The Champions of Justice (1971)

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.

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.

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!

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.