All of the friends of Anselmo (Pepe Isbert, a genius) have their own disabled-adapted little cars, they go anywhere they want: to the main square, to the country... Anselmo's on his own, and he feels lonely. No way! He decides he also wants one of those cars (doesn't matter if he's not a disabled person) and he'll do ANYTHING to get one: to pretend he's been left paralyzed, to steal... WHATEVER it takes.

"El cochecito" is nothing but a classic of Spanish cinema (or of cinema in general) and such a referent of European realism. It is a so funny comedy written by Rafael Azcona (maybe the best Spanish scriptwriter ever) and placed on the impoverished streets of Madrid (late 50's).

You MUSTN'T miss this one (not if you love cinema).

*My rate: 9/10

Classic Spanish Dramedy about an obstinate retired man , being full of satire , criticism and black comedy . Here Marco Ferreri realizes another excellent film - along with ¨El Pisito¨ and ¨Los Chicos¨- plenty of irony , habits , Spanish social life , deep feeling and social critical . Seventy-something Don Anselmo Proharan (José Isbert) , a retired state agent , finds himself sharing living space with his son (Pedro Porcel) , a bourgeoisie Procurador , his granddaughter (Chus Lampreave) and her boyfriend (José Luis López Vazquez) . But widower Don Anselmo is unhappy , the reason for being restricted to one room at home , and his social life has narrowed to his paralytic friends , attending funerals , and visiting the graveyard . Along the way he joins his paraplegic friends at motorized meeting . A good friend is Don Lucas (Lepe) who eventually gets a motorized wheelchair, then Proharan accompanies him to his spouse's grave to leave flowers . Don Anselmo soon becomes obsessed with getting his own "little coach" and joining the subculture of other "cochecito" owners . As his son doesn't like at buying it , but Anselmo steals him money , that's why the only way to keep his stubborn decision to enjoy with his friends .

This is an enjoyable story that contains drama , busy comedy , humor , adequate pace , amusing gags , rowdy satire , noisy hustle and results to becpretty entertaining . Being masterfully made by Marco Ferreri who was at times really criticised for his stridently bleak view of human nature . It is considered to be one of the best films from classy Spanish cinema history and has been voted as one of the best Spanish films by professionals and critics in cinema centenary . The main and support actors stand out under Ferreri's perfect direction , including sour criticism , as well as Marco carried out in his previous and subsequent works that include bitter , pessimistic descriptions of social classes . In ¨El Cochecito¨ we can find very fun and attractive characters , all of them caricatures of the "spanish way of life" and a mirror on the Spanish society by that time . A very good film which tended not to be very well received by the censor for its acidity and considered to be one of the best Spanish films of the history ; however, his strong portrait of Spanish society , plenty of sharpness and grisly ending , didn't please the pro-Franco authorities .¨El Cochecito¨ (1960) , one of the undisputed masterpieces and fundamental in filmography of Marco Ferreri where shows the miseries of an amoral society and shot at the beginning of his creativity , during his Spanish period , in a time cultural difficult , where the enormous censorship of the political regime, exacerbated the ingenuity and imagination of the scriptwriters , as the prestigious and prolific writer Rafael Azcona . Main and support cast are frankly magnificent . José Isbert is terrific as the retired septuagenarian man who becomes obsessed with owning a motorized wheelchair and when his penurious son refuses to buy a chair for him , the old man attempts several gambits to get one by faking infirmity. Top-notch secondaries actors ,such as : Pedro Porcel as his tight-fisted son , José Luis López Vázquez , Chus Lampreave , María Luisa Ponte , Ángel Álvarez, María Isbert, Antonio Jiménez Escribano , Antonio Riquelme , among others . It contains evocative cinematography in white and black by Julio Baena . Atmospheric and adequate musical score by Miguel Asins Arbo .

Another masterpiece by the notorious filmmaker Marco Ferreri who shows the lively as well as sad existence of an elderly man . It won several prizes : Sant Jordi Awards 1961 Winner Sant Jordi Best Film to Marco Ferreri , Best Spanish Actor : José Isbert and Venice Film Festival 1960 Winner FIPRESCI Prize Marco Ferreri , though the film was shown out of competition . Direction by Marco Ferreri is awesome , he shows his skill for edition , realizing long shots with crowd who moves easily , as he filmed three several polemic movies during the 50s , all of them written by Rafael Azcona and Ferreri himself : El Pisito (1958) , Los Chicos (1959) and El Cochecito (1960) , and all of them were beset by difficulties with the censors caused by thorny critical to social stratum .Ferreri's first foray into film work was filming commercials , and as promoter of a cinema magazine. Working in Spain from 1957, making his directorial debut there . Ferreri directed various notorious films , mainly outlandish and strange dramas with deep emotions . He made a lot of black comedies adding ironical observations of social conventions and middle-class sexual mores . He was at times criticised for his stridently bleak view of simple people and human nature . Ferreri was a prestigious writer and director, especially known for Harem (1967) ,The audience (1972),La grande bouffe (1973) , Yerma (1978) , Tales of ordinary madness (1981),Story of Piera (1983) , How Good the Whites Are The flesh (1988) , and The house of the smiles (1991). Rating 7.5/10 , pretty good . Essential and indispensable watching for Marco Ferreri aficionados . Better than average and well worth seeing .

Despite a long and prolific career, Marco Ferreri is not as well known outside his native Italy as contemporaries like Fellini and Antonioni. His anarchic, iconoclastic vision of the world and bizarre, often surreal humor may be the reason. Although on the surface this early film initially seems grounded in the Neo-Realist tradition of DeSica's "Umberto D," it carries a bittersweet subversive theme that would become increasingly apparent in Ferreri's later work.

Jose Isbert plays septuagenarian Don Anselmo Proharan, a retired government minister who has reluctantly ceded his home to son Carlos, an officious, condescending solicitor, his bourgeoisie wife, and Yolanda, their homely daughter. Carlos' law offices, which he shares with his daughter's ambitious fiancé, are also located on the premises, so Don Anselmo is limited to a single stifling and confining room in his own home. As he also has to share space with Yolanda, the old man has no sense of peace and quiet or privacy. In addition, Carlos has control of his father's pension, which he parsimoniously doles out as a parent would to a child, further restricting the old man's freedom. Ferreri emphasizes the situation with very effective traveling shots that follow the old man around the house's constrictive, almost claustrophobic, corridors.

Don Anselmo's only escape seems to be attending funerals, and when his paraplegic friend Don Lucas gets a motorized wheelchair, known as a "cochetito," Proharan accompanies him to his wife's grave to leave flowers. Don Anselmo soon becomes obsessed with getting his own "little coach" and joining the subculture of other "cochetito" owners that Don Lucas belongs to which congregates and interacts daily. These physically challenged people have achieved an exhilarating sense of independence and freedom, and the old man views joining them as an escape from his restricted life with his tyrannical family. However, to join them, he needs his own "little coach."

Like Toad in Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows," Don Anselmo becomes obsessed with owning one and regaining his lost dignity. When his tight-fisted son dismisses his requests for his own chair, the old man tries several gambits in which he feigns physical infirmity to get one. Frustrated, Don Anselmo sells his dead wife's jewelry in order to buy a cochetito outright, but the son, who has already earmarked the jewelry for his daughter, humiliates the old man by forcing him to return the "cochetito" and reclaimimg his mother's jewels.

After further humiliating him, the son threatens to institutionalize the old man, to the delight of granddaughter Yolande, who is only too eager to co-opt the bedroom for herself. His self-esteem shattered, a desperate Don Anselmo poisons his family's food and runs away from home like a disaffected teenager. The film ends ambiguously with many issues left unresolved.

Ferreri directed his early films in Spain, and Don Anselmo's repression by his bourgeoisie family could be interpreted as a quietly subversive allegorical criticism of Spanish dictator's Francisco Franco's repressive fascist state. The whimsical early scene when Don Anselmo sees a surreal line of men marching in military fashion armed with mop handles for guns and wearing toilet bowls for helmets is in stark contrast to the film's more sober conclusion when the fugitive old man is arrested by the iconic uniformed actual Guardia Civil.

In any case, Ferreri left Spain for his native Italy after the release of "El Cochecito" and although this minor masterpiece is relatively obscure, he soon received some international critical acclaim for trenchantly scathing social satires like "The Ape Woman," "The Conjugal Bed," "La Grand Bouffe," and Felliniesque burlesques like "Don't Touch the White Woman," a wild send-up of Custer's Last Stand set in Paris.

Ferreri would return to the theme of aging with dignity in the poignantly sobering realism of "The House of Smiles" nearly three decades later. The director has been quoted as saying that his job is to give the audience a "punch in the stomach." "El Cochecito" is a punch, albeit a gentle one.