Lucha Libre HERO already getting interest from non-HERO gamers

[Black Omega]

El Santo himself is a Mexican agglomeration of John Wayne, Bruce Lee, and Frank Sinatra, a real live superhero who fought monsters and rescued beautiful starlets on the movie screen and then came to your town on the weekend to defend his wrestling title. For a generation of Mexicans he defined masculinity and heroism, if in a cartoonish way (the Mexican national character has a charmingly self-deprecating sense of humor about itself.)

And Hijo del Santo carries on the banner today. Even if he did the unthinkable and go rudo for a short time.

Trust me, only the Hero System can do these movies justice. dw

I believe you

[Susano]

For the purposes of the book, Lucha is *primarily* a movie genre. Think of it as sort of like Hong Kong chop-socky movies, but with wrestling instead of kung fu and featuring a wide variety of other genres mixed in, primarily Universal-style monster flicks (Santo has in his day fought vampires, werewolves, mummies, alien invaders, time travelers and even the daughter of Dr. Frankenstein) and 60s-style spy movies ("Misterio En Las Bermudas" is a much better Bond ripoff than, say, Matt Helm.) All done on budgets of about thirty-seven cents and each with it's own special brand of psychotronic weirdness (killer midgets, slinky vampire women, musical sequences frequently stolen wholesale from other movies and of course, obligatory wrestling scenes.)

El Santo himself is a Mexican agglomeration of John Wayne, Bruce Lee, and Frank Sinatra, a real live superhero who fought monsters and rescued beautiful starlets on the movie screen and then came to your town on the weekend to defend his wrestling title. For a generation of Mexicans he defined masculinity and heroism, if in a cartoonish way (the Mexican national character has a charmingly self-deprecating sense of humor about itself.)

Trust me, only the Hero System can do these movies justice. dw

I am so sold on this product. I mean, just reading this paragraph made me grin... imagine the effect of a whole book?

[Secret Master]

Keith Curtis: Dangit, Secret Master, help out and explain this better.

Actually, I think you did a wonderful job on your own. I would like to reiterate Darren’s comment that this book will be more about the film genre of Lucha Libre than the wrestling “genre,” although there will almost certainly be a section on how to run a “pure” CMLL (the Mexican WWF) campaign.

Erkenfresh: So can anyone recommend a good Lucha movie that I could actually find?

The following are from the master list of 100+ films that I have been compiling for the book. I am including only the films I consider “must see” to save you some time. Most have been made available through the American film distributor Rebel Crew Productions.

1962 Santo Contra Las Mujeres Vempiro (Santo vs. the Vampire Women)
1963 Santo En El Museo De Cera (Santo in the Wax Museum)
1966 Santo El Enmascarado De Plata vs. La Invasion de Los Marcianos (Santo the Silver-Masked One vs. the Martian Invasion)
1970 Santo En La Venganza De La Momia (Santo in the Vengeance of the Mummy)
1970 Los Campeones Justicieros (The Champions of Justice)
1972 Vuelven Los Campeones Justicieros (The Champions of Justice Return)
1972 Santo Y Blue Demon Contra Dracula Y El Hombre Lobo (Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man)
1977 Misterio En Las Bermudas (Mystery in Bermuda)

These are all classics of the genre. Now, a fan with a perverse turn of mind MIGHT want to also watch:

1973 3 Dev Adan (Three Mighty Men)* the Turkish Santo movie
2001 Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter*the Canadian Santo movie
2002 Rock 'N' Roll Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Ape*American DVD release of Rene Cardona Luchadoras flim
2004 Enter…. Zombie King!*Canadian horror Lucha Libre movie

Now, with the exception of the Cardona film, these aren’t TRUE Lucha Libre movies. I also recommend the following books from my research list:

Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story
Lucha Libre: Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling
Mexploitation Cinema: A Critical History of Mexican Vampire, Wrestler, et al
Mexican Masked Wrestler and The Monster Filmography

I’ve only read through one of them (the Filmography), but I look forward to the other three.

[HeroTina]

1973 3 Dev Adan (Three Mighty Men)* the Turkish Santo movie

3 dev Adam is Santo and Captian America vs Spiderman.. Oh and I just found this awesome picture http://xoomer.virgilio.it/amasoni200...dam_(1973).htm

[Blue]

Not being all that familiar with the genre, I became interested if only because I had flashbacks to the episode of the ANGEL tv series, called "The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco", which is obviously derrived from all this.

It's like when you read a book and the author mentions he was inspired by a dozen other books; Makes you want to go read them too.

[Darren Watts]

"The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco" was the best hour of TV in the last ten years. If you liked it, you'll love the real thing. dw

[Darren Watts]

And for those not aware of why the Eddie Guerrero book is on the reading list, his father, Gory Guerrero, was a luchador (unmasked, though) and Santo's tagteam partner. The team was called "La Pareja Atomica" (The Atomic Duo) and held the titles off and on throughout the fifites and sixties. dw

[pinecone]

I am totally looking foward to this ....why must you torment my wallet so?.....

[Thia Halmades]

Ever have that wacked feeling like you're definately dreaming... but most definately not?

The World According to Thia: Swords, Guns, Spells, Dragons. Kung-Fu in high style and a crap-load of anime, including airships, more guns, and a healthy dose of Final Fantasy.

The World According to Lucha Libre: Strike all of the above. Wrestlers, Vampires (?!), Garou, heaven knows what else, all mixed in with good old fashioned comedy in the middle of your beatdown. Am I actually understanding this?

Sh-t. I might buy the book just out of sheer curiousity. And - let's be honest - to prove it's existance.

Thia "I was born Fantasy, and dammit I intend to DIE Fantasy" Halmades

[st barbara]

Sounds like a book i'll be getting. Will it answer the age old question "How does a mortal wrestler take on an ancient Aztec mummy and not get handed his head inside the first two phases of combat ?"

[ghost-angel]

Ever have that wacked feeling like you're definately dreaming... but most definately not?

Every Thursday.

Never could get the hang of Thursdays.

[JakSpade]

The Luchadors must save the world. They are the modern day hispanic superheroes... How HERO is that?

I just want midget Luchadors!

"That vampire was though until I gave him the Elbow of Steel!"

Jak

[HeroTina]

Sounds like a book i'll be getting. Will it answer the age old question "How does a mortal wrestler take on an ancient Aztec mummy and not get handed his head inside the first two phases of combat ?"

I'm sure it will

[Susano]

3 dev Adam is Santo and Captian America vs Spiderman.. Oh and I just found this awesome picture http://xoomer.virgilio.it/amasoni200...dam_(1973).htm

Holy mother of god.... I think my head just exploded.

[Secret Master]

St. Barbara: Sounds like a book i'll be getting. Will it answer the age old question "How does a mortal wrestler take on an ancient Aztec mummy and not get handed his head inside the first two phases of combat ?"

Easy. The Aztec mummy is really an evil archeologist disguised as a longbow wielding mummy so that he can steal the lost gold of the ancients. Thus, El Santo is able to easily best him using a combination of wrestling holds, explosives, and small caliber bullets.

Well, that’s how it worked in the movie, anyhow.