Torrente: The Dumb Arm of the Law
MA15+
Spain, 2007
Director: Santiago Segura
Starring: Santiago Segura, Javier Cámara, Neus Asensi
What's it about?
Some concepts travel extremely well in comedies, and - as proven by the success of Santiago Segura’s film - one of them is the notion of the ethically and intellectually challenged policeman actually trying to make a difference. In the film that would launch a franchise (see below), Segura’s Jose Luis Torrente is slovenly former Madrid police officer – check that combover and prominent belly – who in between pursuing the nymphomaniac downstairs, investigates a possible drug ring operating out of the local Chinese restaurant. This is one of those films where in the name of doing right, some very wrong (and embarrassingly amusing) things are done.
Source: SBS Movies
Torrente 2: Mission in Marbella
M
Spain, 2001
Director: Santiago Segura
Starring: Santiago Segura, Tony Leblanc, Gabino Diego
What's it about?
Nothing good can last for Jose Luis Torrente, and in this sequel he’s back on the brink, having squandered all he gained from the original Torrente. In Marbella, in the south of Spain, the appalling former police officer now works as a private eye, a career in which he’s hardly proficient. His version of Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street Irregulars is a group of handicapped locals, who Torrente affectionately exploits no more and no less than anyone else in his messy life. You can see where a test driving a car scene is headed, but that makes it no less funny.
Source: SBS Movies
Torrente 3: The Protector
MA15+
Spain, 2005
Director: Santiago Segura
Starring: Santiago Segura, Jose Mota, Javier Gutierrez
What's it about?
To answer your question: yes, that’s a cameo by Oliver Stone as a drunken American, in a scummy strip club, where several then- stars of the Real Madrid football team are about to fight with Torrente, who is a diehard Atletico Madrid supporter. By this third installment the Torrente films had become a famous franchise (the fifth film came out in 2014, with a cameo by Alec Baldwin); the core of deeply incorrect humour remains strong as the dissolute anti-hero is chosen as a bodyguard for a female Italian politician (Yvonne Scio) by the very corporation looking to assassinate her. Torrente remains armed and clueless.
Source: SBS Movies
