''Bellas de noche'' (in English ''Beauties by Night''), also known as ''Las ficheras'', is a Mexican film directed by

Miguel M. Delgado Miguel Melitón Delgado Pardavé (17 May 1905 – 2 January 1994) was a Mexican film director and screenwriter best known for directing thirty-three of Cantinflas' films, under contract of Posa Films. He directed 139 films between 1941 and 19 ...

. It was filmed in 1975 and starring

Sasha Montenegro Sasha Montenegro (; born Aleksandra Aćimović Popović (Cyrillic: Александра Аћимовић Поповић; 20 January 1946) is a Mexican actress of Montenegrin descent. She was married to the late José López Portillo, a former ...

and

Jorge Rivero Jorge Rivero (born Jorge Pous Rosas; June 15, 1938) is a Mexican actor, with a career spanning two continents (America and Europe), primarily in Spanish-language media. He has been also credited as George Rivers and George Rivero. Early life Ri ...

. It is regarded as the film that began the rise of Mexican sex comedies film genre as a largely mainstream genre in the

Mexican Cinema Mexican cinema dates to the late nineteenth century during the rule of President Porfirio Díaz. Seeing a demonstration of short films in 1896, Díaz immediately saw the importance of documenting his presidency in order to present an ideal ...

for about a decade and a half; the term "fichera" coming to mean the entire genre.

Plot

The Boxer Germán ''Bronco'' Torres (

) loses his license, and works as bouncer at the

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

''El Pirulí (The Lollipop)'', where he falls for the ''fichera'' Carmen (

), and befriends the pimp Margarito Fuensanta 'El Vaselinas' (Eduardo de la Peña), who lost a bet and has to pay it to some gangsters. For 500 pesos for 'El Vaselinas', 'Bronco' prepares a trap in the cabaret to the taxi driver Raul (Enrique Novi), to seduce his girlfriend, not knowing that the victim is his own sister Lupita (

Leticia Perdigón Leticia Perdigón (; born Guadalupe Leticia Perdigón Labrador on August 7, 1956, in Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North Amer ...

). When he discovers the situation, he hits the driver and send him to prison. Raúl sold his taxi so He can pay bail. ''El Vaselinas'' pretends to be dead in order to get rid of his creditors. The cabaret is closed and everybody begins a new life. In the adventures of these characters, appended the alcoholic woman known as ''La Corcholata'' (Carmen Salinas), a sympathetic woman trying to sneak to the cabaret, and the history of the owner of the cabaret, Don Atenógenes (

Raúl 'Chato' Padilla 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 ...

), and his wife, the mistress of the brothel, Maria Teresa (

Rosa Carmina Rosa Carmina Riverón Jiménez (born November 19, 1929) is a Cuban-Mexican actress and dancer. She was discovered in Cuba by the Spanish filmmaker Juan Orol, and made her debut in Mexican cinema in Orol's film ''A Woman from the East'' in 1946. S ...

Production

The film is an adaptation of the stage play by Francisco Cavazos ''Las ficheras''. In 1975, the film packed the movie theaters in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

for 26 weeks. It was a production of Cinematográfica Calderón and was directed by

. The Mexican Government censorship prohibited the previous title of the film (''Fichera'' is a derogatory way of calling a cabaret woman in Mexico). Therefore, as a "tribute" to

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and m ...

, the screenwriter Victor Manuel Castro took the title of the film '' Belle de Jour''.''Los orígenes del Cine de ficheras''
/ref>

Cast

as ''Carmen'' *

as ''Germán "Bronco" Torres'' *

as ''María Teresa'' *

as ''Don Atenógenes'' *

as ''Lupita'' * Carmen Salinas as ''La Corcholata'' * Enrique Novi as ''Raúl'' * Eduardo de la Peña as ''El Vaselinas'' * Mabel Luna as ''La Muñeca'' * Víctor Manuel Castro as ''Fabián'' * Rafael Inclán as ''El MovidAS''

References

External links

*
''Bellas de noche''
on FilmAffinity
''Bellas de noche''
on IMCINE {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellas de noche 1975 films 1970s sex comedy films 1970s Spanish-language films Sexploitation films Mexican sex comedy films 1975 comedy films Films directed by Miguel M. Delgado 1970s Mexican films