Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley (1998)

José Luis Torrente, a former policeman fights against the oriental mafia in Madrid.

Director:

Santiago Segura

Writer:

Santiago Segura

Stars:

Santiago Segura, Javier Cámara, Neus Asensi

4 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Santiago Segura	...	Torrente
Javier Cámara	...	Rafi
Neus Asensi	...	Amparito
Chus Lampreave	...	Reme
Tony Leblanc	...	Padre
Julio Sanjuán	...	Malaguita
Jimmy Barnatán	...	Toneti (as Jaime Barnatán)
Darío Paso	...	Bombilla
Carlos Perea	...	Carlitos
Manuel Manquiña	...	El Francés
Espartaco Santoni	...	Mendoza
Antonio de la Torre	...	Rodrigo
Javier Jurdao	...	Israel
Carlos Bardem	...	Cayetano
César Vea	...	Borja

Storyline

Torrente is a lazy, rude, drunkard, sexist, racist, extreme-right-wing Madrid cop; a despicable character who only cares about himself. He lives in a decrepit slum with his wheelchair-bound father, whom he treats quite badly. One day, a new family of neighbours move in, and the sexy younger daughter, Amparito, catches his eye, so he becomes a friend of Rafi, her nerdy brother, to get closer to her. At the same time, he discovers that a band of drug traffickers are operating in a nearby chinese restaurant; he knows that if he cracks this case, it could make him regain the status he lost within the police department; but the only people he can count on to help him are Rafi and his equally nerdy friends.

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Plot Keywords:

shootout | anti hero | apartment | drug smuggling | drug deal | 

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Taglines:

When you thought that Spanish cinema was improving

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

13 March 1998 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Torrente, the Stupid Arm of the Law

Filming Locations:

Leganés, Madrid, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

EUR1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rocabruno S.A., Creativos Asociados de Radio y Televisión (CARTEL), Vía Digital

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Santiago Segura has claimed that the inspiration for this movie was Cobra (1986), that he conceived as a parody of the 80s action movies. In fact, the own title is a spoof of Stallone's movie, since then in Spain Cobra was titled as "Cobra, el brazo fuerte de la ley" (Cobra, the strong arm of the law).

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Quotes

[subtitled version]
[first lines]
Torrente: Luisito!
Barman: Torrente! What's it gonna be?
Torrente: The usual.

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Connections

Referenced in Tuno negro (2001)

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Soundtracks

El empujón
Written by Santiago Segura and Carlos Jean (as C. Jean)
Canciones del Mundo/Warner Chappell Music
Performed by Santiago Segura (as Sonny da Silva) & D.J. Charly
Courtesy of B.M.G. Ariola

User Reviews

Great movie but not for everyone

Being Spanish as I am I find this movie amazingly funny (i've watched it a million times :P). But I must admit it might not be as funny for everyone, if you're not Spanish you'll probably find it quite stupid and boring, why? Because many of the jokes are referred to things everyone in Spain knows about but people from other parts of the world don't, some of the characters are quite... infamous in Spain and that makes them funny... and many other details as these. Torrente is something of a Spanish Homer Simpson / Peter Griffin, and everyone finds those characters funny because everyone knows quite a lot about the US and American celebrities, but with Spain... I'd say not.