Cintas de oro: The 50 Best Spanish films
by PAmovies | created - 17 May 2011 | updated - 17 May 2011 | PublicThis list comes from a survey of critics, actors and directors for the Spanish cinema centenary in 1996 and appeared the newspaper El Mundo on Dec 17 1995.
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1. Viridiana (1961)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama
Viridiana, a young nun about to take her final vows, pays a visit to her widowed uncle at the request of her Mother Superior.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Silvia Pinal, Francisco Rabal, Fernando Rey, José Calvo
Votes: 26,144
2. The Executioner (1963)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Comedy
An undertaker marries an old executioner's daughter and must continue his father-in-law's profession after his retirement, although he doesn't like it.
Director: Luis García Berlanga | Stars: Nino Manfredi, Emma Penella, José Isbert, José Luis López Vázquez
Votes: 7,437
3. The Holy Innocents (1984)
PG | 107 min | Drama
Spain, 1960s. The family of poor farmers work hard in the countryside for the rich landowners who exploit them.
Director: Mario Camus | Stars: Alfredo Landa, Terele Pávez, Belén Ballesteros, Juan Sachez
Votes: 4,707
4. The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Fantasy
In 1940, after watching and being traumatized by the movie Frankenstein (1931), a sensitive seven year-old girl living in a small Spanish village drifts into her own fantasy world.
Director: Víctor Erice | Stars: Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent, Isabel Tellería
Votes: 20,687
5. Placido (1961)
85 min | Comedy, Drama
In a small Spanish town, a group of old ladies decides to celebrate Christmas Eve with a "seat a poor man at your table" dinner: each wealthy household of the town will have a homeless ... See full summary »
Director: Luis García Berlanga | Stars: Cassen, José Luis López Vázquez, Elvira Quintillá, Manuel Alexandre
Votes: 3,771
6. Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953)
78 min | Comedy
After finding out that North American people are visiting the Spanish villages, the citizens of Villar del Río start preparing themselves to welcome them when they arrive.
Director: Luis García Berlanga | Stars: Lolita Sevilla, Manolo Morán, José Isbert, Alberto Romea
Votes: 4,823
7. The Hunt (1966)
91 min | Drama, Thriller
Three men go hunting rabbits during a hot day. Heat and talking about events happened in the past make them angry, until they go totally crazy.
Director: Carlos Saura | Stars: Ismael Merlo, Alfredo Mayo, José María Prada, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba
Votes: 2,456
8. El Sur (1983)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A woman reflects on her childhood relationship with her father, attempting to understand the depths of his despair and the truth of his myths.
Director: Víctor Erice | Stars: Omero Antonutti, Sonsoles Aranguren, Icíar Bollaín, Lola Cardona
Votes: 6,160
9. What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984)
Not Rated | 101 min | Comedy, Drama
The vicissitudes of Gloria, a neurotic housewife, and her family's peculiar characters.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Carmen Maura, Gonzalo Suárez, Luis Hostalot, Ryo Hiruma
Votes: 11,135
10. El viaje a ninguna parte (1986)
134 min | Comedy, Drama
The movie tells the story of a family of comedians that work in the towns of Spain during the 40's and 50's. Life gets very tough for them since they cannot compete any longer with cinema. ... See full summary »
Director: Fernando Fernán Gómez | Stars: José Sacristán, Laura del Sol, Juan Diego, María Luisa Ponte
Votes: 1,859
11. Main Street (1956)
99 min | Drama
A couple of friends decide to have a good time and play a trick on an unmarried woman. Therefore one of them has to pretend to fall in love with her.
Director: Juan Antonio Bardem | Stars: Betsy Blair, José Suárez, Yves Massard, Luis Peña
Votes: 1,662
12. Aunt Tula (1964)
109 min | Drama
Tula, a 31-year-old single woman whose sister has just died, decides to live in the home of her bank-employee brother-in-law Ramiro and his two children. She takes control of their lives, ... See full summary »
Director: Miguel Picazo | Stars: Aurora Bautista, Carlos Estrada, Irene Gutiérrez Caba, Laly Soldevila
Votes: 629
13. Tristana (1970)
PG-13 | 99 min | Drama
Shortly after her mother's death, an innocent and youthful woman will find refuge into the household of her middle-aged aristocratic guardian, who will submit her to his sexual advances.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, Franco Nero, Lola Gaos
Votes: 12,829 | Gross: $0.01M
14. Bilbao (1978)
89 min | Drama, Thriller
A disturbed middle-aged man is obsessed by a dancer and prostitute and abducts her, with tragic consequences.
Director: Bigas Luna | Stars: Àngel Jové, María Martín, Isabel Pisano, Francisco Falcon
Votes: 654
15. Surcos (1951)
104 min | Crime, Drama
The struggles of a Spanish family as it emigrates from the country to Madrid circa 1950.
Director: José Antonio Nieves Conde | Stars: Luis Peña, María Asquerino, Francisco Arenzana, Marisa de Leza
Votes: 812
16. Death of a Cyclist (1955)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A couple having an affair strike a bicyclist with their car and do not offer aid out of fear of their relationship being exposed.
Director: Juan Antonio Bardem | Stars: Lucia Bosè, Alberto Closas, Bruna Corrà, Carlos Casaravilla
Votes: 4,501
17. El cochecito (1960)
PG | 85 min | Comedy, Drama
Seventy-something Don Anselmo, a retired minister, becomes obsessed with owning a motorized wheelchair and fakes infirmity to get it.
Director: Marco Ferreri | Stars: José Isbert, Pedro Porcel, José Luis López Vázquez, María Luisa Ponte
Votes: 1,576
18. Robbery at 3 O'clock (1962)
92 min | Comedy
Galindo works in a bank. One day he convinces the other employees in the bank to plan a hold-up in the bank they are working. They prepare everything carefully. However, real robbers come ... See full summary »
Director: José María Forqué | Stars: José Luis López Vázquez, Cassen, Gracita Morales, Katia Loritz
Votes: 1,351
19. Poachers (1975)
82 min | Drama
Angel is a poacher who lives in the forest with his domineering mother. One day he goes to the city and meets Milagros, an escapee from a reform school and the lover of a known criminal so he takes her to his house in the mountains.
Director: José Luis Borau | Stars: Lola Gaos, Ovidi Montllor, Alicia Sánchez, Ismael Merlo
Votes: 905
20. Strange Voyage (1964)
92 min | Comedy, Crime
Paquita and her brother Venancio, both single and childish, live in a small town near Madrid. Their bossy eldest sister Ignacia, also an old maid, dominates them. One night, Paquita hears ... See full summary »
Director: Fernando Fernán Gómez | Stars: Carlos Larrañaga, Tota Alba, Lina Canalejas, Rafaela Aparicio
Votes: 1,669
21. Lovers: A True Story (1991)
R | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
1950s Madrid: After military service, Paco looks for work to save up and marry his fiancée. She rejects his sexual advances. So when he rents a room with a cute widow making advances, he caves in.
Director: Vicente Aranda | Stars: Victoria Abril, Jorge Sanz, Maribel Verdú, Enrique Cerro
Votes: 3,440 | Gross: $1.41M
22. Belle Epoque (1992)
R | 109 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A 1931 Spanish military deserter finds himself on a lonely farm until the farmer's four daughters pay a visit and he falls for all of them.
Director: Fernando Trueba | Stars: Fernando Fernán Gómez, Jorge Sanz, Penélope Cruz, Miriam Díaz-Aroca
Votes: 11,401 | Gross: $5.97M
23. Historias de la radio (1955)
95 min | Comedy
Three different stories whose central axis are radio listeners: several contestants have to get to a radio station studio dressed as Eskimo, a thief answering a call in the house which is ... See full summary »
Director: José Luis Sáenz de Heredia | Stars: Francisco Rabal, Margarita Andrey, José Isbert, Ángel de Andrés
Votes: 582
24. My Dearest Senorita (1972)
80 min | Romance, Drama
A 43-year-old woman living in a small town discovers that she is actually a man. Will she change her sex and suffer the reaction of a narrow-minded society?
Director: Jaime de Armiñán | Stars: José Luis López Vázquez, Julieta Serrano, Antonio Ferrandis, Enrique Ávila
Votes: 666
25. La colmena (1982)
105 min | Drama
As in the novel of the same title from Camilo Jose Cela, "La Colmena" is a sad composition with the stories of many people in the Madrid of 1942, just the postwar of the spanish civil war. ... See full summary »
Director: Mario Camus | Stars: Victoria Abril, Ana Belén, Concha Velasco, Francisco Rabal
Votes: 1,161
26. In a Glass Cage (1986)
Unrated | 110 min | Drama, Horror
A former Nazi child-killer is confined in an iron lung inside an old mansion after a suicide attempt. His wife hires him a full-time carer, a mysterious young man who is driven slowly mad by the old man's disturbing past.
Director: Agustí Villaronga | Stars: Günter Meisner, David Sust, Marisa Paredes, Gisèle Echevarría
Votes: 5,049
27. Law of Desire (1987)
NC-17 | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller
A gay filmmaker becomes involved with an obsessive fan while still pining for his absent true love. Meanwhile, he shares a close but complex relationship with his trans sister, an actress.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Eusebio Poncela, Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Miguel Molina
Votes: 14,087
28. Nobody Will Speak of Us When We're Dead (1995)
104 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Escaping gangsters trying to kill her because of being witness to a crime, Gloria (Victoria Abril), a young woman of lower class, comes back to Madrid, Spain and to her family. There she ... See full summary »
Director: Agustín Díaz Yanes | Stars: Victoria Abril, Pilar Bardem, Federico Luppi, Ángel Alcázar
Votes: 2,210
29. La aldea maldita (1930)
57 min | Drama
In an impoverished Castilian village live Juan, his wife Acacia, their son and Juan's blind father. The harsh weather conditions force the peasants to emigrate to a better land. Acacia goes... See full summary »
Director: Florián Rey | Stars: Carmen Viance, Pedro Larrañaga, Amelia Muñoz, Pilar Torres
Votes: 267
30. Deprisa, Deprisa (1981)
99 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Angela begins to hang around with Pablo and his gang of young robbers.
Director: Carlos Saura | Stars: Berta Socuéllamos, Jose Antonio Valdelomar González, Jesús Arias, José María Hervás Roldán
Votes: 1,779
31. Vida en sombras (1949)
90 min | Drama
His director's only film, Vida en Sombras tells the story of a man who from his childhood falls in love with cinema and grows to be a director and cameraman. While struggling to make ... See full summary »
Director: Lorenzo Llobet Gracia | Stars: Fernando Fernán Gómez, María Dolores Pradera, Isabel de Pomés, Fernando Sancho
Votes: 311
32. Después de tantos años (1994)
87 min | Documentary
Twenty years after having talked about death, the world and their problems in "El desencanto", the Panero brothers reflect about their actual situation at the moment and what has happened since the last movie.
Director: Ricardo Franco | Stars: Juan Luis Panero, Leopoldo María Panero, Michi Panero, María Barranco
Votes: 122
33. La vida por delante (1958)
90 min | Comedy
Finished their careers of Law and Medicine, respectively, Antonio Redondo and Josefina Castro, a pair of young Spanish newlyweds, are looking for work to buy an apartment and start a life ... See full summary »
Director: Fernando Fernán Gómez | Stars: Analía Gadé, Fernando Fernán Gómez, José Isbert, Félix de Pomés
Votes: 252
34. Las truchas (1978)
R | 99 min | Comedy
In a restaurant they're preparing a grand banquet in honor of a sports association of anglers, but several circumstances seem to have conspired to boycott the event.
Director: José Luis García Sánchez | Stars: Héctor Alterio, Juan Amigo, Ofelia Angélica, Carmen Arévalo
Votes: 143
35. Arrebato (1979)
Unrated | 115 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A low budget horror filmmaker gets in touch with an eccentric who is trying to film his consciousness during drug abuse.
Director: Iván Zulueta | Stars: Eusebio Poncela, Cecilia Roth, Will More, Marta Fernández Muro
Votes: 3,391
36. Blood Wedding (1981)
Not Rated | 67 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A group of dancers puts Lorca's 'Blood Wedding' on stage, the tragic play about a married man who is still in love with his ex-girlfriend, and tries to reunite with her despite her planned wedding.
Director: Carlos Saura | Stars: Antonio Gades, Cristina Hoyos, Juan Antonio Jiménez, Carmen Villena
Votes: 1,959
37. Mater amatísima (1980)
90 min | Drama, Thriller
Clara, an attractive unmarried woman, and her autistic child who transforms and absorbs her life, provide an extreme dissection of the mother-child bond in an uneasily honest way.
Director: J.A. Salgot | Stars: Victoria Abril, Julito de la Cruz, Jaume Sorribas, Consol Tura
Votes: 110
38. Demonios en el jardín (1982)
R | 97 min | Drama
In a small Spanish village, Gloria, the imperious head of a troubled family, is devoted to her two sons. The brothers, Óscar and Juan, have frequent violent disputes. Óscar, the oldest, and... See full summary »
Director: Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón | Stars: Ángela Molina, Ana Belén, Encarna Paso, Imanol Arias
Votes: 295
39. Padre nuestro (1985)
91 min | Drama
On the day he learns he has a year to live, a Spanish Cardinal who has lived in the Vatican for 30 years learns he has a granddaughter, born without a father to his own illegitimate ... See full summary »
Director: Francisco Regueiro | Stars: Fernando Rey, Francisco Rabal, Victoria Abril, Amelia de la Torre
Votes: 153
40. Tasio (1984)
95 min | Drama
The childhood, love adventures, and ordinary life of Tasio, a coal maker in rural Navarre.
Director: Montxo Armendáriz | Stars: José María Asín, Patxi Bisquert, Enrique Goicoechea, Paco Hernández
Votes: 507
41. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Drama
A television actress encounters a variety of eccentric characters after embarking on a journey to discover why her lover abruptly left her.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, Rossy de Palma
Votes: 46,487 | Gross: $7.18M
42. Cows (1992)
96 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Set in the Basque region, a story of the rivalry of two families, period 1870-1935
Director: Julio Medem | Stars: Emma Suárez, Carmelo Gómez, Ana Torrent, Karra Elejalde
Votes: 3,933
43. Numbered Days (1994)
93 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A member of the ETA terrorist organization belongs to a commando which is preparing an outrage in Madrid. But he sets other priorities when he meets a girl who is addicted to drugs and for ... See full summary »
Director: Imanol Uribe | Stars: Carmelo Gómez, Ruth Gabriel, Javier Bardem, Karra Elejalde
Votes: 2,308
44. Songs for After a War (1976)
115 min | Documentary
This documentary is frame in the spanish hyper realism. A journey through the legendary songs of Franco dictatorship. With the colaboration of the wonderful singer Imperio Argentina.
Director: Basilio Martín Patino | Stars: Celia Gámez, Imperio Argentina, Miguel de Molina, Lalo Martel y los Reyes
Votes: 267
45. El desencanto (1976)
97 min | Documentary, Biography
This film is a documentary about the poet 'Leopoldo Panero'. His widow and his sons talk about death in general and in this special case and also about their own family problems.
Director: Jaime Chávarri | Stars: Felicidad Blanc, Juan Luis Panero, Leopoldo María Panero, Michi Panero
Votes: 715
46. Maravillas (1981)
95 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Maravillas, a teenager of fifteen, lives with her father, an old unemployed photographer who steals money from his daughter for his little erotic vices. But Maravillas has the protection of... See full summary »
Director: Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón | Stars: Fernando Fernán Gómez, Cristina Marcos, Enrique San Francisco, Francisco Merino
Votes: 136
47. Rowing with the Wind (1988)
R | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Lord Byron, poet Percy Shelley, his future wife, Mary Shelley (writing Frankenstein) and others spend the summer of 1816 together.
Director: Gonzalo Suárez | Stars: Hugh Grant, Lizzy McInnerny, Valentine Pelka, Elizabeth Hurley
Votes: 1,138
48. Amanece, que no es poco (1989)
110 min | Comedy, Fantasy
A village and the crazy situations encountered by its citizens.
Director: José Luis Cuerda | Stars: José Sazatornil, Carmen de Lirio, Francisco Martínez, Ovidi Montllor
Votes: 4,240
49. Twisted Obsession (1989)
R | 103 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
American writer in Paris is hired to do a script for an edgy young director he can't stand. When he falls in love with the director's cold and manipulative pretty sister, his life starts to unravel and he realizes that he's been used.
Director: Fernando Trueba | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Miranda Richardson, Anémone, Daniel Ceccaldi
Votes: 1,421
50. Butterfly Wings (1991)
108 min | Crime, Drama
The bitter life of a girl whose mother wants a boy.
Director: Juanma Bajo Ulloa | Stars: Silvia Munt, Tito Valverde, Susana García Díez, Laura Vaquero
Votes: 907
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