Cinema is, today, another industry within entertainment. Of course there are still authors, people who put all the cinematographic machinery at the service of art. In 2023 we have enjoyed the premiere of Oppenheimer, which is still an impressive blockbuster in terms of production and budget, directed, of course, by an author. Cristopher Nolan is today one of the few great directors who allow themselves to make this type of films, knowing that people will go to see them. He has earned that respect and has been able to develop an unusual career, with his own style, embarking on that dangerous adventure of trying to fill theaters with particular stories. Comparisons are odious, but we could affirm that Today he is the closest thing we have left to a Steven Spielberg. Even more so when the director of Jurassic Park or ET himself is no longer connecting as much with the public as before.
Things have changed a lot in the last decades, and it is clear that auteur cinema today is on a very different path than it was in the 60s or 70s. However, in those decades in Europe There was also a very striking cinema, that of exploitation, a pastiche of genres where violence, sex and action fit, in films for rapid consumption. The genre was very successful in the United States, and would be resurrected some time later by such famous figures as Quentin Tarantino. In Europe, however, most film fans were trying to unravel the complex plots of Goddard, the strange realism of Truffaut or the new ones of the Italians. Exploitation cinema emerged in another way, one in which it sought to maximize production resources to create films that generated money. The producers adapted to the tastes of the audience, and tried to generate those trends that would later be consumed. Among the great morass of directors who appeared in those years there is one that stands out above all, because of how he has influenced the rest. This is the Spanish Jess Franco, a true legend of European cinema.
His beginnings in Spain
Jesús Franco was born in Malaga, into a wealthy family. This allowed him to study in Madrid after the Civil War, where he took music classes, graduated in Law and later, began to come into contact with cinema. Franco worked as an actor and screenwriter, and also as a jazz musician and composer, and began writing novels under a pseudonym. In 1958 he directed his first feature film, We are 18 years old, starring Terele Pávez and Antonio Ozores. Shortly after, Screams in the Night would arrive, a horror film that would give it some international projection. Despite his success, his ideas clashed with the dictatorship that still existed in Spain at that time. Franco decided to produce and direct films outside the country, being supported by producers from Italy, France or Germany to continue with his films.
Exile and films in Europe
After going into exile, Franco begins to direct several feature films every year. He did it, above all, to continue subsisting and maintaining his standard of living. His production reached more than 200 titles, surely making him the most prolific director in Spanish cinema. Furthermore, the man from Malaga did not understand genres. He also filmed horror or science fiction, his favorite films, tried to make a romantic drama, or directly launched erotic thrillers. Sex was one of the most common points in his films, since Franco knew that it served as a hook for audiences in any country where he worked. Hence, in many of his films naked women appear in very hot attitudes.
At the end of the 60s, Franco worked as a second unit director for Orson Welles, became successful around the world with Necronomicon and even promoted the famous Hammer cinema. There he worked in several horror films with the famous actor Christopher Lee, playing the mythical character of Dracula. After all that success, in the 80s its popularity declined considerably. He was in charge of low-budget projects, he created a production company that shot films non-stop to take advantage of the settings and costumes of other previous films… The truth is that with a production of more than 200 titles, it is impossible release only masterpieces. However, after that dark time in which many turned their backs on him, Franco was able to enjoy the vindication of his cinema, and its well-deserved recognition, in the last years of his life. In the 90s he returned to filming in Spain, thanks to Killer Barbies, and in 2009 he would even receive a Goya of Honor for his career.
From porn to action movies
Jess Franco has always seen himself as a film auteur outside of trends. It is true that on many occasions he adapted his stories, and even the footage of his films, to what the public was looking for in each country. However, until death, he maintained the conviction that he always did what he wanted in his films, which came from his gut. He has filmed all types of genres, and even made forays into westerns and musicals. However, the excessive presence of sexual scenes in his films could have weighed heavily on him at a certain time. And many did not understand that Franco decided to shoot softcore films, and even made the jump to pornography in some more explicit titles.
Since the early 70s, the director found his definitive muse in Lina Romay, a Barcelona actress. In fact, they maintained a romantic relationship until her death in 2012, although they did not hesitate to confirm that it was an “open” relationship. Romay starred in many of Franco’s films, and in some of them he dared to perform explicitly pornographic scenes. Many thought that the director’s talent was wasted in a genre that was not going to give him popularity. However, Franco was often able to survive and record other projects thanks to erotic and pornographic films. He always maintained that way of life, and finally, critics understood that his genius did not understand genres, and that all these facets were sides of the same coin.
A cult director
The director died at the age of 84 in Málaga, his hometown, in 2013. He ended his days filming, which was what he liked most in the world. In those last years he had received all kinds of honors and mentions at genre film festivals around the world. In addition to the Goya of Honor, Franco became a figure claimed by new Spanish filmmakers such as Álex de la Iglesia or Santiago Segura. International directors such as Tarantino and Eli Roth have also shown their admiration for the cinema of Jess Franco, just as myths such as Roger Corman did at the time. > or the German director Fritz Lang.