Veinte mil duros: A chaotic mess or a misunderstood classic?

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, it depends on how much you love digging through dusty film archives. If you like your movies polished and logical, stay far away. But if you’re like me and enjoy watching old films struggle with their own ambition, Veinte mil duros might just hit the spot. It’s definitely not for the casual viewer who wants a quick, easy plot.

The whole thing feels like it was put together in a rush. One minute we’re here, the next we’re sprinting toward a pile of money that feels more like a prop than a prize. The cast is doing their best to keep up, but sometimes I think they were just as confused as I was about where the scene was heading. Charito Leonís has this one look she gives the camera that suggests she’s already mentally checked out for lunch.

You’ll notice the pacing shifts abruptly. It’s like the editor decided to cut out half the dialogue just to see what would happen. It doesn’t flow, but the jagged edges give it a strange personality. It’s nowhere near the technical precision of The Spectacle Maker, which at least knew what it wanted to be. Here, the movie just sort of... happens.

Odd little details I caught:

• There’s a coat rack in the background of the main office scene that seems to get taller every time they cut back to it.
• The sound quality dips so low during one argument that I had to crank my volume up, only to be blasted by a sudden musical sting.
• I’m pretty sure one of the extras in the street scene is just reading a newspaper upside down.

I found myself thinking about Lady Killer while watching this, mainly because both films feel like they’re running on fumes. There’s a desperation to the performances that you don’t see in modern stuff. Nobody is trying to look 'cool.' They’re just trying to get the scene done before the studio lights burn out.

The finale is a complete disaster, let’s be honest. It tries to tie up these loose ends that were never really tied to begin with. It’s sloppy, it’s loud, and it ends way too abruptly. I think I actually laughed out loud when the credits rolled, which is probably not what the director intended. But hey, it kept my attention for ninety minutes, and that’s more than I can say for most things I watch these days. 🤷‍♂️