''Alias Big Shot'' (Spanish: ''Alias Gardelito'') is a 1961

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

drama film directed by

Lautaro Murúa Lautaro Murúa (; 29 December 1926 in Tacna, Chile – 3 December 1995 in Madrid) was a Chilean-Argentine actor, film director, and screenwriter. He is one of the best known actors in the cinema of Argentina. Born in Chile, Murúa moved to ...

and written by

Augusto Roa Bastos Augusto Roa Bastos (13 June 1917 – 26 April 2005) was a Paraguayan novelist and short story writer. As a teenager he fought in the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia, and he later worked as a journalist, screenwriter and professor. ...

and

Bernardo Kordon Bernardo is a given name and less frequently an Italian, Portuguese and Spanish surname. Possibly from the Germanic "Bernhard". Given name People * Bernardo the Japanese (died 1557), early Japanese Christian convert and disciple of Saint Fra ...

. The film starred

Alberto Argibay Alberto Argibay (25 October 1932 – 10 September 2007) was an Argentine actor. He appeared in 51 films and television shows between 1958 and 1998. He starred in the film ''Circe'', which was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film ...

, Virginia Lago and

Walter Vidarte Walter Vidarte (18 July 1931 – 29 October 2011) was a Uruguayan actor. Biography He appeared in 83 films and television shows between 1958 and 2011. He starred in the film ''Circe'', which was entered into the 14th Berlin International ...

. It won the

Silver Condor The Argentine Film Critics Association ( es, Asociación de Cronistas Cinematográficos de la Argentina) is an organization of Argentine-based journalists and correspondents. The association presents the ''Silver Condor Awards'' (''Premios Cóndor ...

Award for Best Picture. In a survey of the 100 greatest films of Argentine cinema carried out by the

Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken is a museum of cinema of Argentina located in Buenos Aires. It was established on 1971 and holds a collection of 65,000 reels of film. History The Cinema Museum of the City of Buenos Aires was created on Oc ...

in 2000, the film reached the 19th position.

Synopsis

The drama directed by Lautaro Murua is about the difficulty of living an honest life in the face of an unrelenting poverty. The title of this story is taken from the name of the great

singer

Carlos Gardel Carlos Gardel (born Charles Romuald Gardès; 11 December 1890 – 24 June 1935) was a French-born Argentine singer, songwriter, composer and actor, and the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was one of the most influential inte ...

, the idol of the

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...

Toribio portrayed by

. Toribio's goal in life is to emulate the famous singer and making his own way successfully in the music business. Yet at the same time, he does not stop his illegal means of making ends meet,

stealing Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

and petty thievery. Discouraged when his big break never quite materializes, Toribio heads for disaster when he joins up with a large

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

scheme.

Cast

.... Toribio Torres, alias "Gardelito" *

.... Picayo, a friend *

.... Boss *

Virginia Lago Virginia Lago (born 22 May 1946) is an Argentine actress with an extensive career in theater, film, and television. She is best known for being the host of the popular film series ', broadcast by Telefe. Biography Virginia Lago was born in San M ...

... Girl, Toribio's neighbor * Nora Palmer .... Margot * Tonia Carrero ... Pilar *

Raúl Parini Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...

... Feasini *

Raúl del Valle Raúl del Valle (1908 in Chile – 21 January 1973, in La Rioja, Argentina) was a Chilean film and theatre actor who performed for most of his career in Argentina. Career Del Valle was a prominent character actor who performed in more than 40 ...

... Julián *

Orlando Sacha Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

... Leoncio *

Nelly Tesolín Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with the hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal R ...

Héctor Pellegrini Héctor Pellegrini (6 August 1931 – 1 November 1999) was an Argentine film actor. Pellegrini came to fame in the 1961 acclaimed film ''Alias Gardelito'' and made over 50 appearances mostly in film between 1961 and 1988. Partial filmography * ...

Other

* Rafael Diserio * Cacho Espíndola * Carmen Giménez .... Tía * Alberto Barcel .... (uncredited)

Overview

A representative of the "new cinemas" that arose in the late 50s and early 60s, Murúa's ''Alias Gardelito'' ranks among the best of Argentine cinema in the period, along with films by Simón Feldman, David José Kohon, Rodolfo Kuhn, Manuel Antín, René Mugica. According to Paulo Antonio Paranaguá (''O cinema na América Latina''), in these works the characters' psychology takes the upper hand upon social themes, although usually the latter also provide a significant context for their action, as is the case here.

Release and acclaim

The film premiered in 1961. Produced by

Rio Negro Productions Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

it was distributed by Cinemagroup in 2002 on DVD.

References

External links

* 1961 films 1960s Spanish-language films 1961 drama films Argentine black-and-white films Argentine drama films 1960s Argentine films {{1960s-Argentina-film-stub