Herod's Law (1999)
"La ley de Herodes" (original title)

Mexico, 1949. The fable of a janitor turned Mayor on a little town lost in the Mexican desert, who gradually realizes how far his new acquainted power and corruption can get him.

Director:

Luis Estrada

Writers:

Luis Estrada (screenplay), Luis Estrada (story),

Stars:

Damián Alcázar, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Delia Casanova

20 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Damián Alcázar	...	Juan Vargas
Pedro Armendáriz Jr.	...	López (as Pedro Armendáriz)
Delia Casanova	...	Rosa
Juan Carlos Colombo	...	Ramírez
Alex Cox	...	Gringo
Miguel Ángel Fuentes	...	Pancho
Noemí García	...	Secretaria
Guillermo Gil	...	Cura
Ernesto Gómez Cruz	...	Gobernador
Leticia Huijara	...	Gloria
Luis de Icaza	...	Alcalde Alfredo García
Eugenia Leñero	...	Esposa del nuevo alcalde
Eduardo López Rojas	...	Doctor
Yari Lorenzo	...	Esmeralda
Pedro Lorza	...	Cadáver

Storyline

After the corrupt former Mayor is killed by the peasants, poor janitor Juan Vargas is appointed new Mayor of a desert town in central Mexico. Although he tries to bring the motto of the ruling party to town (modernity, peace and progress) he realizes soon that there's nothing to do against corruption... except to become corrupt. Step by step, helped by his pistol, Juan Vargas becomes the law and the worst Major in the town's history.

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Plot Keywords:

mexico | corruption | strong sexual content | strong language | female nudity | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, sexuality and language

Details

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

18 February 2000 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

Herod's Law

Filming Locations:

Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alta Vista Films, Bandidos Films, Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was the first Mexican film that shown the name of the official Party (Partido revolucionario Institucional or P.R.I.). In past times, filmmakers had to change the name of the party to avoid the censorship.

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Quotes

Juan Vargas: No me hables en inglés hijo de la chingada; ahora si, pinche gringo, se acabó la deuda externa!

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Connections

References Los Olvidados (1950)

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Soundtracks

"La barca de oro"
Performed by Salvador "El Negro" Ojeda

User Reviews

Mmm... are you sure politics are like this only in Mexico?

This is truly a great amazing movie, unknown by many because since Hollywood is an industry, check this out, art is now an industry, well, however, this movie is unknown by so many because it isn't in English and is not a Hollywood production, that's why. but can't you people

see the U.S. politics? the politic of war? i'm not defending politics in Mexico, which are terribly corrupt, but, you are talking about it as if Mexico was the only corrupt country in the world. Mr Bush is even worse than any politician depicted in this movie, in fact, he is the worst politician in the world. Truly, we have a very big corruption problem in Mexico, and this movie is so right about it. It should be listed in IMDb's top 250. it isn't there simply because it's not a commercial one.