As If It Were Raining (1963) Poster

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4/10
Below average Spanish thriller with a lousy and absurd storyline but with a great cast
ma-cortes2 August 2022
A failed writer named Eddie Ross (Eddie Constantine) comes to the aid of a young woman (Elisa Montes) seemingly being attacked in the street. Later on , Eddie a receives phone calls from a mysterious person known only as Martinez who coerces him to work for him and we only see looking with binoculars through a window . The boss gives Eddie enough money to rent an apartment , buy new clothes and get a pet chimp . The down side of the job is that Eddie finds himself becoming an enforcer for Martinez's blackmailing schemes . Teaming up with the young woman he saved earlier and who's also being blackmailed , Eddie is forced to carry out a robbery . Eddie , eventually , sets out to to find out what holds Martinez has over her and what he hides.

His is the typical European production shot in the sixties and it has more to do with the Euro-spy subgenre than the ordinary Spanish thriller. In fact, it has several peculiarities of Euro-spy such as several locations, spectacular fights , fun and complex capers being planned by a nasty criminal mastermind , explosive girls and something else. It is worth seeing because it gives a wide view of the city of Madrid during the Francoist period in the Sixties , including a desert neighborhood of Moratalaz , Museum of Ciencias Naturales and some typical streets of Madrid . It was really promising at first but packing a silly script with non-sense , resulting in a disconcerting film . These defects have not been alleviated by the leading role of a tremendously popular actor at that time , Eddie Constantine , playing a down on his luck writer , he performed some co-productions with Spanish participation, some of them directed by Jess Franco. Among the uninteresting things that this film offers are the exterior scenes where typical cars at the time are seen and that has a certain value as a document apart from an acceptable photography in black and white by cameraman Michel Kelber . A very mediocre film with a confused and botcher plot , except for some very isolated moments , it lacks the usual sense of atmosphere in the genre to which it belongs and it needed to be fitted. It's not exactly a bad movie, but it leaves a lot to be desire d. It could have been much more interesting with more vigor in the exposition of the plot . Here stands out the presence of beautiful actresses usual in the Sixties and Seventies such as Elisa Montés , Silvia Solar, Ada Tauler and María Silva who only they can limit themselves to discreetly complying with the flimsy script that serves as the basis for the ill-fated project . Being accompanied by a good support cast of familiar faces , such as : José Nieto , Jacinto San Emeterio , Antonio Pica , Carlota Bilbao, Adriano Domínguez , among others.

The motion picture was produced in short budget by Sergio Newman from Hispamer (which financed various co-productions : Three swords of Zorro , In a Colt's Shadow , Requiem for a Gringo, Fury of Johnny Kid, Il magnifico avventuriero , Tiger of Kyber , Mission in Morocco) and was regularly directed by J. L. Monter , though it has some flaws , shortcomings and gaps . It is made in a total disappointing because the narrative rhythm fails and everything is lost in a series of insubstantial situations that do not get the viewer's attention . This Spanish filmmaker Jose Luis Monter was a craftsman who made the following films : Los gatos negros 1964 , Genoveva de Brabante 1964 , Tela de araña 1963, Un americano en Toledo 1960 and a Documentary short : El rocío1962. Rating : 4/10 . Only for Eddie Constantine fans and Spanish cinema buffs.
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Run-of-the-mill sixties thriller
Charlot4727 November 2020
Very run-of-the-mill sixties thriller with an impenetrable plot, an unflappable lead, comic fisticuffs, and lots of decorative (some also co-operative) women. Strong on place, conveying contemporary Madrid in winter, with flashes of visual and verbal wit, but probably for fans of the period and the ever-cool hero.
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3/10
A cobweb full of holes.
ulicknormanowen26 November 2020
The screenplay,more complicated than complex, forces the viewer to give up well before the ending which reveals at last who this Senor Martinez is ;and it's not worth sitting through an extremely dull detective story in which a failed writer (Eddie Constantine) is hired by a mysterious man who spies on him through binoculars and who seems to have many men at his beck and call .One suspects a machination , a cobweb (Spanish title) in which the hero is caught;but the resolution is appalingly trite .

Every fifteen minutes ,scuffles break out ,but there's little suspense for Eddie makes short work of any opponents; the cast and credits mention a "technical adviser for fighting"!There's also a photogenic gorgeous brunette and a pet monkey ,the best supporting actor.
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