Vagabundo en la lluvia (1968) Poster

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7/10
Tramp in the rain
andrabem-129 May 2010
A brief summary for "Vagabundo en la lluvia" (Tramp in the rain) could be: 3 women in an isolated house and a man, a tramp, roaming outside.

Angela (Christa Linder) - young, beautiful, apparently happily married, leaves a costume party to go to her house by the lake - a peaceful and lonely place. Angela belongs to the upper class and is basically optimistic and romantic. When Angela is driving to her house, she's unknowingly bringing with her another passenger that's lying in her car, sleeping in a drunken stupor - Monica. Later on, in tense circumstances, Monica will be discovered and brought to the house.

Monica (Ana Luisa Peluffo) belongs also to the upper class. She's older than Angela and feels bitter and disillusioned by life. Tonight Angela has an appointment with Raquel (Norma Lazareno).

Raquel is young and good-looking, but she was born on the other side of the fence. She always had to fend for herself. She has no illusions and knows no scruples.

And finally there's the tramp (Rodolfo de Anda). The world hasn't treated him well. All he feels now is frustration and anger. In the beginning he seems meek and harmless. Soon one will notice that very near the surface there's a darker side to him, there's a great rage waiting to explode.

Inside the house three women, three lives, three different perspectives. The tension is mounting, the masks are falling and anger is rising. Outside the rain falls and the tramp is somewhere nearby - rain soaking him, cold in his bones. Something is bound to happen.

In "Vagabundo en la lluvia" the story and dialogues are well-written and the characters feel three-dimensional. The words are very important to shape and define the characters and the situation in which they are trapped. But "Vagabundo en la lluvia" doesn't feel like a theater play. The cameras capture the images discreetly and effectively and "Vagabundo en la lluvia" is and feels like a film - the words don't become obtrusive, but quite the contrary, they flow effortlessly with the images.

I wouldn't recommend this film for traditional Taboada's fans that love him just for his horror films ("Hasta el viento tiene miedo", "El libro de piedra" etc.). "Vagabundo en la lluvia" is not a horror film, I would rather label it as a psychological thriller. But it's not a thriller in the usual sense - it has no suspense, no real violence to speak home about and no gore. The story unfolds, the clouds gather more and more... and, eventually, as an uninvited guest, violence will come. Not necessarily in the way you expect.

"Vagabundo en la lluvia" is not a remarkable film, but nonetheless it's interesting, it has a good story told well, and solid characters with their own voices.
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6/10
Good cast in a time waster
jameselliot-12 March 2022
The characters behave irrationally in a contrived story. Linder knows someone broke into her house and instead of calling the police, and leaving, she loads a shotgun and goes looking for him. Slow and filled with silly conversations.
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6/10
Mexico giallo-esque
BandSAboutMovies1 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
A night in the country for three women - and one man - from wildly different social spheres and levels of monetary respect turns dark and deadly in this 1968 film from Carlos Enrique Taboada, who wrote and directed so many of the greatest classics in Mexican horror. I'll give you Poison for the Fairies, Even the Wind Is Afraid and Darker Than Night as examples.

Angela (Christa Linder, The Night of 1000 Cats) is young, gorgeous, rich and happily married. As she speeds toward her opulent home, she doesn't realize that Monica (Ana Luise Peluffo, Intrepidos Punks) is drunkenly passed out in the back seat. She's well-off as well, but bitter and hurt by life. Then there's the young girl from the wrong side of the tracks, Raquel (Norma Lazareno, Even the Wind Is Afraid, The Book of Stone).

This evening would be tense between these women if it wasn't for another wrinkle: a homeless man (Rodolfo de Anda, who directed El Macho Bionico) who is ready to rail against humanity in the form of these three different women, as he is trapped outside as a very real storm begins to rage.

This is a movie unafraid to tick off the boxes of exploitation, starting with two partygoers who arrive in full Nazi regalia and including Peluffo getting nude, as she was one of the first Mexican actresses to do so in mainstream films.

I'd compare this film to the Umberto Lenzi-directed Carroll Baker films. It has that same slow burn that I love so much and the end of this movie feels like the end of the world - as the rest of the world moves on - for those who survive.
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