Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

with Corona that Arau became politicised, taking on ideas that would later influence the
content of El Águila Descalza. 23 He reviewed the archive of Televicentro in order to
learn more about film language, and he was influenced by US silent cinema as well. 24
He began filming in 1969. The story line was based on a homonym graphic
novel that he had previously created with Héctor Ortega—another actor. 25 The film
follows the adventures of Poncho (Alfonso Arau), a factory worker whose dream is to
make the world a better place. The supposed owner of the factory is actually a frontman,
and the real owners are foreigners (later we learn that they are mafiosos). Because
Mexican law did not allow foreign capital to participate in those kind of enterprises, the
frontman works as the manager and provides cover for the real owners. Thus, we should
not be surprised about the name of the factory: La Malinche.
In his efforts to change the world, Poncho becomes a masked hero self-named El
Águila Descalza, a clumsy imitation of US superheroes, wearing a baseball cap that
covers half of his face, a football shirt, and of course no shoes.
Image unavailable
due to copyright
restrictions
Image 4.1. ‘Poncho, El Águila Descalza’ . El Águila
Descalza, dir. by Alfonso Arau (1969) (in colour)
El Águila fights masked wrestlers who work for an ex-gangster from Chicago (also
performed by Arau) who wants to take control of the factory to exploit the workers, and
to marry the factory owner’s daughter, with whom Poncho is in love. Poncho is helped
23 Emilio García Riera. Historia documental… 14: 1968-1969, p. 230.
24 Perla Ciuk. Diccionario de directores del cine mexicano 2009, 2 vols (Mexico: Consejo Nacional para
la Cultura y las Artes, Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía, 2009), 1, p. 46.
25 García Riera, Historia documental… 14: 1968-1969, p. 229.
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