While drinking beer in a bar, the mechanic José "Zezé" Rosa de Miranda (Jece Valadão) helps a woman named Isabela (Gracinda Freire) from three men that are chasing her. Zezé is violently beaten and hits one man with a bottle in self-defense, killing him. When the police arrive, the gangsters flee as well as Zezé and Isabela that takes him to a shed in the slum on the Mangueira hill. The tabloid journalism nicknames Zezé calling him Mineirinho and the police believe he is a criminal. The drugdealer Cobrinha (Wilson Grey) and his gang are hunting down Mineirinho and Isabela and stumble upon the policemen that are looking for Mineirinho on the hill and they kill the officers. The press credits the deaths to Mineirinho and the police try to catch Mineirinho watching and following his fiancée Maria (Leila Diniz). Meanwhile Mineirinho befriends the criminals Neném (Fábio Sabag), Caveira (Milton Gonçalves), Cabo (Nanai) and Onofre (Procópio Mariano) and becomes their leader in several heists. But the Chief of Police Geraldo (Oswaldo Loureiro) is ordered to catch the wanted Mineirinho dead or alive.
"Mineirinho Vivo ou Morto" is a Brazilian crime film based on a true story. The plot discloses the rise and fall of a notorious criminal created by the tabloid newspapers. The film is also a great chance to see Jece Valadão and Leila Diniz that died when she was twenty seven in a plane crash in India. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Mineirinho, Vivo ou Morto" ("Mineirinho, Dead or Alive")
