Torrente: El brazo tonto de la ley
| Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley | |
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| Directed by | Santiago Segura |
| Produced by | Andrés Vicente Gómez |
| Written by | Santiago Segura |
| Starring |
Santiago Segura Javier Bardem Javier Cámara Tony Leblanc Neus Asensi |
| Cinematography | Carles Gusi |
| Edited by | Fidel Collados |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 min. |
| Language | Spanish |
| Budget | 280,000,000 PST |
| Box office | 1.500.000.000 PST |
Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley (Spanish for Torrente, the dumb arm of the law) is a 1998 Spanish dark comedy written, directed and starred by Santiago Segura and produced by Lolafilms. Characterized by its deliberately thick, cartoonish humor, it had a great reception from the public and critics, making Torrente part of Spanish contemporary popular imagination.
The title is a parody of Cobra, el brazo fuerte de la ley (Cobra, the strong arm of the law), the title that was used in Spain for the 1986 film Sylvester Stallone-starred film Cobra.
This film won two Goya awards and it became the highest-grossing film in the history of Spanish cinema, later surpassed by its sequel, (Torrente 2: Misión en Marbella). It also laid the foundations of the Torrente film series by Santiago Segura, who also directed the sequel, the third (Torrente 3: El protector), the fourth (Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis) and fifth (Torrente 5: Operación Eurovegas) films. These last two were shot in stereoscopic 3D.
José Luis Torrente is a lazy, rude, drunkard, sexist, racist, right-wing ex-policeman turned fake cop who lives in a decrepit apartment in a slum neighbourhood of Madrid with his wheelchair-bound father, whose disability checks are Torrente's only real income.
One day, a new family of neighbours which owns and operates a fish store moves into the apartment below Torrente's and he becomes attracted to the young, nymphomaniac niece of the family, Amparo. In order to get close to her, he befriends her nerdy weapon enthusiast cousin, Rafi, by taking him to target practice and on his nightly patrol rounds through the neighbourhood. During their patrols, Torrente begins to suspect that criminal activity is occurring in the new local Chinese restaurant. His suspicions are confirmed when his father accidentally overdoses after eating a stolen food roll which was filled with packets of heroin. Torrente decides to crack the drug ring in order to regain his former status within the Police Force.
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Wikipedia