El Crack - Tödliche Rache (1981)

Private detective Germán Areta gets a terminally ill client who wishes to see his long lost, runaway daughter before he dies. But when Areta starts looking into case, that leads him to the ... See full summary »

Director:

José Luis Garci

Writers:

José Luis Garci (as J.L. Garci), Horacio Valcárcel

Stars:

Alfredo Landa, María Casanova, Manuel Tejada

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alfredo Landa	...	Germán Areta
María Casanova	...	Carmen
Manuel Tejada	...	Don Alberto 'El Guapo'
Miguel Rellán	...	Cárdenas 'El Moro'
Manuel Lorenzo	...	Rocky
Raúl Fraire	...	Francisco Medina
José Bódalo	...	Don Ricardo
Francisco Vidal	...	Nico
Maite Blasco	...	Merche
José Manuel Cervino	...	Vareta
Mayrata O'Wisiedo	...	Mimí de Torres (as Mairata O'Wisiedo)
José Luis Merino	...	Meri
Ramón Lillo	...	Jugador de mus
Pablo Hoyos	...	Camarero (as Pablo Hoyo)
Antonio del Río	...	Atracador

Storyline

Private detective Germán Areta gets a terminally ill client who wishes to see his long lost, runaway daughter before he dies. But when Areta starts looking into case, that leads him to the dark, underbelly of Madrid, he realizes that he is not only one looking for this girl. Someone else is also interested in her, someone powerful and dangerous who will stop at nothing to prevent Areta from knowing the truth....

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Plot Keywords:

private detective | neo noir | search for daughter | restaurant | christmas | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

1 April 1981 (Spain)

Also Known As:

El Crack - Tödliche Rache

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Acuarius Films S.A., Impala, Nickel Odeon

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min 119 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the opening scene (the robbery at the bar-restaurant), the main criminal's nickname is "Baretta". This is derived from real-life TV series "Baretta", which ran on ABC from 1975-1978, and in Spain at the time of the film action (1979-1980). TV shows were quite popular back then because there were only 2 TV channels.

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Goofs

Germán straps a bomb to Albertos's stomach with bandages, to force him cooperate. Alberto then travels from Madrid to New York City in a commercial flight and, once in New York, the bomb is still hidden with him. Airport security at Madrid airport would have found the bomb when Alberto accessed the terminal, unless Alberto managed to trick, blackmail or bribe them somehow.

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Quotes

Don Ricardo: [after a long friendly chit-chat to avoid getting to the point] ... So that's all my diet now, vegetables and boiled fish... shit, do you know what happened in my last urine test?
Germán Areta: [Evidently annoyed] No... the Press didn't say a word about it.

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Connections

References Trucker (1978)

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Soundtracks

Out Of Limits
(uncredited)
Written by Michael Z. Gordon
Performed by The Marketts

User Reviews

Well done

I saw this one back in 1981 and it's commercial title was "Diente por Diente" which means a teeth for a teeth. I remember I was quite impressed for the suspenseful quality of his flick. Years later, by the turn of the century, I made a list of several films I had seen in the past and that where in some way outstanding, and of course, "El Crack" was one of them... but it wasn't available anywhere (I was near at one place who had had it but the tape had gone into pieces). Again, many years later, -26 exactly since its original release- I finally find it, and start watching it with very different eyes: those that 26 years add to your life experience. At first, the first 1/2 hour, the film looks somewhat vulgar and filled with apparently unnecessary details of the main character, but then it starts to raise and raise (which is a unique quality of good films), with very good and unexpected twists. All in all, this is a very good movie and in case you have it at hand, don't miss it. I also found "El Crack 2", a kind of sequel made 2 years later, which I had never seen before. It's not so good as the first part, but it's good and worth watching also. I gave the first part an 8 and the sequel a 7.