Luchador films, a fascinating hybrid of early 1950s American science fiction crime and horror films that were conveyed with a dazzling brio, first arrived on the scene in the year 1952 with Joselito Rodriguez's Hurricane Ramirez. In these early wave luchador features, actors were to portray wrestler characters as was the case with Hurricane Ramirez, it was David Silver cast in the role of Fernando Torres, but it was noted wrestler Eduardo Bonada that supplied all the wrestling and action sequences of the film.
The genre would soon employ the use of real-life wrestlers in their very own starring vehicles. In 1961, lucha libre legend, arguably one of the most popular national wrestlers The Blue Demon, (Alejandro Muñoz Moreno) was introduced to the celluloid world; a masked wrestler who never the once would reveal his true identity opting to be cloaked in the public eye and enduring an entire life sequestered. At Moreno's behest, he was buried in his wrestling regalia in 2000.
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| Los Frenemios ; Santo y The Blue Demon |
Santo, (Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta) was involved with the sport for over half a century and was alternatively known as 'The Saint', another iconic lucha libre figure who was considered the sole inspiration for the wrestling mania that ensued in Mexico. Blue Demon and Santo would star both independently and together in a composite of some seventy-five films.
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| Another peculiar pelicula from lucha libre's golden age, |
In the later sixties, luchador films were considered exploitation cinema by some theorists in that they were starting to take notes from the works of directors such as Russ Meyer and the controversial Roman director Bruno Mattei, yet they still maintained a dollop of demureness and were a fanfare for the superhero enthusiast.