El golfo

Rafael recital proving his singing skills , powerful voice and theatrical gestures . Rafael vehicle as an unfortunate young as well as singer and playing a lot of songs, being professionally directed by Vicente Escrivá . The film deals with Pancho (Raphael) his brother Nino and Mary (Shirley Jones) . Pancho/Rafael is a hustler and singer, , a poor young man , who acts as a gigolo romancing Shirley Jones (Patridge Family , Elmer Ganty) performing a lot of songs . At the end Rafael rises to fame, becoming a prominent star and performs a large number of songs , as usual . As Rafael and his sweet companion walk throughout several locations from Acapulco , showing wonderful sightseeing : beaches , mountains , grottos , and cliffs , but things go awry when the mature Shirley Jones sees him with a young girl .

A loving melodrama with a peculiar romance in which a singer falls in love with an American woman , in similar style to ¨Sin un adiós¨or ¨Cuando Tu No Estás¨ by Mario Camus . This results to be the 5th film starring Spanish singer Raphael and here he shows his great singing skills , including spectacular scenarios and breathtaking musical numbers . Stars Rafael, and once again plays a popular singer performing a great number of songs . Raphael's singing and acting in this enjoyable film is utterly fabulous . Set in Mexico where Rafael falls in love with Mary, a rich American tourist who decides to get away from her job to take a vacation in Acapulco. Rafael was born in Linares 1942 , as a consequence, he is nicknamed both "El Ruiseñor de Linares" ("Nightingale of Linares") and "El Divo de Linares" ("The Divo from Linares") but is also known as "El Niño". His family moved to Madrid when he was nine months old, and he started singing when he was just three years-old. He joined a children's choir at age four. When he was 9, he was recognized as the best child voice in Europe at a contest in Salzburg, Austria . Raphael adopted his own peculiar singing style from the beginning ; he is known for acting each one of his songs while on stage , emphasizing his gestures with high dramatic effect. It is not unusual for Raphael to ad lib lyrics as to localize a song depending on the venue he's singing at, wear Latin American peasant costumes and dance folk dances within a song , kicking and demolishing a mirror , or doing the moves of a flamenco dancer or a bullfighter onstage . He also possesses a wide vocal range, which he often used in the beginning of his career as to evoke a choirboy approach to some songs . At his beginnings he goes Madrid where participates in broadcasting contests and after in Festival Benidorm where gets a big hit, from now on, he plays songs all around the world. In 1966 and 1967 he represented Spain at the XII and XIII Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg, singing "Yo soy aquél" and Vienna, "Hablemos del amor" and placing both 7th and 6th position, although he did not win. It was the first time that Spain obtained a high place in the competition. This served as a turning point in Raphael's career, making him an international star. He traveled and performed worldwide in Europe, Latin America , Puerto Rico, the United States, Russia and Japan. Songs such as "Yo soy aquel" (his signature song), "Cuando tú no estás", "Mi gran noche", "Digan lo que digan", "Tema de amor", "Estuve enamorado" ,¨Balada triste de una trompeta¨which Raphael does in clown face in the film ¨Sin un adiós¨ and "Desde aquel día" cemented his status as a major international singing star. Rafael performed popular songs as ¨Balada triste de una trompeta¨, in which to be born a subsequent film : ¨A Sad Trumpet Ballad¨ (210) by Alex de la Iglesia and ¨His is my life¨ usually sung by Shirley Bassey that here Rafael sings very badly in English language . As Raphael became a success in Latin America, he made a habit of recording Latin American folk standards including "Huapango torero", "Sandunga" and "Llorona"; they were hits in Mexico. He even appeared live on The Ed Sullivan Show with great success. He performed very famous songs all over the world , such as : Escandalo, Tamborilero , Noche de paz , Blanca Navidad , Como yo te amo , and many others ; getting a great fame and fortune . He married aristocrat, journalist and writer Natalia Figueroa, in Venice (Italy) on 14 July 1972 and they have three children . Raphael's health faced a major setback in 2003, when his liver started failing due to a latent bout with Hepatitis B ; he recovered successfully after a transplant . Nowadays , he goes on performing with big hits . Currently he carries out international tours that take him to Peru, Colombia, USA (Miami, New Jersey and New York's Carnegie Hall), The Dominican Republic , Puerto Rico and other South American countries . Rafael was directed by notorious filmmakers as Vicente Escrivá in El Golfo, Sin un adios, El angel and Javier Aguirre in Volver a nacer . His last film was in 1975 directed by Antonio Isasi Isasmendi, a documentary titled ¨Rafael en Rafael¨ . In ¨El Golfo¨ or ¨Romance in Acapulco¨ Rafael is well accompanied by a decent cast as Shirley Jones , Héctor Suárez and Pedro Armendáriz Jr .

It packs a nice score with catching songs , and attractive soundtrack composed by Manuel Alejandro . As well as an atmospheric cinematography by Juan Julio Baena , though a perfect remasterization being really necessary, that 's why the film copy is worn-out. Being sgot on marvelous locations in Acapulco, Guerrero,Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico and New York City, New York, USA . The motion picture was well directed by Vicente Escrivá and the third Raphael film made by this commercial filmmaker , though in slow-moving . He directed Rafael in 3 films : El Golfo , El angel , Sin un adiós with Leslie Anne Down , as well as Mario Camus who directed him in three movies : Al ponerse el sol , Digan lo que digan y Cuando tu no estas . Vicente Escrivá was a writer , producer and director , known for successful films throughout a long career with hits as Balarrasa (1951) , Sor Intrépida (1952) , Un Traje Blanco (1956) , Montoyas and Tarantos (1989) , 3 films starred by Rafael : El Angel , El Golfo , Sin un adiós , and 3 starred by Maria Rosario Omaggio : Visanteta Estáte Quieta , El Virgo De Visanteta and La Lozana Andaluza . He also made some TV series such as : Lleno Por Favor , Manos a La Obra , Farmacia De Guardia , and Réquiem En Granada at his best . Rating : 6/10 , acceptable and passable Rafael movie .

raphael is the best spanish singer in 20 th century. His personality is unique, with a great voice, with an unmistakable style. El golfo (the poster boy ) is an amusing movie, filmed in acapulco, with beautiful songs and a great rythme. See you the picture . See you raphael, the great spanish international superstar .

fernando alonso barahona

author of Biografía del cine español, las obras maestras del cine .....

This is a beautiful love story between Pancho(Raphael) and Mary(Shirley Jones). Raphael's singing and acting in this beautiful film is absolutely fantastic. Shirley Jones was also good and this is right before she started "The Partridge Family". Pancho, a poor young man in Mexico falls in love with Mary, a rich American tourist who decides to get away from her job to take a vacation in Acapulco. It's a typical story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl to another man, then girl loses boy to another woman, and boy and girl catch up and break up, etc. You never know what their relationship will turn into but that's all irrelevant when you have 2 amazing stars like Raphael and Shirley Jones. There are 2 versions of the film, one in English and in Spanish. I saw the Spanish version last night and just to let you know that Shirley Jones's voice was dubbed over by a Mexican voice actress. Probably the English version has Raphael's voice dubbed over by an American voice actor. I'll keep you posted on this.