''National Mechanics'' (Spanish:''Mecánica nacional'') is a 1972

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

comedy film filmed in May 1971 with locations near the free highway to

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...

, and directed and written by

Luis Alcoriza Luis Alcoriza de la Vega (September 5, 1918 – December 3, 1992) was a respected Mexican screenwriter, film director, and actor. Alcoriza was born in Spain and, exiled because of the Spanish Civil War, established himself in Mexico from 1940 ...

. It was released in Mexico City on December 28, 1972.

Synopsis and TV sequel

An owner of a mechanic's shop who is a car racing enthusiast (

Manolo Fábregas Manolo Fábregas (15 July 1921 – 4 February 1996) was a Spanish-born Mexican film actor.Mora p.125 He was from an established acting family. His grandmother was Virginia Fábregas while his mother was Fanny Schiller Fanny Schiller Hern� ...

) goes to attend one of the races in the company of his family and friends. Among the excesses, the commotion and chaotic partying, he is cheated on by his wife (

Lucha Villa Luz Elena Ruiz Bejarano (born November 30, 1936), more commonly known by her stage name Lucha Villa, is a Mexican singer and actress. Early life Born in Camargo, Chihuahua, Luz Elena Ruiz Bejarano was given her pseudonym "Lucha Villa" by telev ...

), his daughter (

Alma Muriel Alma Muriel del Sordo (20 October 1951 – 5 January 2014), known artistically as Alma Muriel, was a Mexican actress who appeared in plays, films, and telenovelas, best known for her role as Irene del Conde / Lucrecia Treviño in Televisa's tele ...

) has sex with the groom, and his mother, the grandmother of the family (

Sara García Sara García Hidalgo (8 September 1895 – 21 November 1980) was a Mexican actress who made her biggest mark during the "Golden Age of Mexican cinema". During the 1940s and 1950s, she often played the part of a no-nonsense but lovable grandm ...

), dies from stomach congestion. A sequel was made in 1972 as a television series starring David Reynoso and

, and it ran for only a few episodes. It was titled ''Telemecánica nacional'' (''National Telemechanics'' in English). The cast was completed by

Nubia Martí Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

and

Jorge Ortiz de Pinedo Jorge Ortiz de Pinedo Pallás (born March 26, 1948) is a Mexican comedian, actor, film director, screenwriter, television producer and host. He is the son of actors, the Cuban Óscar Ortiz de Pinedo and Mexican Lupita Pallás, and has appeared ...

. In the first chapter, the family came with the corpse of the grandmother. Since they had taken her sitting in the car, she was in a stiff position unable to straighten her up, so they did all manner of things to fit her body in the coffin.

Partial cast

as Eufemio *

as Isabel *

Héctor Suárez Héctor Suárez Hernández (; 21 October 19382 June 2020) was a Mexican actor, comedian, director and also CTO of Hatch. He appeared in about a hundred films and television shows in a career that spanned 60 years. He was noted for satirizing tho ...

as Gregorio *

as Doña Lolita *

as Rosarito *

Pancho Córdova Francisco Amado Córdova Ramírez (1916 – 1990) was a Mexican character actor who has appeared in numerous films of United States and Mexico. Personal life He is the grandfather of actress Natalia Cordova-Buckley. Selected filmography Ame ...

as Güero Corrales *

Aurora Clavel Aurora Clavel (born August 14, 1936) is a Mexican film and television actress who is noted for her roles in the movies '' Tarahumara'' (1965) and ''Once Upon a Scoundrel'' (1973), as well as in numerous telenovelas. For example, she played Mama ...

as Sábanas wife *

Alejandro Ciangherotti Alejandro Ciangherotti (1940 – 30 May 2004) was a Mexican film actor. He appeared in 45 films between 1953 and 1999. Selected filmography Film * '' The Coward'' (1953) - Roberto, niño (uncredited) * '' The Second Woman'' (1953) - Ramó ...

as Lalo * Fabián Aranza as El Apache * Fernando Casanova as Rogelio * Pilar Bayona as Blond Girl in White *

Carlos Piñar Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...

as Blond guy in white *

Gloria Marín Gloria Méndez Ramos (19 April 1919 – 13 April 1983), better known as Gloria Marín, was a Mexican actress. She was considered a celebrated female star of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. During her career, Marín appeared in about 100 film ...

as Dora *

Maritza Olivares Maritza Olivares is a Mexican actress. She appeared in telenovelas and movies, for example in horror '' El Retorno de Walpurgis''. Olivares’ best known role is the role of Cayetana in ''Entre el amor y el odio''. Olivares studied in London and ...

as Paulina * Fabiola Falcón as Laila *

Eduardo López Rojas Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and sports commentator * Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese football ...

as Don Chava *

Federico Curiel Federico Curiel (19 February 1917 – 17 June 1985) was a Mexican filmmaker, writer and actor during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Curiel was born in Monterrey, Mexico, he moved to Guadalajara, Jalisco as a child and attended the University o ...

as Nando * Sergio Calderón as El Manchas * Alejandra Mora as Secretary *

Elsa Cardiel Elsa may refer to: ELSA (acronym) *ELSA Technology, a manufacturer of computer hardware *English Language Skills Assessment *English Longitudinal Study of Ageing *Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects research *European Law Students' Association *Euro ...

as Secretary *

Luis Manuel Pelayo Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

as TV director *

Patricio Castillo Patricio Castillo may refer to: * Patricio Castillo (actor, born 1974), Spanish-Chilean voice actor, singer and songwriter * Patricio Castillo (actor, born 1940) (1940–2021), Chilean-born Mexican actor * Patricio Castillo (folk musician) Patri ...

as El Sábanas * Paco Ignacio Taibo as Ceferino *

Mari Carmen Taibo Mari may refer to: Places *Mari, Paraíba, Brazil, a city *Mari, Cyprus, a village *Mari, Greece, a village, site of ancient town of Marius * Mari, Iran (disambiguation), places in Iran *Mari, Punjab, a village and a union council in Pakistan * ...

as Ceferino's wife *

Betty Meléndez Betty or Bettie is a name, a common diminutive for the names Bethany and Elizabeth. In Latin America, it is also a common diminutive for the given name Beatriz, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin name Beatrix and the English name Beatric ...

as Woman from Asturias *

Beatriz Fernández Beatriz Fernández Ibáñez (born 19 March 1985) is a former Spanish handball player who was member of the Spanish national team. Fernández played on the Spanish team at the 2008 European Women's Handball Championship, where Spain reached ...

as Woman from Asturias * Miguel Zaragoza as Man from Asturias * Francisco Llopis as Man from Asturias *

Margarita Villegas A margarita is a cocktail consisting of Tequila, triple sec, and lime juice often served with salt on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks), blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). ...

as Don Chava's wife * Yolanda Ponce as Manchas wife * Amira Cruzat as Nando's wife *

Carlos León Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewher ...

as Marcos, Rogelio's friend * Ramiro Orci as Iceman * Rodolfo Sánchez Loya as TV announcer *

Víctor Alcocer Víctor Alcocer Gómez (March 23, 1917 – October 2, 1984) was a Mexican actor of film, television and voice-over.July July is the seventh month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the fourth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. It was named by the Roman Senate in honour of Roman general Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., it being the mont ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

Release history

Awards

Ariel Awards

The

Ariel Award The Ariel Award ( es, Premio Ariel) is an award that recognizes the best of Mexican cinema. Given annually, since 1946, by the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC), the award recognizes artistical and technical excel ...

s are awarded annually by the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences in Mexico. ''Mecánica Nacional'' received five awards out of 10 nominations. , - , rowspan="10" scope="row",

15th Ariel Awards The 15th Ariel Awards ceremony, organized by the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences (AMACC) took place on May 20, 1973, in Mexico City. During the ceremony, AMACC presented the Ariel Award in 14 categories honoring films released in 1972. ...

, scope="row", ''Mecánica Nacional''
(tied with ''

El Castillo de la Pureza EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

'' and '' Reed, México Insurgente'') , scope="row",

Best Picture This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, , - , scope="row",

, scope="row",

Best Direction The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction is an award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and the director of the music video. From 1984 to 2006, the full name of the award was Best Direction in a Video, and in 2007, it was briefly rename ...

, , - , scope="row",

, rowspan="1" scope="row",

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

, , - , scope="row",

, rowspan="1" scope="row", Best Supporting Actor , , - , scope="row",

, rowspan="1" scope="row", Best Supporting Actress , , - , rowspan="2" scope="row", Luis Alcoriza , rowspan="1" scope="row", Best Original Screenplay , , - , scope="row", Best Original Story , , - , scope="row",

Carlos Savage Carlos Savage (1919-2000) was a Mexican film editor and actor. He is also one of the descendants of Benito Juarez. His father, Carlos Savage Juarez, is the grandson of former Mexican President Benito Juarez, who was also a cadet in Mexico's Heroi ...

, rowspan="1" scope="row", Best Editing , , - , scope="row",

Manuel Fontanals Manuel Fontanals (1893–1972) was a Catalonian Spanish-born art director who settled and worked in Mexico during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Early years The son of the cabinetmaker Tomàs Fontanals i Sivilla and his mother Rosa Mateu, Man ...

, rowspan="1" scope="row", Best Scenography , , -

References

Bibliography

* Mora, Carl J. ''Mexican Cinema: Reflections of a Society, 1896-2004''. McFarland & Co, 2005.

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=, name=Mecánica nacional
Technical information
at

ITESM Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) ( en, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education), also known as Tecnológico de Monterrey or just Tec, is a secular and Mixed-sex education, coeducational private ...

's Mexican cinema page (in Spanish) 1972 films Mexican comedy films 1970s Spanish-language films Films directed by Luis Alcoriza