how new and strange was the ending of a dictatorship that it seemed it would last forever, was lost. Ozores natural audiences were, too, growing old, and were less keen to attending cinema theaters.

Given this situation, it is understandable that Ozores wanted to regain his audience by applying the same old formulas and by making remakes such as this one or "Con el Pan Debajo del Brazo" or "Esto es un Atraco". It did not work: everything was stale and liveless. Yet, this movie has its memorable moments, specially the ones which serve to display various pork products from the Spanish company "El Pozo". Not only Ozores places the products all over the screen, he also zooms into them shamelessly. All exteriors kick off with "El Pozo" adds and, if the characters are in the streets, you should expect a "El Pozo" van crossing. Better than Tarantino selling Kangol caps in "Jackie Brown".

And, for the rest of the film, you can always enjoy the infernal performances of Antonio Ozores and Juanito Navarro, the political jokes that were not understandable a week after they were made, or the "helicopter shots" that were done by shooting a photograph.

In a time when "cinematic terrorism" is confused by the tamed Farrelly bros, people should come back to Ozores. He is the real thing. And, in these later, decadent movies, his greatness is somewhat more revealing. Enjoy.

If Ozores were ever to produce his definitive cult-classic, this would be, without any doubt, the film to pick. This film, rarely seen, and only available at midnight tv screenings was one of the weirdest one-offs of Ozores filmography.

Ozores has always wanted to make highly commercial low-budget films by following the current market trends. Thus when "They Called him Trinity" and "The Godfather" were blockbusters at their time, Ozores made "They called her The Godmother" with Lina Morgan. With "Veredicto Impacable" Ozores tried the impossible: a karate movie! Without shame, he picked the karate instructor that gave private classes at his building and a cast of "poor neighbors" who want to protect themselves from deliquency commanded by the great Jesus Puente. The result looks like if you have forced David Fincher to shoot Ordet or Jackie Chan playing Jackie Kennedy.

This film, simply, does not belong to this world. Do not miss the opportunity to watch it. The word "cult" will have a whole new meaning.

And then Antonio Ozores became a Tv star. And so his wise brother saw the opportunity to turn that into filmgoers. The result was a competent Ozores movie, with a nice pace but no memorable moments. The only thing to remember is the title which, alongside "No Hija No", serve as an indestructible memory of that great Spanish tv show conceived by Chicho Ibañez Serrador called "Un Dos Tres". Only for that we should be grateful, again, to the genius of Mariano Ozores.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** If I had to pick a movie from Ozores, this would be the one.

This is the time where the hugest ammount of nudity appears on his films and it is accompained by an over-the-top Fernando Esteso giving the performance of his life.

The story itself is great: Esteso is a porn actor who no longer has any attraction towards women, having become "a decent man". But, of course, there is a horny doctor, who happens to be a fan of this actor, that will do everything to help him, even trying to turn him on with his own wife.

The film knows no limits or shame and, at his very end, it even plagiarises a scen from Russ Meyer´s "Up!". But all its images refuse to leave the viewer´s mind. Specially those shot a the female basketball team dressing room where Esteso´s girlfriend undresses to turn him on and nothing happens. Then, the rest of the girls appear and he has to hide in the shower with his grilfriend. While the rest of the girls get undressed he watches them and mutters: "Nothing. It is as if I am seeing the Real Madrid players naked". Then, kneeling as he is, he looks at a certain part of his girlfriend anathomy and closes the scene by saying "Why am I now thinking of Allatolah Jomeini?".

Match that.

Being known as the gross, commercial and unscrupulous director who made such Spanish blockbusters like "Los Bingueros", it is a big surprise to watch this singular early film from the usually under-rated Mariano Ozores.

The film is a reflection on time: which things keep on chanching forever and which ones seem to stand still. The interesting thing about this is the way of carrying this task: The films starts with a person watching slides which portray Spain in the past. Then, all of the sudden, like in Woody Allen´s "Purple Rose of Cairo", a character in one of the slides - the great Antonio Ozores - comes to life. He steps out of the slide and starts talking to the perplexed man. What comes next is a long walk through various parts of Spain with Antonio Ozores explaining how things were in the past. This is illustrated by vintage footage that the experienced editor Pedro del Rey (a man who worked with Buñuel, Saura and Ferreri) blends beautifully with present-time images with an all-star Spanish cast rarely seen together on any film made during that period. Curious film, wouldn´t you say?

Don´t expect me to criticise the rest of Ozores´ work. I think most of his films are really funny and are perfect in the sense that they fully achieve their goals. But I feel it is important to know that this director had his ambitions and a knowledge of film techniques that, in a way, appear in his later, always underrated movies.