Abuelo Made in Spain (1969) Poster

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6/10
Funny and fun Paco Martinez Soria vehicle with great entertainment and amusement
ma-cortes17 April 2017
This diverting movie deals with a widower shepherd , Marcelino (Paco Martínez Soria) , who lives in the Aragonese Pyrenees , at a village called ¨VillaPardillo¨ who watches how his three young daughters called Cándida (Carmen Lozano) , Visitación (Mabel Karr who married Fernando Rey) , and Nieves (Mónica Randall), go to Madrid to encounter new opportunities and a better life . There they all get married , as Cándida married Teo (Valeriano Andrés) , Visitación married Adriano Domínguez , and Nieves , who has a lover , married Alberto (Manuel De Blas) . All of them are unhappy in their marriages and have several children and forgot their father who long time ago they left him alone . One day , the simple-minded Marcelino receives a letter from Cándida , who wants him to stay with her family for some time . What she really wants is some help from her daddy , as she's not able to take care of her ten daughters and her upcoming child . A bit later on , grandfather Marcelino accompanied by a lamb goes to Madrid , but things go awry . Once there , he only encounters a bustling city and he has a lot of problems . Meanwhile , Marcelino falls for a mature widow (Florinda Chico) and attempts to make up to the strange family.

Amusing Spanish comedy with the great Paco Martínez Soria who steals the show with his Aragonese accent , and playing splendidly his usual role as a fast-talking , grumpy as well as sympathetic old man . It is an agreeable picture concerning the silly adventures of an unfortunate as well as botcher shepherd villager who goes to visit his daughters but things get worse . Here is often used the ordinary formula about ¨Fish out water¨ regarding an ingenuous villager goes the noisy Big City . This film is made to entertain , and this movie , especially for a good time and a pleasant entertainment and is also pretty darn funny . Sitting in a strange middle ground between the completely absurd and the stylishly enjoyable . It takes a simple concept a naive shepherd goes to the busy big city , the capital of Spain : Madrid , to meet his unknown daughters ; he , then , encounters a frenetic and hostile world , and also his three unhappy descendants in real problems . There are some nice jokes in the film and the cast , playing eccentric characters , make a cosy fit . The flick interweaves fun comedy along with a social criticism about the peculiar Spain of the 60s . This film packs customary images of the social life from the sixties , nutty situations , but it especially contains catching touches of humor , tongue-in-cheek and irony ; adding the typical Spanish idiosyncrasy . The film is full of familiar faces and cameos , such as : Mabel Karr , Carmen Lozano , Rafaela Aparicio , Rafael López Somoza , Adriano Domínguez , Manuel De Blas , Florinda Chico , Valeriano Andrés , Saturno Cerra and Erasmo Pascual. It includes an atmospheric cinematography by Juan Mariné . And an evocative and catching musical score by Antón García Abril , adding some pop songs by a band called ¨Los Gritos¨ with soundtrack typical of the sixties and early seventies .

¨Old made in Spain¨ was professionally directed by Pedro Lazaga. Lazaga directed various film with the popular comic player Paco Martinez Soria . Pedro was born in Valls , Tarragona , Catalonia , and died on November 30, 1979 in Madrid . He was a prolific director and writer , specially known for Los Chicos del Preu (1967), María Morena (1951), Cuerda De Presos (1956) and Posición Avanzada (1966). Pedro was a craftsman , a notorious director and writer who directed all kind of genres such as Peplum : Siete Espartanos , Wartime : Cuerda De Presos , Posicion Avanzada , Torrepartida , La Patrulla ; Drama : Rostro De Asesino , Otro Arbol De Guernica , but especially known for comedies in low budget . Director Pedro Lazaga made , during the fifties and early sixties , eight films , mostly comedies : ¨Muchachas De Azul¨, Ana Dice Si¨. ¨Luna De Verano¨, ¨Económicamente Debiles¨ , ¨Trio Damas¨ for screenwriter and producer Jose Luis Dibildos and his ¨Agata Films Productions¨. The best of all them resulted to be ¨Los Tramposos¨. He continued making comedies such as Patrulla De Los Once , Los Tramposos , Sabian Demasiado , El Vikingo , ¡No Firmes Más Letras, Cielo! , Vente a Ligar Al Oeste , Hasta El Matrimonio Nos Separe , La Amante Perfecta , Fulanita y Sus Menganos , Vota a Gundisalvo , Terapia Al Desnudo , Tres Suecas Para Tres Rodríguez , Yo soy Fulana de Tal , 5 Almohadas Para Una Noche , En La Cresta De la Ola and several others . His most known films were with the popular comic player Paco Martinez Soria , such as : Abuelo Made in Spain , Padre De La Criatura , Alegre Divorciado , Estoy Hecho Un Chaval , Vaya Par Gemelos , among others .
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10/10
One of the best
juan_palomera11 June 2002
This movie is one of the best from Paco Martinez Soria. It brings me memories from the past, when I used to watch it at home, on a Saturday afternoon. It is a great movie that doesn't make you feel bored and it will make laugh until the end. Reflects the way of life in Spain of the beginning of the seventies/end of the sixties, when people used to emigrate to the big cities from the poor villages of "deep Spain", in order to find a job and get married, etc. Excellent movie!!
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9/10
Paco Martínez Soria
neurojav16 August 2001
This is for me, the best film of Paco Martínez Soria, who create a typical spanish character. With lot of comedy moments, the film carry you to the life in the middle of the past century in Spain, with problems, new ideas, but with the great comedy touch of Paco Martínez Soria. It's a great film to see.
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10/10
One of the best!
juan_palomera31 July 2003
This is one of the funniest (and emotional) movies of Paco Martinez Soria. It reflects the way of life of the 1960's Spain, when most of the young people emigrated from the country side to the big cities to earn good money and create a family. It is a memorable film which, if you like the actor, I can guarantee you will enjoy.
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8/10
The pinnacle of 1970s Spanish comedies.
jtrkan29 October 2023
'Old Man Made in Spain' is precisely what I think of when talking about Paco Martínez Soria's filmography.

90 minutes of pure, (somewhat) heartfelt comedy, that is by no means a masterpiece but encapsulates perfectly what all these movies are about. When talking about Spanish cinema in the 60s-70s this, right here, is probably the one that better represents them all.

It's silly and comfy. Made me laugh aloud a couple of times, and felt like a soft hug in some scenes. Throughout the whole movie you'll find an erotic subtext (alright, sometimes it's not subtle at all) that feels like kind of undermines its wholesomeness, but not everything can be perfect.

Some very angry people will say mean things about the character portrayed. Some people truly can't enjoy any fun, and require any and every character to meet the most high ethical and philosophical standards. They probably don't like warm hugs.
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