''The Executioner'' ( es, El Verdugo) is a 1963 Spanish

black comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the olde ...

directed by

Luis García Berlanga Luis García-Berlanga Martí (12 June 1921 – 13 November 2010) was a Spain , Spanish film director and screenwriter. Acclaimed as a pioneer of modern Spanish cinema, his films are marked by social satire and acerbic critiques of Spanish culture ...

. It was filmed in black and white, and is widely considered a classic of

Spanish cinema Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

. The film won several awards, both in Spain and internationally.

Plot

Amadeo, an executioner in Madrid, meets José Luis, a funeral parlour employee who is going to pick up the prisoner that Amadeo has just executed. José Luis cannot find a girlfriend, since all girls leave him when they find out that he works in a funeral parlour. Amadeo's daughter, Carmen, cannot find a boyfriend, because all the candidates leave when they find out that her father is an executioner. Carmen and José Luis get to know each other and start a relationship that they declare to Amadeo when Carmen becomes pregnant. Amadeo hopes that the government will give him a flat (given that he is a civil servant), but they refuse it because by the time they give it to him, he will be retired. He and his daughter trick José Luis into accepting the role of executioner to keep the housing, assuring him that he won't have to kill anybody. When an order arrives for an execution in Mallorca, José Luis is horrified and wants to resign, but this would mean losing the flat and returning the salary he has earned. Amadeo and Carmen tell him to wait until the final moment, since the prisoner is ill and will surely die before being executed. In the end, José Luis is dragged to the execution in despair, as if he were the convict instead of the executioner.

Cast

Nino Manfredi Saturnino "Nino" Manfredi (22 March 1921 – 4 June 2004) was an Italian actor, voice actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, comedian, singer, author, radio personality and television presenter. He was one of the most prominent Italian a ...

as José Luis Rodríguez, the undertaker *

Emma Penella Manuela Ruiz Penella (2 March 1931 – 27 August 2007), better known as Emma Penella, was a Spanish film and television actress. Biography Manuela Ruiz Penella was born on 2 March 1931 in Madrid, the child of far-right politician Ramón ...

as Carmen, the daughter of Amadeo *

José Isbert José Enrique Benito y Emeterio Ysbert Alvarruiz (3 March 1886 in Madrid – 28 November 1966 in Madrid), also known as José Isbert and/or Pepe Isbert, was a Spanish actor. Biography Early life In 1903 he worked at the Court of Accounts (Trib ...

as Amadeo, the executioner (as Jose Isbert) *

José Luis López Vázquez José Luis López Vázquez de la Torre MML (11 March 1922, in Madrid – 2 November 2009, in Madrid) was a Spanish actor. Career José Luis López Vázquez was born in Madrid, Spain, on 11 March 1922. He originally worked in theater as a costume ...

as Antonio Rodríguez, the older brother of José Luis *

Ángel Álvarez Ángel Álvarez (26 September 1906 – 13 December 1983) was a prolific Spanish film actor. He made over 205 film appearances between 1945 and 1982. He is probably best known for his western films of the 1960s and 1970s. He appeared in Spaghe ...

as Álvarez, an undertaker, Rodríguez's colleague (as Angel Alvarez) *

Guido Alberti Guido Alberti (20 April 1909 Birth name: Guido Renato Vittorio Alberti. – 3 August 1996) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1963 and 1993. Selected filmography * ''Wild Love'' (1956) - Sor Alberto (uncredited) * ...

as director of the prison *

Julia Caba Alba Julia Caba Alba (31 July 1902 – 14 November 1988) was a Spanish actress who appeared in more than a hundred films and television series during her career. She was a noted character actress.Mira p.83 Her sister was the actress Irene Caba Alba. ...

as Mujer visitante de la obra nº 2 *

María Luisa Ponte María Luisa Ponte Mancini (21 June 1918 – 2 May 1996) was a Spanish actress. She appeared in more than 130 films and television shows between 1952 and 1995. She appeared in the 1977 film ''Black Litter'', which was entered into the 27th ...

as Estefanía (as Maria Luisa Ponte) *

María Isbert María Vicenta Ysbert Soriano (21 April 1917 – 25 April 2011) better known as María Isbert was a Spanish actress whose credits included more than 250 Spanish films during her career. Isbert worked with most major Spanish film actors and direc ...

as Ignacia (as Maria Isbert) *

Erasmo Pascual Erasmo is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Claudio Erasmo Vargas (born 1974), Mexican race walker *Erasmo Carlos (born 1941), Brazilian singer and songwriter *Erasmo Catarino (born 1977), Mexican singer, winner on the TV show ' ...

Xan das Bolas Tomás Ares Pena, known as Xan das Bolas (30 October 1908 – 13 September 1977) was a Spanish comic actor active during the franquism with films including ''Botón de ancla ''Anchor Button'' (Spanish: ''Botón de ancla'') is a 1961 Spanish ...

as Guarda de la obra *

José Orjas José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

(as Jose Orjas) *

José María Prada José María Prada Oterino (31 March 1925 – 13 August 1978) was a Spanish film and television actor. He appeared in more than 80 films and television shows between 1954 and 1978. Partial filmography * ''Comedians'' (1954) - Decorador * ...

(as Jose Maria Prada) * Félix Fernández as Monaguillo nº 2 (as Felix Fernandez) *

Antonio Ferrandis Antonio Ferrandis Monrabal (28 February 1921 – 16 October 2000) was a Spanish actor, remembered especially for the role of ''Chanquete'' in the Spanish television series ''Verano azul''. Biography Born on 28 February 1921 in Paterna, provi ...

Real events

The final scene is inspired by the execution of Pilar Prades Expósito, carried out by the executioner Antonio López Sierra. Curiously, years after, José Monero also accepted the role of executioner, convinced that he wouldn't have to act, and wanted to resign when he was required for the execution of Heinz Ches, which he eventually carried out.

Awards

Director

won the

FIPRESCI Prize The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

for the film. At that moment,

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

was under international pressure because of the death sentence for the Communist leader

Julián Grimau Julián Grimau García (18 February 1911 – 20 April 1963) was a Spanish politician, member of the Communist Party of Spain, executed during Francisco Franco's Francoist State. Political activities Initially active in the Federal Republican ...

. The Spanish ambassador to Italy, Sánchez Vega, criticized the film as " communist."

Box office and reception

The film took an estimated gross of ESP 4,107,300 in Spain and there were some 32,907 viewers in cinemas across the country.

External links

*
''The Executioner: By the Neck''
an essay by David Cairns at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Executioner, The 1963 films Films shot in Mallorca Films set in the Balearic Islands 1960s Spanish-language films Spanish black comedy films Italian black-and-white films Spanish black-and-white films 1963 comedy-drama films Films directed by Luis García Berlanga Films about capital punishment Films produced by Nazario Belmar Films with screenplays by Rafael Azcona