The
police are powerless to stop a gang of drug dealers. They enlist the aid of famous Mexican
wrestler (and part-time secret agent) El Santo to help stamp the pushers out. When a wealthy heiress is kidnapped by the
notorious bunch, it’s up to El Santo to rescue her.
The
best part of this unremarkable yet entertaining El Santo adventure comes when the
bad guys dispose of El Santo and one of the henchmen dons an El Santo mask and
impersonates him. Predictably, El Santo
knocks the guy out, trades places with him, and stands idly by while the
villains shoot the poor dope and incinerate his corpse! He then spends the next chunk of the movie
pretending to be a henchman who’s pretending to be El Santo and foiling the bad
guys’ plans from the inside.
Because
of its grounded nature, Santo vs. the Vice Mafia isn’t as wildly entertaining
as some of his silliest films, but it’s a solid effort through and through. In
fact, I’m sure it would’ve gotten Three Stars if there was a mummy or robot in
there somewhere. Still, I did like the
scene where the bad guys get the drop on El Santo by posing as sports
journalists and using a trick camera that emits smoke. I just wish there were more cool Bond-like
gadgets throughout the rest of the movie.
There’s
only one wrestling match in the entire film, which is a tad disappointing, but
the rest of the action is otherwise okay (although it’s nothing really all that
memorable). The musical numbers and dance
routines are a lot more entertaining than usual though. Things kick off with a rollicking musical
number set on the rocks of a seaside resort. Later, the same guy does a song in a nightclub.
(It looks like someone’s living room.) After he leaves the stage, a line of chorus
girls does a big choreographed dance routine. (There’s also another amusing routine later in
the film.) These scenes are a lot of fun
and help punch up an otherwise by-the-numbers outing. While it probably won’t win over any new
fans, indiscriminate El Santo die-hards are likely to be amused.
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