May 23, 1981. After the attempted coup of February 23, 1981 three months earlier, Spain was still trying to recover from the shock produced by the attempt to end a democracy that was making its way after the death of Francisco Franco. As President of the Government of Spain was Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, who had been elected 2 days after the famous session during which the 23F coup attempt took place, and with Felipe González as head of the opposition. Then a group of criminals tries to seize almost eight hundred million pesetas at the headquarters of the Central Bank of Barcelona, kidnapping people inside the building. At least eleven people entered the building led by "el Rubio", detaining employees, customers and passers-by . Meanwhile , a widower journalist (José Sacristan) and his girlfriend reporter (Isabel Mestres) investigate the strange events and the newspaper chief editor (Alfred Lucchetti) tries to cover up some sticky and thorny secrets .
The film attempts to develop a twisted lucubration about the execution of a robbery involving a group of the extreme right, but it is forcibly introduced, in fact the robbery was committed by common criminals with the simple purpose of getting rich. Asalto al Banco Central boasts a good cast giving acceptable performances , such as José Sacristan , Fernando Guillén , Isabel Mestres , Victor Israel , Joan Borras , Carlos Herrera , Francesc Orella and Alfred Lucchetti . The motion picture was regularly written and directed by Santiago Lapeira who has made various films with no much success, such as Blue Gin , Perfidia , El Invernadero , El secreto de los 24 escalones, Rescate, E. S. O, Entidad sobrenatural oculta , Escrito en los cielos . Rating : 5/10 .
The events are the following ones : the assault began on Saturday, May 23 . The police received an anonymous tip that the bank was being robbed. Later, around half past two, the main newsrooms of the Barcelona newspapers are notified that there is a statement in a telephone booth in Square of Catalunya and the journalists from Diario de Barcelona pick it up. In the statement, typed in Spanish, the authorities are required to release "four heroes of February 23 and our brave lieutenant colonel Tejero" and the disposal of two planes, one at Barajas airport and the other at El Prat, to facilitate the departure of these five soldiers and the command housed in the bank. Likewise, a period of 72 hours is given and there is a threat of executing 10 hostages at the entrance and 5 every hour. The Government of Spain, put on alert after the statement, takes as possible the hypothesis of a possible involvement of members of the Civil Guard and forms a crisis cabinet at the headquarters of the Bank of Bilbao, near the building. There sent the then director general of the Civil Guard, General José Aramburu Topete. The first government statement points to the hypothesis that the assault is the work of the extreme right. Both Tejero and San Martín made statements through their defense attorneys opposing any attempt to remove them. The authorities evacuated Plaza de Catalunya and the upper part of the Ramblas as well as nearby buildings. Within a few hours, around a quarter of the morning, two of the hostages were evacuated by ambulance, one of them wounded by a gun. Fire. A few minutes later, the first exchange of hostages for food took place. During the first hours, the crisis cabinet considered the hypothesis that Gil Sánchez Valiente, allegedly involved in the recent coup d'état and disappeared since then, was part of the command. During noon and afternoon the assailants made an escape attempt through a tunnel through the basement of the building, which was impossible for them, since the stone did not yield to the instruments they had carried.3 Seeing that the escape plan initial did not work, they decided to make a stack with the bank notes. Meanwhile, the negotiations continued. After the night, a hostage is evacuated, around six in the morning. At ten in the morning a military tank is sent with a megaphone from which a message is transmitted to the assailants. At that moment there was a crossfire between the tankette and the assailants. During the morning there were more exchanges of hostages. At noon the civil governor of Barcelona and the general director of the Police met. During the morning one of the assailants, protected by a hostage, came out and walked around the bank. It is during the afternoon of Sunday that the assailants begin to negotiate the delivery of him. A sniper shoots down one of the assailants who was holding a hostage on the roof of the building. The death of this assailant, brother-in-law and brother of two of the assailants, causes scenes of nervousness. All this led to the entry of the GEO through the roof and the advance down floor by floor. Building floor. At that time there were still more than two hundred hostages being held. El Rubio decides that the hostages leave and with them the assailants mixed. After leaving through the door of the Ramblas, the police made everyone who left the building lie down on the floor. In a few minutes nine of the assailants were arrested.
