Los campeones justicieros (1971) User Reviews

Viva los campeones!

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 23 April 2019]

What do Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras, El Medico Asesino, La Sombra Vengadora, Tinieblas and Black Shadow do in their downtime when they're not wrestling? They ride motorcycles. And when they're not doing that, what do they do? They fight terrorists, mad scientists and monsters. As you do.

If you're not prepared for the world of the Mexican luchador superhero film, let me warn you now: these movies are completely unhinged.

A mad scientist hates masked wrestlers, so he has imbued an army of little people with the power of ten great athletes and outfitted them with transistor radios that turn into guns. There's also an incredible scene where the little men in red suits show up behind the scenes of a beauty pageant and slap every single beautiful girl into submission.

Let me sell you on this: masked men race boats, hang out with pretty girls and throw small men into the scenery at will. If that doesn't convince you, there's no real hope for your soul. You also get to see every lucha in here have an actual match, which is always nice.

I wish they still made these movies with today's stars like Caristico and Dragon Lee Jr. battling against vampires, robots, werewolves and Bárbaro Cavernario. I would cry tears of blood and make my pilgrimage to Arena Mexico where I would kneel in supplication to the gods of lucha!

If I were the Mexican Joe Bob Briggs, I would end this by saying, "Cinco estrellas échale un vistazo."

What the.....?!?!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 14 June 2009]

I really like Mexico and its people. I visited the country several years ago and loved every minute of it. So, please do NOT assume I am anti-Mexican when I say "Oh, those wacky Mexicans"! This film is something no other country could or would make, but it also is a weird little film that you just have to see to believe.

First, some background. In Mexico, their wrestling ('Lucha Libre') is much faster and more physical that American pro wrestling. However, oddly, some of the biggest heroes of the sport are mask-wearing heroes! In fact, these men are national heroes of the magnitude few outside the country realize. So popular, in fact, that many luchador films have been made over the years starring such folk heroes as el Santo and Blue Demon. Oddly, in all these films, these heroic guys NEVER take off their masks. They eat, drink, shower, sleep and make out in masks--always staying in character. My assumption for them doing this was so they could easily replace each luchador if they asked for too much money or wanted to retire! Or, perhaps the guys making the films were just so embarrassed that they didn't want their friends to know who they really were!!

What I really like is this strange genre is that on their off time, these men mostly solve mysteries, fight injustice, take on monsters and, in this case, take on a mad scientist (Black Hand) and his mini-army of midget wrestlers!! Yes, I really said midget wrestlers in hoods and capes!!! However, these midgets are not ordinary midget wrestlers wearing hoods and capes!! No, using a weird machine, the scientist is able to imbue them with great strength and skill--such that the luchadores cannot easily defeat them. In fact, Blue Demon fights them with about a half dozen of his masked wrestling friends! I found myself laughing because watching these little wrestlers reminded me of Oompa Loompas!! Oh, and unless I forget, the Black Hand was also intent on kidnapping all the Mexican beauty contest winners (hmmm, perhaps he's got something there!).

Although the film was made in 1971, the music and style look a lot like a super-low budget 1960s American sci-fi film merged with a luchador film. I especially loved the underwater scene where you can see that the 'big fish' are just goldfish in an aquarium. And I must say that the film, though very bad and stupid, also had a certain cheesy charm. In other words, although few would see this as a great work of art, I could easily see guys sitting around watching this with their friends--laughing uproariously at the silliness of it all. Fun but amazingly stupid in every possible way.

By the way, although the Mexicans have a long and proud heritage with making terrible films, sadly they are way underrepresented on IMDb's Bottom 100 films list. While THE AZTEC MUMMY VERSUS THE HUMAN ROBOT is on the list, none of the luchador films made the list and MESA OF LOST WOMEN doesn't have quite enough votes to make the list! My advice see these films and vote--it's just not fair that there is a prejudice towards Anglo films on this hallowed list!

A superior example of the genre

[ONenslo · 9/10 · 7 January 2007]

There is hardly a slow moment in this remarkable film, with one darned thing after another the whole time. From the obligatory wrestling match at the start it's all action with a little man in scarlet tights and cape unfolding his portable radio into a machine gun, and blasting away at the ring. A mad scientist's army of masked Midget Wrestlers kidnaps contestants in the Miss Mexico contest to be frozen and shipped off in crates. The little men are put under a sort of compression dome and given electric bracelets, making them unusually strong and able to wail the tar out of the Champions of Justice. The villains' car is equipped with machine guns in front and oil slicks in back, sending Mil Mascaras on his motorcycle over a cliff to dangle for his life. Blue Demon plunges out of an airplane with its pilot and rides the parachute to the ground, there is an exploding boat and spear-gun wielding frogmen. And that ain't the half of it. It's certainly the best, and probably the best budgeted, Masked Wrestler movie I have seen yet, and one that didn't require me to fast forward through long minutes of tedious explanation or flat and uninspired fight scenes. If you see only one Mexican Wrestler movie in your entire life, make it this one.

How do you say "fun" in Crazy...?

[poe426 · 8/10 · 17 October 2009]

Maybe it takes the kind of sensibility that's been honed by a lifetime (mis)spent reading comic books to truly appreciate a movie like CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE. On the face of it, it's absurd- but in a comic-book fashion that's every bit as vital as any other kind of movie. Over the top? I gotcher "over the top" right here, pal. But who can deny that it's just plain cool to see five masked superheroes cruising down the highway on motorcycles- or to see them gathered in the ring together to take on any and all Comers...? It does a fanboy's heart good to see a movie like this- something so totally what it IS that it doesn't apologize for it in any way, shape or form. In its own way, CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE truly transcends the medium. The follow-up, THE RETURN OF THE CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE, wasn't bad- but it couldn't top the original. Few movies can.

Best movie ever made....

[garyllyons · 10/10 · 21 January 2022]

In the history of campy movies this is the number one on my list!! I would give it an 11 out of 10! The sound track is pretty awesome too. Don't hesitate go get your copy of this now. The disk I got online was a double feature so look for that one it is a good movie as well. WARNING your friends will think you are nuts for watching and enjoying this!

Outlandish classic among classics.

[MonsterVision99 · 9/10 · 2 December 2023]

One of the high points in lucha libre cinema that exemplifies the bizarre conception of commercial cinema Mexican filmmakers had when creating one of these deranged and merely cinematic efforts.

A good balance between the roster of superhero wrestlers present, characters that are more iconic than psychological, with economic characterizations understood by audience members familiar with them. Villains and helpers that lack conventional introduction, alluding to previous unseen adventures regardless of whether they happened or not.

Curiel's direction has evolved from the classic construction of his americanized and serial-inspired direction of his early work, the meticulous action-based blocking of his early Santo trilogy, western movies and the Nostradamus films changes into more instinctive ways, he becomes more abstract and observant with time rather than planning, utilizing an unsettled camera that only selects the components necessary for the bare minimum narrative development. A mise en scène that nourishes because of its unconventional and oddly enriching details, at a first glance they seem superficial but due to the careful construction they fill the movie with life and rhythm, an example is the fragment of Mil Mascaras changing his mask in one swift movement without unveiling his face, in these small instants the film becomes distracted and prefers to dedicate it's focus to these tiny moments of interest, making it more vigorous.

Stunning colors and delirious psychedelic scenarios constitute the outrageous art direction employed in lucha libre cinema, constantly taking inspiration from its comic book roots. The obligatory exhibition wrestling events for the delight of the public are present (both for the theatrical audiences and the diegetic audience of the film) in this film they end up clashing with the fragile prettiness of the beauty pageant, covering both conventional spheres of mexican conservative views of men and women, as well as a way to serve the expected exploitation eye-candy to it's intended audience.

Explosive images of contrasting colors and sizes of its subjects, the uniformed dwarfs and the distinctive wrestlers unite to create an impressively fluid kinetic experience of primitive brawls to the rhythm of Gustavo Cesar Carrion's frenetic music. A harmony of psychotronic extravagance.

Finally, to declare it's intentions of adapting a comic into the big screen, the film's closing image alludes to the one that opens it, the glorified wrestling heroes riding their bikes (this time conveying a change in the status by adding their female partners) signaling the episodic nature of these movies, typical of the simple plots and joyful spirit of superhero stories. Something also present in Vuelven los campeones justicieros, also by Curiel.

just a great deal of fun on it's own terms

[dbborroughs · 8/10 · 16 March 2011]

I'm going to give you a simple test to see if you'll want to see this film. Don't worry it's a simple test that requires a simple yes or no question.

Do you like the idea of a mad scientist having an army of midgets in red spandex with matching masks and capes? If you said yes then continue reading this movie is for you, if not come back tomorrow for our next film, you're the wrong audience.

Champions of Justice is as silly as my question sounds. It's completely off the rails and then some…and yet it's a great deal of fun.

The plot has something to do with the scientist trying to take over the world with his super powered army of little people. He's amped them up with one of his gadgets and even the smallest of them can take on one of the biggest wrestlers, which is good because his opposition is an army made up of wrestlers including Mil Mascaras and The Blue Demon.

I can't really go into the plot since I was watching the film without subtitles so I was lost as to the details of what was going on. On the other hand it's more than obvious who the good guys are and who the bad guys are so it's easy to follow the bigger picture.(and as with most over the top movies it's sometime best not to deal in the details since they only make things even sillier) I really liked this film a great deal. It's wonderfully non-taxing and the sort of thing you turn off and just sort of let was over you in the best sort of vaudeville boo hiss sort of away.

I would call the film a glorious guilty pleasure, but as someone more respected than myself once said no pleasure is guilty.

This ultra-cool lucha libre flick es una grand mêlée from beginning to end.

[psychotronicbeatnik · 21 January 2015]

When the nefarious mad scientist, Mano Negra, and his supercharged masked midget wrestling henchmen, kidnap and freeze dry several beauty contestants it's up to Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras and their other motorcycle-riding masked compadres to save them. Fighting on land, sea, air and highways across Mexico, they narrowly manage to defeat the evil ones and win the hearts of the beauty queens for themselves.

Everybody is cool in this one, but Mil Mascaras steals every scene he's in with his multiple mask changes, and is the poster child for swanky luchadores everywhere in his zebra-striped mask and matching motorcycle jacket which he wears during one exciting chase scene. The nonstop cool jazz score had me finger-popping throughout.

This ultra-cool lucha libre flick es una grand mêlée from beginning to end.