Intrepidos Punks

Intrepidos Punks (1980)

Runtime: The version I saw was 87 minutes long

Directed by: Francisco Guerrero

Starring: Juan Valentin, Juan Gallardo, Ana Luisa Peluffo, the greatly named Princesa Lea

From: Some Mexican company

This is a review a long time coming, as for years now I've known of this film, a cult favorite in some circles. It's been on YouTube with subs for awhile now, and with this month being me watching all sorts of foreign films, this was the right time for it. The Letterboxd review is below; what a wacky film I saw and when I return tomorrow afternoon I'll be reviewing something else I am predicting will be wacky.

For awhile now I've known of this infamous movie from Mexico, made in 1980 but not released for 8 years, likely due to how sleazy and trashy it is. From mere description it sounded insane and yet I put off watching it. Well, last night was the time, mainly due to this month of reviewing foreign films, and I am rating this more on entertainment value than filmmaking quality-the low budget is readily apparent.

There isn't too much of a plot: a group of biker punks that look like they came from the set of The Road Warrior raise a lot of hell: some of the female members rob a bank while dressed like nuns, they bust their leader TARZAN (an actual Mexican wrestler known as El Fantasma, which is why his face is never seen and he wears a wacky mask) out of jail, they steal a tanker truck full of gas, light a man on fire, etc. They also do a lot of dancing and partying and general debauchery.

Out to get them are two middle-aged mustached federal agents, one of them sort of looking like a Mexican Joe Spinell. After some other busts that only tangentially at best are related to the main story, they go after the punks. This is the sort of film where:

* The punks have names like Spider, Pirate and Caligula
* The punks themselves are all amazing-looking people with the way they dress, the makeup they have on and their hair
* The opening credits are spraypainted on the side of a building
* To steal a thought, one of them looks like Seann William Scott, and besides throwing ninja stars, the highlight of Mexican Steve Stifler is when you see his face as he, ahem, masturbates then releases. They are astounding
* Unfortunately, there's a gang rape scene and I could have done without that
* But fortunately, Tarzan uses some lucha libre moves, such as a bodyslam and even a tombstone piledriver
* Getting hit in the balls actually does produce a realistic reaction
* The score is either punk or groovy rock music; expect to hear parts of the title song at least a dozen times

This film certainly isn't for everyone but for the percentage of those on Letterboxd that enjoy watching trash cinema, this is a must-see.