(Conacite 2, 1977) Prod Mgr: Rogelio González Chávez; Dir: Alfredo B. Crevenna; Scr: Alejandro Cavanillas, Ramón Obón; Story: Alejandro Cavanillas; Photo: Francisco Bojórquez; Music: Ernesto Cortázar [Jr.]; Asst Dir: Damián Acosta; Film Ed: Angel Camacho; Sound Ed: Rogelio Zúñiga; Union: STIC
CAST: Jorge Luke (Héctor Salazar), Christa Linder (Annette
Mercier), Leticia Perdigón (Alicia), Wally Barrón (Lic.
Sergio Martínez Jurado), René Casados (Mario), Guillermo
Alvarez Bianchi (Lic. Francisco Saldaña Gutiérrez), Blanca
Torres (Alicia's mother?), Carlos Rotzinger (Sr. Salazar), Queta Lavat
(Sra. Salazar), Karla (Molinar's mistress), Pedro Avila, Sergio Klein,
Marcelo Villamil (Eduardo Molinar), José Dupeyron (Arturo Santos),
Adriana Parra, José Luis Fernández (Cmdte.), Mónica
Montenegro, René Barrera (man with hostage), Wanda Seux, Bernabe
Palma, Manuel Resendess
NOTES: Héctor Salazar is a Mexican policeman who lives with his parents and younger brother. He has a girlfriend (Alicia) and is planning his future. However, he is notoriously quick on the trigger, and after several incidents, he is warned by his superior officer. But when Héctor shoots and seriously wounds a fellow police officer by accident, he is fired. To make things worse, the family of the wounded man--who will be paralyzed for life--sues Héctor for 500,000 pesos.
Sleazy lawyer Martínez contacts Héctor and says his "employers" will pay Héctor's debts in exchange for his services "on the edge of the law." Héctor is suspicious but agrees. His first job is to beat up Arturo Santos; Héctor catches him in a steam bath and works him over. His next assignment is to kill Eduardo Molinar--Héctor refuses, but Martínez threatens Héctor's younger brother if he doesn't carry out the assignment. While Molinar is hunting, Héctor shoots him. Corpulent politician Saldaña is next, shot by Héctor while the man is bowling.
Héctor is sent to Acapulco to kill the beautiful Frenchwoman Annette Mercier. They become acquainted, and she says she knows why he's been sent. She offers to pay him more than his fee, and also offers her body in exchange for her life. But afterward, while Annette is in the shower, Héctor shoots through the shower curtain, killing her.
Martínez tells Héctor that his services are no longer needed: he was seen entering Annette's hotel room, and he is now a wanted man. Héctor savagely beats Martínez until the other man agrees to arrange passage out of the country for him; but Héctor is later the target of an assassin while driving (he escapes), and Martínez disappears, leaving his office empty. Héctor convinces Mario, Alicia's brother, to drive him to the border in his truck. Mario drives to an isolated area, forces Héctor out of the truck at gunpoint, and then kills him.
La hora del jaguar (the title isn't explained) is an interesting thriller, with professional performances throughout. It's best seen on video, since TV versions cut some nudity (Leticia Perdigón and Christa Linder) which isn't integral to the plot (but is entertaining!). Crevenna's direction is workmanlike, without any particular frills (except one: as Héctor prepares to leave his family and flee overseas, he looks at his father, mother, and younger brother one last time, and there is a freeze frame on each of them, signifying perhaps the image he wants to keep in his memory). The script is a bit weak in the beginning--Héctor's supervisor calls him trigger-happy, but the two instances we see of him shooting someone seem like justifiable accidents; Héctor is depicted as being betrayed by his reflexes rather than as a brutal person who loves violence (although later he is pretty vicious when he beats up Santos).
However, credit should be given to Cavanillas and Obón for the character development often omitted in action films: Héctor's home life with his parents and brother, his relationship with Alicia (and her mother, a suspicious mother-in-law type), and so on. In one interesting scene, Héctor, Alicia, Mario and Mario's girlfriend go on a picnic, and are listening to Archie Shepp's "Fire Music" album; Mario reads a quote from Malcolm X, and there is a brief discussion about race relations in the U.S., as well as the ability to hate. (Trivia note: in another scene, Héctor and Alicia play "Battleship")
I liked this film the first time I saw it, and I was also favorably impressed years later, on second viewing. A decent picture despite its grim conclusion.
NOTE: curiously, the synopsis in the flyer published by Pelmex for foreign sales of this film (with synopses in Spanish, French, and English) refers to Jorge Luke as the "employee of a bank"!! Apparently, it wasn't good public relations for Mexico to have an ex-policeman become a hired assassin!
Posted 31 May 99 by dwilt@umd.edu, edited 25 August 2000.