Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Worse Than Wild Beasts (1976) - Story-line with images

 

Worse Than Wild Beasts (1976)


True confession: I love these sleazy old Mexican films that were basically soap operas with nudity.  I'm a big fan of the old fotonovelas, such as  Casos Reales – “una historia de la vida Lagrimas” or Casos de Alarma!  No lie, if I could find a steady supply of good quality Mexican soap opera films, I would devote a whole blog to the genre.  Unfortunately, the best I can find is the rare VHS.  So, until some genius puts a bunch of these on Blu-ray, I'm just going to have to be happy with a sparse and low-quality supply.

There's just something almost perfect about these pictures: (1) The actors and actresses give it all - soap opera style, (2) the setting is phenomenal - Mexico in the seventies, (3) the ladies are always gorgeous beyond belief, and (4) the stories are just so damn trashy and sleazy - glorious to behold. 





 Poor Margarita (Yolanda Liévana); everywhere she goes, she's ogled and harassed by men. On the train, she's groped relentlessly.

 At work at the department store, it's no better; she's hit on by her co-workers and managers all day.

 We get some amazing views of the grocery aisles; I could watch this all day.

 Margarita is called to the manager's office.

The image of Margarita walking up the aisle is depicted on the film's lobby card

 As you'd predict, she's hit on by her boss.  It just never ends.

 Margarita has a little sister named Bertha (Norma Keller) who's still in school.

And so we have the three main characters: sisters Margarita and Bertha, and their abusive alcoholic father, Daniel (Mario Almada).

 Margarita and Bertha find their mother lying on the floor, black and blue from abuse from Daniel. 

 Margarita is walking home with groceries when she's accosted by street thugs.

 Thankfully, she's saved by a dashing lawyer named Martin. 

 And thus starts a relationship between Margarita and Martin.

 More great shots of the department store.

 Shit starts to hit the fan when Margarita is changing in the bathroom and the door slowly swings open.

 Daniel sees his daughter changing and something sinister stirs within him.

 Margarita notices the open door, and then sees her father ogling from afar.  

 She's horrified and slams the door shut. Best nude scene in the film, Yolanda Liévana is just drop dead gorgeous.

 Bertha sees Martin, the strapping lawyer, coming her way and she pretends to faint to grab his attention.

 Martin barely notices, strolling right past her.  (Who does this?  Who pretends to faint to get a guys attention? Was this a thing?)

 After school, Bertha goes to a party where there's drugs and she gets manhandled by a horny teenager.

 The only look at Norma Keller's boobs in the film.

 Bertha confesses her sins to her big sis.

 Margarita comes home from a date with Martin and gets undressed.


 But her father was watching, and can keep his lust in check no longer.  Things are about to get real bad, real quick.

Daniel throws his daughter onto the bed. 

 Then he punches her, knocking her out.  He then proceeds to molest his unconscious daughter!


 Later, Margarita informs her mother of the incident, and it's too much for her to bear.


 Later, they find their mother dead; murdered by their father.

 Still in her funeral dress, Margarita is again molested by her father.  This time she takes action - stabbing him to death with a letter opener.

 Margarita is sent to jail for murdering her father.

But Bertha takes the stand and explains the whole truth about their horrific home life, and Margarita is freed.


Admittedly, it's not for everyone.  But if you like your seventies cinema full of over-the-top sleaze, stunningly gorgeous women in miniskirts, periodic blasts of nudity and full-on taboo-smashing violence, then this is for you.  It's a soap opera from the Mexican gutter, and I love every minute of it.


Some Collections