Turistas y bribones

Braulio has just out of prison, he's nicknamed "The Brain" (Antonio Garisa), he's a master of manipulation, and, -helped by his daughter (Sonia Bruno)- creates a a new gang. Braulio has assigned a role to each one separately, but only he knows all the secrets of the plan. The band led by "the Brain" is made up of a swindler antiques dealer (Rafael Alonso) , a couple of thieves (Ingrid Garbo, Valeriano Andrés), a pickpocket and a seducer (Arturo Fernández) . Everyone aspires to make a big hit that allows them to retire. This gang is dedicated to scamming foreigners and flirting with beautiful Swedish girls in order to scam them of their money. Thus they deceive foreign people into believing them they have found ancient archaeological pieces in sites when there are fraudulent objects.

This enticing picture concerns some botcher swindlers robbing here and there; all of them pulled off a lot of little frauds but, of course, usually things go wrong. The flick has silly incidents , funny plot twists , tongue-in-cheek , frolics, grotesque situations and above all , it especially contains catching touches of humor , irony and lots of fun . Sitting in a strange middle ground between the completely absurd and the stylishly enjoyable. There are some nice jokes in the film and the cast , playing eccentric characters , make a cosy fit . It takes a simple concept , a team of shameless friends execute petty thefts and tricks in similar style to classical films of Commedia all'Italiana of the fifties such as ¨Rufufu¨ (1956) by Mario Monicelli ; this latter was a brilliant parody to French production titled ¨Rififi¨(1956) by Jules Dassin. The film follows the style of the 60s comedy in which some bungling people get together in order to commit robberies or swindlers, these film were directed by notable filmmakers, such as José Maria Forqué, Pedro Lazaga, Javier Aguirre, and whose main Spanish representations were ¨Atraco a las 3¨ and ¨Los Tramposos¨, and continuing others, such as: ¨La dinamita está servida¨, ¨Los pedigueños¨, ¨Sabian demasiado¨, ¨La pandilla de los once¨, ¨Los que Tocan El Piano" , all of them regarding comical and sometimes disconcerting accounts of a bunch of lower class people from the personal, social, cultural , and economic perspective , because needing all of them , urgently , amount of money to resolve their problematic lives. And this ¨Turistas y bribones¨(1969) takes a simple concept as well, a bunch of shameless people execute petty thefts and tricks in similar style to those films. But the main difference is that those movies were set in Madrid, while "Turistas y Bribones" takes place on the Catalan coast, particularly in Sitges, Barcelona. As usual, the main fun of this choral film is watching a large group of Spanish performers develop their comedic acting skills. Along with the main actors, Arturo Fernández (playing Arturo Fernández like no one better than he is capable of doing), Sonia Bruno and Antonio Garisa, good secondary actors appear, such as: Rafael Alonso, Valeriano Andrés, the very pretty Ingrid Garbo who tries to scam old Gustavo Re through her high erotic qualities, Marta Flores, Juan Torres, Gaspar 'Indio' González, among others.

Being efficiently produced by Alfonso Balcazar Productions, and including similar artistic and technician team who participated in most of his cinematic projects, such as the set designer Juan Alberto Solar, the editor Teresa Alcocer and the writer and sometimes director Juan José Balcazar. Including atmospheric cinematography by Aurelio G. Larraya, although a correct remastering is completely necessary. As well as evocative musical score by prolific Antón Garcia Abril. Graceful and laughing screenplay based on a story by José Maria Palacio. The motion picture was regularly directed by Fernando Merino and shot in fits and starts. Merino was a craftsman and professional director who achieved hits and flops. He is brother to also filmmaker Jose Luis Merino. And director assistant, as he assisted films as ¨Tulipan negro¨, ¨Fra Diavolo¨, ¨Madame Sans Gene¨, ¨Los tramposos¨, ¨Armas para el Caribe¨, ¨La venganza de Don Mendo¨. And directed a few films, especially comedies, such as : ¨El erotismo y la Informatica¨, ¨La dinamita esta servida¨, ¨Pisito de solteras¨, ¨Los dias de Cabirio¨, ¨Préstamela 15 dias¨, ¨Amor a la Española¨, ¨Requiem para un empleado¨, though also made other genres as adventure : ¨Dick Turpin¨, thriller : ¨Comisario G en el caso del Cabaret¨ and drama : ¨Lola espejo oscuro¨ . And TV series as the known and popular ¨Curro Jimenez¨ .Rating 5/10 average. The film will appeal to Spanish comedy enthusiasts.