El pico

El Pico

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Eloy de la Iglesia
Produced by José Antonio Pérez Giner
Screenplay by Eloy de la Iglesia
Gonzalo Goicoechea,
Starring José Luis Manzano
Javier García
José Manuel Cervino
Lali Espinet
Music by Luis Iriondo
Cinematography Hans Burmann
Edited by José Salcedo
Production
company
Ópalo Films
Distributed by Ópalo Films
Release dates
 4 October 1983 (Spain)
Running time
 105 minutes
Country Spain
Language Spanish
Box office 1.334.173,87 €

El Pico (English: Overdose) is a 1983 Spanish film written and directed by Eloy de la Iglesia. It stars José Luis Manzano. The films centers on drug addiction, urban juvenile delinquency and Basque nationalism in Spain from the 1980s.[1]

El Pico was the most successful among several movies, notorious in the years of the Spanish transition to democracy, dealing with juvenile delinquency in Spain during the late 1970s and early 1980s along with Perros Callejeros I and II, Los ultimos Golpes Del Torete, Yo el Vaquilla, mostly directed by Jose Antonio De La Loma; Navajeros , Colegas, El pico 2, directed by Eloy de La Iglesia and Deprisa, Deprisa by Carlos Saura and later La Estanquera De Vallecas, among others. These films were starring by unknown young untrained actors.

Set in the Basque country in a cold and dark atmosphere, El Pico employs a rough, neo-realitic style.[2] The film was de la Iglesia's biggest box-office hit and it spin off a sequel: El pico 2.[1]

Plot

Paco and Urko, two teenagers living in Bilbao, become best friends while attending the same Academy. They come from different backgrounds. Paco has two younger sisters; his mother, Eulalia, is a traditional housewife; while his father, Evaristo Torrecuadrada, is a Civil Guard Commander who hold right-wing views. Urko's parents are separated and he lives with his father, Martín Aramendia, a leftist politician affiliated with one of the groups pushing for Basque autonomy. Unbeknown to their families, Paco and Urko are drug addicts. They hang out with Betty, a young Argentinian prostitute, who sleeps with both of them. In order to have the means to support their drug addiction, Betty puts them in contact with El Cojo, a drug dealer living in Barakaldo with his pregnant wife Pilar, herself a heroine addict. El Cojo provides the two friends with drugs that they begin to sell. Paco also hags out in secret with Mikel Urbea, a homosexual sculptor, who tries to warn him against the danger of using heavy drugs. Although Paco is heterosexual, he had had sex with Mikel in the past.

Evaristo Torrecuadrada is concerned about his wife, who is stricken with terminal ovarian cancer. He wishes that Paco would follow a military career, and as a gift for his son's eighteenth birthday, Torrecuadrada takes him to a bordello, but Paco arranges to be with Betty so the two lovers can keep the money for themselves. Buying medicines for his mother, Paco becomes a hero when he saves his father from a killing attempt. However, Paco's life soon spirals out of control. His heavy drugs use leads him to steal the opioids needed by her mother to be relive from her pain. Confronted by his father about the disappearance of the medicines and the bloody marks on his arm, Paco confesses that he is a heroine addict. Torrecuadrada is stunned. Father and son have an argument and Paco flees the house. Mikel offers him shelter on condition that Paco stops using heavy drugs. Paco then goes into a painful withdrawal process.

Meanwhile, Paco's father wants to investigate who provided his son with drugs while trying to locate Paco's whereabouts. He assigns Lieutenant Alcántara with the case. Alcántara uses rough methods to extract information from his sources. In this way, he comes to interrogate El Cojo and his wife. They have been police informants in the past and lead Alcántara to Urko. Urko tells about his and Paco's addiction and drug dealings. In spite of his political differences with Martín Aramendía, Torrecuadrada summons him, informing him what it has transpired with their sons. Urko tells them that he thinks Paco might be hiding with Mikel.

When Commander Torrecuadrada finally meets Mikel, he asks him to tell Paco that his mother is dying and that she wishes to see him. Paco returns home to be with his mother in her final moments. After the funeral, Paco, completely out of drugs, decides to stay with his father and two younger sisters. Soon Paco looks for Urko, who also has recovered from his addiction. The two friends rekindle their friendship and go back to visit Betty who is still hook to heroin. After having sex with her, they can't resist the temptation and begin to use drugs once again. To get the heroin they crave, Paco and Urko go to visit El Cojo. Their plan is to rob him and take the money and drugs from him with the help of a gun Paco has stolen from his father. El Cojo is with his wife and their baby son. At the assault, he opposes a violent resistance and in the confrontation Urko shots him in the head. When Pilar yells out, Urko kills her too.

Lieutenant Alcántara suspects immediately of Paco and Urko as the culprits in the killing of El Cojo and his wife lead by the ballistic of the gun and witnesses descriptions. While defending his son, Torrecuadra communicates his suspicions to Aramendía. Paco and Urko go to Betty's place where Urko's overdoses on the stolen heroin and dies. At the morgue, while Torrecuadra and Aramendía discuss to tell truth, Paco arrives to see the body of his death friend. He cries and apologizes to Aramendía. Paco's father takes him to a desolated road by the sea. Torrrecuadrada asks him to give him the stolen gun and the drugs throwing them away to the ocean. Now there are no proofs that can be used against Paco.

Cast

Notes

  1. 1 2 Torres, Diccionario Espasa Cine Español, p. 376
  2. ↑ D’Lugo, Guide to the Cinema of Spain, p. 86

References

External links

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