Mexploitation
Encyclopedia
Exploitation film
Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
and Mexican culture and/or portrayals of Mexican life within Mexico often dealing with crime, drug trafficking, money and sex.
Common qualities
The typical Mexploitation film takes place in the countryside of major cities and drugs, sex, and crime are nearly always involved. These movies are usually low-budget and are filmed in a couple of weeks. They typically feature one or two famous B-movie actors in major roles with the rest of the cast being played by unknown actors.Mexploitation movies made in the 60s and 70s in Mexico were closer to their American counterparts
Exploitation film
Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
, with low-budget science-fiction films that often starred Mexican luchadores
Lucha libre
Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries, for a form of professional wrestling that has developed within those countries...
like El Santo and Huracan Ramirez
Huracan Ramirez
Huracán Ramírez was a fictitious character invented for the 1952 Mexican Lucha film of the same name. In the film a young Mexican, whose father is a professional wrestler, decides to follow in his father's footsteps by adopting the secret identity of Huracán Ramírez, a masked luchador, and he...
. However, the early 80s and into the 90s saw a notable change with films increasingly dealing with real-life issues such as drug cartels and the murders of their rivals. Notable actors in these films include Mario Almada
Mario Almada (actor)
Mario Almada Otero is a Mexican actor. His career has run for over seventy years. He is mostly known for his roles in Mexican urban westerns and action cinema, often portraying the 'good guy'. The IMDB lists him appearing in about three hundred films...
, Hugo Stiglitz
Hugo Stiglitz
Hugo Stiglitz is a Mexican actor. He was mostly famous in the 1970s and 1980s in Mexico after filming such film horror classics as Tintorera and La Noche de los mil gatos. He also filmed several movies in Hollywood and Italy...
, Sergio Goyri
Sergio Goyri
Sergio Goyri Pérez is a Mexican actor.-Biography:Goyri entered the world of acting in 1975 as a secondary actor in Mundos opuestos with Lucía Méndez. He has since become a successful actor, as well as a director, producer and singer. Goyri has five children, three from his first marriage and two...
, Valentín Trujillo, Jorge Reynoso, Rodolfo de Anda, Fernando Almada, Rosa Gloria Chagoyan and David Reynoso
David Reynoso
David Reynoso was a Mexican actor. He appeared in over 170 films and television shows between 1955 and 1994.-Selected filmography:* Ash Wednesday * Ánimas Trujano * Black Wind...
.
Director Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
in recent times has been considered a pioneer of Mexploitation in the United States. His first film, El Mariachi
El Mariachi
El Mariachi is a 1992 Mexican-American action film that is the debut of writer/director Robert Rodriguez. The Spanish language film was shot in the northern Mexican bordertown of Ciudad Acuña with a mainly amateur cast...
contains many Mexploitation elements and his most recent film Planet Terror
Planet Terror
Planet Terror is a 2007 American action horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, about a group of people attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a military unit, including a go-go dancer searching for a way to use her "useless talents." The film, a...
contained a fake trailer--then developed into a feature film--called Machete
Machete (film)
Machete is a 2010 action film directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis. The "Machete" character originates from the 2001 Spy Kids film, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. This film is an expansion of a fake trailer that was released together with Rodriguez's and Quentin Tarantino's...
, which contains many familiar elements of the genre.
K. Gordon Murray
An exploitation film producer and distributor named K. Gordon MurrayK. Gordon Murray
K. Gordon Murray was an American producer, most notable for his redubbing and re-releasing of foreign fairy tale films for U.S. audiences. He is often cited as the "King of the Kiddie Matinee"...
created a unique collection of horror films in Mexico which began to appear on American late-night television and drive-in screens in the 1960s. Ranging from monster movies clearly owing to the heyday of Universal Studios, to the lucha libre horror films featuring El Santo and the "Wrestling Women," these low-budget films and still were notably campy and inspired a small cult following.
See also
- BlaxploitationBlaxploitationBlaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
- Exploitation filmExploitation filmExploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
- History of cinema