A funny and brilliant Spanish comedy written by the successful author Alfonso Paso about swindlers , dealing with " Paco El Cocosabio" (Tony Leblanc), his girlfriend "Cayetana la Gandula" (Concha Velasco) and her brother "Venancio El Torralba", (Alfredo Landa), they are three bungler pianists , not in the musical sense of the word , but at the police . However , their criminal activities are second-class , that's why all of them wish to adapt themselves to modern times , emphasizing in new robbing techniques . The three , have played the piano , or have affixed their footprints in the corresponding police tab in the district commanded by chief Inspector Ernesto Dávila (José Bódalo) . To have big success at their works they hire an expert delinquent , as everything changes to the arrival of Federico "El Tizona" (Manolo Gomez Bur), a former small-time crook turned skillful mobster who has learned the foreign manners . Later on , they execute a fake sale and demonstrate their skills at a hospital where takes place bungling operations , confusion and mayhem .
This enticing picture concerns about three botcher cons robbing here and there ; all of them pulled off a lot of little frauds but things go wrong . The flick has silly incidents , funny plot twists , tongue-in-cheek , grotesque situations and above all , it especially contains catching touches of humor , irony and lots of fun . Sitting in a strange middle ground between the completely absurd and the stylishly enjoyable . There are some nice jokes in the film and the cast , playing eccentric characters , make a cosy fit . It takes a simple concept , a quartet of shameless friends execute petty thefts and tricks in similar style to classical films of Commedia all'Italiana of the fifties . ¨Los Que Tocan El Piano¨ or "They Who Play the Piano" is a comical and sometimes disconcerting account of a bunch of lower class people from the personal , social , cultural , and economic perspective , because needing all of them , urgently , amount of money to resolve their problematic lives . The best scenes and highlights of the movie are when there appears the stiff commissioner -magnificently performed by José Bódalo- speaking the special language of the ¨Pianists¨or thieves . It gives a realistic Madrid outlook and describes various ¨Timos¨or ¨Fakes¨ such as a false selling of an allegedly valuable Velaquez painting , as they carry out an eviction on an apartment block , ¨Tocomocho¨ and other frauds . Being efficiently produced by Agata Films/Jose Luis Dibildos who also wrote/financed ¨Los Tramposos¨ (by Pedro Lazaga and including similar artistic and technician team) , which bears remarkable resemblance to ¨Los Que Tocan El Piano¨ or "They Who Play the Piano" . The magnificent main cast gives sensational acting . While the supporting cast is frankly excellent and plenty of familiar faces such as : José Bódalo , Margot Cottens , Tomás Blanco , Rafaela Aparicio , Claudia Gravy , William Layton , María Luisa San José , Antonio Mingote , Chris Huerta , Lorenzo Robledo , Fabian Conde , Erasmo Pascual , Jose Maria Tasso , Xan Das Bolas , Emilio Rodríguez , Ana Maria Custodio , and special mention for Manolo Gómez Burr as a professional gangster who has expanded studies abroad , being returned to Spain perfectly recycled and become a feared mobster .
It displays an evocative as well as catching musical score by Adolfo Waitzman . Atmospheric cinematography by Manuel Rojas , though a perfect remastering being necessary . The motion picture was professionally directed by Javier Aguirre . He is married to Esperanza Roy , whom Javier directed in ¨Monja Alférez¨ and the soliloquy ¨Vida Perra¨ and he was previously married to actress Enriqueta Carballeira . Aguirre is a Spanish craftsman who directed various successful comedies . His film debut was ¨Oficio De Candido¨ , following a big deal of movies and shorts . Director Javier Aguirre made , during the sixties , seventies and eighties , various films , mostly comedies , such as ¨Los Chico Con Las Chicas¨ , ¨Rocky Carambola¨, ¨La Guerra De Los Niños¨, ¨Los Pajaritos¨ , ¨Martes Y Trece¨, ¨Las Locuras De Parchís¨ , ¨Soltero Y Padre En La Vida¨, and a popular classic ¨El Astronauta¨. Aguirre also made quite a few terror movies , being usual collaborator to Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina , whom he directed in : ¨El Jorobado De La Morgue¨(1973) , ¨El Gran Amor Del Conde Drácula¨(1973) and ¨El Asesino Esta En Sus Trece¨ (1976) . Furthermore , he made a lot of ¨Avant-Garde¨ shorts that Aguirre called ¨Anti-cine¨ such as : ¨Espectro Siete¨ , ¨Cha , Cha , Cha¨ , ¨Uts Cero¨ , ¨Sol¨ , ¨Medea 2¨, ¨Voz¨ , and several others .
