Una vez al año ser hippy no hace daño (1969) Poster

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5/10
Charming and attractive Spanish comedy with a top-notch cast formed by the biggest hilarious actors from the sixties and Seventies
ma-cortes28 August 2022
This ¨Una vez al año ser hippy no hace daño¨ (1969) boasts a great Spanish cast : Tony Leblanc, Conchita Velasco, Alfredo Landa, Manolo Gómez Bur . Spanish production set in Torremolinos (Sun Coast) , Málaga , and mixing humor and 60s and 70s' social habits. In a hippy-psychedelic context, José Luis Dibildos produced and co-wrote the script , together with Juan José Alonso Millán for this comedy about the misadventures of a musical trio : ¨Flor de Lis y los de Orinoco¨, adapting to the fashions of the moment. Set in Torremolinos is a seaside resort localed in Málaga , Comunidad Andalucia , where Spanish people and foreigners spend sunny vacation. It deals with Lisarda (Conchita Velasco), Ricardo (Alfredo Landa) and Silvestre (Manolo Gómez Bur) form a musical trio of Latin rhythms whose appeal has been relegated to more modern pop sounds. In Torremolinos they meet Johnny (Tony Leblanc), a worker at a campsite populated by hippy youth After meeting Johnny , the regional artist "Flor de Lis" and her group transform themselves in the famous "Hippy-Loyas" band . Later on , they perfom at a party with plenty of quirky people , gurus and other outlandish characters (José Sazatornil , Laly Soldevilla, Rafael Alonso) .

¨Once-a-year-being-a-hippy-does-not-harm¨(1969) is a film of acceptable humor, with a parody of the basic messages of hippieism and a satire of the gurus and the attraction and in many cases pure snobbery of exotic suggestion by Eastern philosophies . It is full of frivolity , duplicity , and deceits , but turns out to be a mediocre and so-so picture with some sparkles , mayhem and madness enough , being written by Juan José Alonso Millán ("Virilidad a La Española", ¨Historia de una Traición¨ , Marta¨, "La Muerte Ronda a Mónica") and José Luis Dibildos ("The New Spaniards", ¨La Colmena¨, Amor a la Española¨, "Dynamite is Served"). Typical 60s Spanish film with an excellent cast Tony Leblanc who's great in his usual cynical role as a beach playboy and a disco go-go , adding a very refreshing tourist-vacation atmosphere , and the comic tone is sufficiently successful, although there are some pseudo-introspective traits that are beside the point . Here stands out the sympatehtic band ¨Flor de Lis and los dos de Orinoco¨ formed by Concha Velasco along with Alfredo Landa , Manolo Gómez Bur , singing catching songs , especially ¨Mi casita de papel¨by Francisco Codoñer 'Maestro Lito' Lyrics by Mercedes Belenguer ; ¨Frenesí tropical¨ by Adolfo Waitzman Lyrics by Javier Aguirre ; ¨Lisarda¨by Adolfo Waitzman lyrics by Javier Aguirre ; ¨Los negros con las suecas¨; ¨Love, love, love¨ by Adolfo Waitzman lyrics by Sandra Le Brocq . Made in the style of other summer films concerning the touristic boom in the Mediterranean coast , such as : ¨Pedro Lazaga's Verano 70 (1970)¨, ¨Fernando Merino's Amor-a-la-espanola (1967)¨ , ¨El abominable hombre de la Costa del Sol¨(1970) by Pedro Lazaga, or the subsequent ¨Pedro Lazaga's Tres suecas para tres Rodríguez (1975)¨, containing comedic events , showing typical sunny images in the Sixties and Seventies .

The motion picture was regular but amusingly directed by prolific filmmaker Javier Aguirre (his big hits were El Astronauta , El Jorobado De La Morgue , Monja Alférez) . Javier is a craftsman , expert on comedies such as : ¨El Astronauta¨, ¨Los Que Tocan El Piano¨ , ¨Locuras De Parchis¨ , ¨Los Chicos Con Las Chicas¨, ¨Soltero Y Padre En la Vida¨, ¨Soltera Y Madre En La Vida¨, ¨Rocky Carambola¨, ¨Martes Y Trece¨. Aguirre also made quite a few terror , frightening movies such as : ¨Gran Amor Conde Drácula¨, ¨Jorobado De La Morgue¨, ¨Vida Perra¨, ¨Asesino Está En Sus Trece¨. In addition , he directed various ¨Avant Garde¨ films . Here Aguirre carries out a passable , nimble and professional direction , though including some flaws and gaps . Rating : 5.5/10.
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10/10
Laugh every few sentences
AlbertoMazarro18 May 2016
This film may not be for all audiences. For a complete fun you should have a background on 60's decade on Spain and music history. If you do, you'll be laughing for the 90 minutes of the film, not only for situations but especially for dialogues with some great great jokes, some of them using double sense of some Spanish expressions.

Hidden in the story, there are also a lot of critics to some social establishments and classes and even to famous figures of the decade. The well-known character of the Spanish "picaro" deals with it in a very funny way.

The music in the film also worth serious consideration. Even a vinyl record was release with the few songs composed for the film (some more than "based" on hits for that moment). A record that some collectors search and it's not very easy to find.

The cast is formed by legends of Spanish cinema. I find that Manuel Gómez Bur and Saza both do an incredible work in making its characters believable, but the rest of the cast is also great.

On the hole it's a great very funny film that should be watched several times to discover many of its funny details.
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