Mexico, early 19th century. In one of his hunts, the rich Spaniard Everardo (Adolfo Marsillach) , owner of the Rivera hacienda, suddenly sees a naked black boy appearing in front of a large waterfall . Everardo baptizes the black boy Gaspar and gives it to one of his daughters , the girl Emma. Friendly and good-natured , the boy quickly becomes a new member of the family. Along the way the eccentric family occasionally has noisy receptions with fine dining . One of Don Everardo's favorite mushroom dishes is prepared with an old family recipe. As time goes by, at the hacienda living the grown-up Gaspar ( Philip Michael Thomas) , Emma (Sandra Mozarowsky) and brothers, Lucha (Ofelia Medina) and Sebastián (Fernando Allende) , become wealthy adults. Everardo returns very old from a trip to Europe with Elvira (Isela Vega) , his fiery wife. Emma and Gaspar are lovers and it is finished off , after all the previous ups and downs of the couple , in an inconsistent way . Sebastián, anxious to leave the place, manages to get his father to send him with Lucha to the capital when the young man is wounded by a panther that Everardo has in his house despite Elvira's hatred for the animal.
This peculiar soap opera contains silly messes , incredible romances , incestuous relationships , family drama and evocative scenarios , but it does not have very deep characters or too much psychological complexity . There is a lot of nudism , erotic scenes and some sexual elements prevail during the cinematic narration . This co-production with a good Mexican/Spanish cast adapts homonymous novel 'El hombre de los hongos' by Sergio Galindo and script from Tito Davison , Fernando Vizcaíno Casas and Roberto Gavaldón himself , taking place in Mexico at the beginning of the 19th century. It is an acceptable and passable tale , though mediocre , at times . However, it has a successful atmosphere of temptation , seduction , forbidden love, betrayal , jealousy , vengeance and competition for Philip Michael Thomas/Gaspar's sexual favors in a rare love triangle completed by Isela Vega and Sandra Mozarowsky . The threatening and constant presence of a black panther is also used as a symbol of the danger that the growing tension within the family entails . At the same time , the film has hallucinogenic traces of romantic ecstasy supported by overacting and resulting in a situation of bewildering that turns the pageantry of the delicacy into a grotesque spectacle of death and destruction . Stars the future actor of the popular TV series "Miami Vice" starred by Philip Michael Thomas and Don Johnson. Co-stars Mexican idol Isela Vega , who from her beginning in small roles in Mexican films in the early 1960s , her career grew and Isela became very popular as a sex symbol in the late 1960s , being her most popular film : Sam Peckinpah's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and others as Deadly Trackers , Las siete cucas , Mujeres de Jeremias, The black Widow or Joshua . Alongside the prestigious Spanish player Adolfo Marsillach , Ofelia Medina , Fernando Allende and special mention for teen Sandra Mozarowsky who died early when fell from a fourth-floor balcony at her apartment in Madrid ; Sandra was one of the foremost "Lolitas" of the co-produced Spanish Genre and/or "exploitation" cinema of the late seventies. At the time of her death, she was only 18 years old.
It displays a colorful cinematography by Raúl Pérez Cubero , though a perfect remastering being really necessary . Shot on location in Parador San Javier, Guanajuato, Catemaco, Veracruz, Hacienda San Gabriel de la Barrera, Guanajuato , Las Estacas, Morelos, Mexico and Estudios Churubusco Azteca, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico . Well produced and uneven but professionally directed by prolific filmmaker Roberto Gavaldón who realized some good films , such as : Macario , La Escondida , Flor De Mayo , Gallo De Oro , Don Quijote cabalga de nuevo and Rosa Blanca , most of them starred by the Mexican Divos Maria Felix and Ignacio Lopez Tarso or Cantinflas . Rating : 5.5/10 . Decent but twisted drama that will appeal to Mexican/Spanish cinema buffs .
