Customer Reviews

La Banda Del Carro Rojo [VHS]

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When a group of misfits become involved in narcotics everything goes wrong. It doesn't pay to live the life of a criminal and this movie shows why.

'La Banda del Carro Rojo'(1978) is a crime drama about two brothers, Rodrigo and Lino Quintana(Mario Almada and Fernando Almado), who live in poverty and they have a mountain of debts piling up. With two young protoges(Pedro Infante Jr. and Jorge Patino), they form La Banda del Carro Rojo("The Red Car Gang"). The Red Car Gang goes into the lucrative, yet perilous field of drug traffiking to get rich. However, as they reap the monetary benefits of the drug market, they also get more than they bargained for! Fans of Los Tigres del Norte should be delighted as they make a guest appearance in the film. They also contribute some original songs for the film(some of the music in LBDCR is canned).
'La Banda del Carro Rojo' is a VERY Mexican film; aside from the Texan locations, there's a very un-Hollywood feel to it. Then again, the filmmakers do borrow stuff from Sergio Leone films(close-ups of people's eyes during stand-offs, for example). There's also some broken English spoken by Mexican Spanish-speaking actors that some viewers may find jarring. Beware: the last twenty minutes of LBDCR are very violent as La Banda exchanges gunfire with rival hoods and law enforcement officials. This movie isn't for the kids or sensitive viewers. In its defense, this film has some solid performances, good camera work, and focused direction by Ruben Galindo. If one enjoys good crime flicks, 'La Banda del Carro Rojo' may be up one's alley.

The movie is just like any other narco movie with it's fair share of violence only it's over 30 years old. It does offer an early glimpse of Los Tigres Del Norte before all of the circus that now surrounds them and thier performances. These actual recordings of "La Banda Del Carro Rojo" and "Contrabando Y Traicion" in the movie were only released on LP back in the 1970s. The ones available now are all from the 1980s and the sound is quite different and does not compare to the early recordings. I enjoyed the movie as a kid and still to today.