Call Me Mike
Originally filmed in 1979, Llamenme Mike (Call Me Mike) premiered in a few theaters on the outskirts of Mexico City in 1982 before achieving a brief domestic cult status. That it is relatively unknown in the U.S. is a shame. Alfredo Gurrola, who has had long career in Mexican film and television, directed this minor masterpiece starring Alejandro Parodi as a corrupt but hapless narcotics cop named Miguelito who is obsessed with Mickey Spillane novels. When he is busted stealing drugs from a local gang of smugglers and dealers, he is removed from the police force and sent to prison. It is only here that things go bad for him, though, as he is thrown into same cell as many of the drug smugglers he himself had put away. Beaten unconscious, 
he is revived by the prison doctor but is clearly not the same--now convinced that he is the real Mike Hammer and that the Mexico City drug dealers are part of an international Communist conspiracy (ala Kiss Me Deadly) . After escaping the prison mental ward, "Mike" goes on a one-man crusade to uncover the secret Communist plot. The drug dealers think he is insane as do his own family and friends, among whom is Sasha Montenegro, who he now treats with a confidence and arrogance she has never seen from him before (and which vaguely turns her on). Montenegro was perfectly cast as the femme fatale, as both Gurrola and Parodi--who also worked in academia--were interested in commenting on American film noir, Mexican masculinity, and the state of the cinema in Mexico, where throughout the seventies the most popular films were El Santo/lucha libre movies and soap operas (Montenegro starred in both). Montenegro, an Italian-born Yugoslavian, is also notable for her long time affair with Jose Lopez Portillo, President of Mexico from 1976-1982, which coincided with her work on this film. After each obtaining a divorce, they finally married in 1995. Llamenme Mike is a must see for any fan of Robert Aldrich or Sam Peckinpah's later films. Once you get past the slow start, the movie becomes a hilarious Mexican cross between Dirty Harry, Bad Lieutenant, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with plenty of surprises thrown in. Perhaps also of interest is cinematographer Miguel Garzon who later shot Death and the Compass (based on a Borges story) for Alex Cox (Sid and Nancy, Repo Man, Straight to Hell) in 1992, and had earlier worked as a cameraman on Jodorowsky's 1973 Holy Mountain.
Originally filmed in 1979, Llamenme Mike (Call Me Mike) premiered in a few theaters on the outskirts of Mexico City in 1982 before achieving a brief domestic cult status. That it is relatively unknown in the U.S. is a shame. Alfredo Gurrola, who has had long career in Mexican film and television, directed this minor masterpiece starring Alejandro Parodi as a corrupt but hapless narcotics cop named Miguelito who is obsessed with Mickey Spillane novels. When he is busted stealing drugs from a local gang of smugglers and dealers, he is removed from the police force and sent to prison. It is only here that things go bad for him, though, as he is thrown into same cell as many of the drug smugglers he himself had put away. Beaten unconscious, 
he is revived by the prison doctor but is clearly not the same--now convinced that he is the real Mike Hammer and that the Mexico City drug dealers are part of an international Communist conspiracy (ala Kiss Me Deadly) . After escaping the prison mental ward, "Mike" goes on a one-man crusade to uncover the secret Communist plot. The drug dealers think he is insane as do his own family and friends, among whom is Sasha Montenegro, who he now treats with a confidence and arrogance she has never seen from him before (and which vaguely turns her on). Montenegro was perfectly cast as the femme fatale, as both Gurrola and Parodi--who also worked in academia--were interested in commenting on American film noir, Mexican masculinity, and the state of the cinema in Mexico, where throughout the seventies the most popular films were El Santo/lucha libre movies and soap operas (Montenegro starred in both). Montenegro, an Italian-born Yugoslavian, is also notable for her long time affair with Jose Lopez Portillo, President of Mexico from 1976-1982, which coincided with her work on this film. After each obtaining a divorce, they finally married in 1995. Llamenme Mike is a must see for any fan of Robert Aldrich or Sam Peckinpah's later films. Once you get past the slow start, the movie becomes a hilarious Mexican cross between Dirty Harry, Bad Lieutenant, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with plenty of surprises thrown in. Perhaps also of interest is cinematographer Miguel Garzon who later shot Death and the Compass (based on a Borges story) for Alex Cox (Sid and Nancy, Repo Man, Straight to Hell) in 1992, and had earlier worked as a cameraman on Jodorowsky's 1973 Holy Mountain.
Do you know where I can see it online?
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