(Nacional Cinematográfica, 1968) Prod: Mario A. Zacarías; Dir: René Cardona Jr.; Scr: Mario Marzac, René Cardona Jr.; Photo: Raúl Martínez Solares; Music: Sergio Guerrero; Prod Supv: José Luis Zacarías; Prod Chief: Alfonso Sánchez Tello; Asst Dir: Felipe Palomino; Film Ed: Alfredo Rosas Priego; Art Dir: F. Marcos Chillet; Decor: Raúl Serrano; Camera Op: Cirilo Rodríguez; Makeup: Rosa Guerrero; Sound Supv: James L. Fields; Dialog Rec: Francisco Alcayde; Re-rec: Galdino Samperio; Sound Ed: José Li-Ho; Eastmancolor; Union: STPC

CAST: Mauricio Garcés (Mauricio), Christa Linder ("December"), Bárbara Angely (huntress "September"), Hedy Blue (Eva aka Sigfrida), Amadee [sic] Chabot (nudist "November"), Luis Manuel Pelayo (Walter), Judith Black, Gloria Eckberg, Christa Wagner, Valerie Trumblay, Carolina Cortázar, Lilia Richards [aka Lilia Castro], Natalie Regan, Rossana Rossini, María Idalia, Davonne del Puerto, Mamá Borínquen, Silvia Suárez, Otilia Larrañaga, Irlanda Mora (nudist), Carlos Nieto (Eva's boyfriend), Mario García "Harapos" (tramp), Carlos León (New York boyfriend), Marcelo Villamil (licienciado), Federico González (gas station attendant)

NOTES: this film doesn't quite live up to its potential, although it is amusing in spots. The combination of comic screen Lothario Mauricio Garcés playing a photographer and a "dozen" beautiful models (I'm not sure who's supposed to be included in this number) falls a little flat because of a script that is not only episodic but sporadic and erratic.

On the plus side, this is probably the only film in which one can hear both Amedee Chabot (as a brunette!) and Christa Linder speaking in their own voices, since these actresses were routinely dubbed in their Mexican features. Most of Chabot's dialogue is in Spanish (in English, she does say "Hey, what happened with you?!"), which she speaks a little stiffly but with correct grammar, while Linder is dubbed most of the time (her Spanish dialogue) but occasionally lets rip with some German in her actual voice.

Mauricio is a successful glamour and advertising photographer but he quits working for the ad agency run by Señora Thompson (a major real-life ad agency is J. Walter Thompson, and Click features characters named both "Walter" and "Thompson") in a dispute over their misuse of his photos. With capital supplied by his faithful valet Walter--who now becomes his partner--Mauricio goes out on his own. He decides to produce a calendar featuring 12 beautiful women.

"January" is Eva (whose real name is Sigfrida), a blonde who had posed for Mauricio before (she constantly asks "Do I take off my robe now?" and Mauricio replies, "No, not yet."). She is tracked down at the "Paraíso" club, a hippie hangout. Mauricio and Walter have to fend off Eva's jealous boyfriend and the police in order to secure her services. Several subsequent "months" pass, but then Mauricio decides he wants an "innocent" face. A nun passing by in the park sparks his interest, so he and Walter break into the convent that night to take her picture (her face only; Mauricio will paste it on someone else's body). After various misadventures, they manage to snap the photo and escape.

However, the strain of producing the calendar causes Mauricio to have a nervous breakdown. He develops a "click" (as opposed to a nervous "tic"): when he blinks his eyes, he suddenly sees everyone (men and women) in their underwear. He loses the "click" when he accidentally looks at a fat nurse. A woman psychiatrist advises him to rest and take nature photos, leaving beautiful women alone for a time.

Mauricio and Walter head to the park with his camera. Mauricio sees a butterfly: "Watch out, a vampire bat!" When Walter tells him it's just a butterfly, Mauricio asks "Does it sting?" Later, he spots a bird and asks "Does it bite?"

While searching for some ducks to photograph--and wearing camouflage outfits and helmets with duck decoys mounted on them--Mauricio and Walter are shot at by a beautiful female hunter. In an odd jump in continuity, Mauricio is then suddenly back to working on his calendar, and chooses a female artist as "August." However, she has a condition: Mauricio has to allow himself to be body-painted in psychedelic designs and put on display, which he does.

The huntress will be "September" (although, in another continuity problem, she is later referred to as both "September" and "October"). But when Mauricio and Walter return, once again dressed in their duck-helmets, they are shot at again, and Mauricio is slightly wounded. The woman takes them back to her house. Mauricio explains his "click" and in fact it appears that he does not just imagine that he sees people in their underwear, he apparently has X-ray vision, because he describes what color underwear the young woman is wearing (and a mole on her thigh). She gets upset and shoots at Mauricio again, causing him to lose the "click." Nonetheless, she poses for the calendar, revealing that she is a professional model and Mauricio didn't have to sneak up to her house to hire her.

Unfortunately, her services leave Mauricio and Walter with little money, and still two unfinished months to go. They sneak into a nudist colony to obtain "November," surreptitiously snapping shots of a Canadian tourist (Amedee Chabot, wearing a black wig!) who visits Mexico every winter. To complete his calendar, Mauricio makes a composite photo for "December," combining the best attributes of each of the previous models. Like Pygmalion, he falls in love with his creation. The calendar is a success.

As it turns out, "December" is the double of a real woman living in New York. Her boyfriend doesn't believe she didn't pose for the picture (none of the photos is at all salacious, by the way). This scene gives Christa Linder the chance to spout off some vociferous German phrases, alternating with (dubbed) expository Spanish dialogue.

The real "December" comes to Mexico to confront Mauricio. She bursts into his house and tries to kill him, but runs out of bullets when he hides under his bed. She leaves, and is signed to a huge contract by Señora Thompson's ad agency, to capitalize on the publicity of the calendar. Because Mauricio was responsible for her good fortune, the young woman changes her mind and as the film concludes, she and Mauricio embrace.

Besides the continuity and other problems already noted, Click is harmed by the meandering script and some very illogical aspects. For instance, would it be legal to use the nun and the nudist photos without permission? The time element is also confusing, particularly with regard to Mauricio's nervous breakdown. His first visit to the psychiatrist that is shown is apparently not the first time he was there, since she immediately tells him that she has discovered the root of his problem. This sequence is also the first (of two) sequences where Mauricio experiences the "click," which comes and goes in a rather random fashion (this gimmick was probably inspired by similar ideas used in "nudie" films of the early '60s).

Nonetheless, Click is at least reasonably entertaining, with some positive aspects. Sergio Guerrero's theme is excellent '60s movie-music (later in the film he borrows a few bars from "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey" in the nudist camp sequence). While the film is obviously (and admittedly) set in Mexico, there is a lot of "cosmopolitanism" evident, from the foreign origins of many of the models to frequent English phrases (in one scene Mauricio says he wants a big breakfast, including "hotcakes...[and] Rice Krispies.").

In addition to some of the better lines and sequences already discussed, the convent sequence has a clever bit: Mauricio hides under the covers in a nun's bed; when she climbs in, she says, in shocked surprise, "Ave María Purísima!" to which Mauricio automatically replies "Sin pecado concebida" (this is the standard Church response). While in his "nature photography" phase, Mauricio extols the virtues of a beautiful (off-screen) bird, until it defecates in his eye, at which time he curses and chases it (i.e., the camera) with a rock! And of course, the presence of Chabot, Linder, Angely, and Hedy Blue is always worthwhile.