Monday, May 17, 2010

Movie Recommendation - Cantinflas in El Padricito


My father had a collection of movies starring Cantinflas, a favorite Mexican actor and comedian. One of the movies he had was El Padrecito. I watched it again yesterday by myself and I had a very good time with this funny movie.

It is about a young priest right out of the seminary, who is sent to help an old priest at a parish. The old priest is convinced the young priest is going to become the new pastor and he is not happy at all. He feels he will die if he is forced to leave his beloved parish. The older priest's sister and niece live with him at the rectory. The sister is determine to make the young priest's life miserable in a misguided loyalty to her brother.

The older priest and the sister are not the only ones who do not want the young priest to stay. The town's rich man, who happens to be an atheist, has selfish reasons for not wanting the young priest to remain. He also has plans to rid himself of this interloper.

But little did they know that this new priest is a force to be reckoned with and he does so with humor and wit, not to mention his gambling and bull fighting skills.

There are other subplots involving El Padrecito's withholding of certain sacraments because of the individuals not being really prepared...for example, the penitent, the engaged couple, the parents wanting to have their child baptized. I do not want to give away the funny parts so I have to stop here.

The movies is available with English subtitles.

The following is a clip of El Padrecito playing the Ave Maria on the organ.

2 comments:

A Bit of the Blarney said...

Indeed, I remember watching his movies! They were always entertaining. Good MOVIES!!! Cathy

EC Gefroh said...

Yes, they are entertaining.