Navajeros

I recently watched the Eloy de la Iglesia classic from Spain 🇪🇸, Navajeros (1980), on Shudder. The storyline follows a group of Spanish teens in Madrid who survive on the streets by stealing and living a life of crime. The leader of the gang, Jaro, meets a prostitute who loves him and wants him to settle down and live up to his potential. But can Jaro be tamed, or is he destined for the streets?

This film is directed by Eloy de la Iglesia (El pico 1 & 2), and stars José Luis Manzano (El pico 1 & 2), Isela Vega (Barbarosa), Enrique San Francisco (Birdboy: The Forgotten Children), and María Martín (A Candidate for a Killing).

I always enjoy Eloy de la Iglesia's street life and drug-related movies. These are underrated grindhouse cult classics. The acting is top-notch and authentic, and there are some beautiful ladies with plenty of nudity. The flow of the story is unique, blending street fights, gang activity, drug dealing, robbery, and sex. There's a hilarious monkey scene, a fun park fight, and a butt stab that had me laughing. The creativity in the fight sequences is impressive, and the ending is magnificent and very well done.

In conclusion, Navajeros is an elite street culture film that's an absolute must-see. I would score this an 8/10.

The Quinqui genre in Spain is similar to the Blaxplotaition films from the 70's in America. 'Navajeros' is one of the best Quinqui movies together with 'Perros Callejeros'. The fans of Blaxplotaition will like this film and others from this genre that no longer lives.

Meet 'El Jaro' one of Madrid's most famous juvenile delinquents. Alone in the streets ever since he was 10 years old, he teams up with other kids his age and together they raise hell. They steal cars, commit armed robberies and confront the local drug-dealers.

A very entertaining film packed with spectacular realistic action, sex, drugs and a smashing sound-track.

The Pirri is the best of the film, you now what im say? The pirri is a god actor

Maybe De La Iglesia was not the best director of his generation, he wasn't neither the most technical nor the most elegant , but he dared to portray a certain time in the history of Spain that was not easy at all. Heroin, small time thieves, delinquency...

Time has had no mercy with movies such as "Navajeros", everything looks out of date, but it's a nice document of the situation of this country. Now everybody thinks that Spain is so modern and so free, but the story that De La Iglesia told in this movie occurred less than 30 years ago...

*My rate: 6/10

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I really enjoyed this time capsule. The story is pretty straight forward and has several different themes but what fascinates me is the political relevance it has to today's social issues. Kind of sad but never misses beat. Keeps your attention all through.