Ignacio Retes

Ignacio Retes

Born: November 13, 1918
Died: April 23, 2004
in Mexico City, Mexico
José Ignacio Retes Guevara was a Mexican playwright, film, theater and television actor, director, and writer. Two-time winner of the Ariel Award. He studied at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in the 30s, where he was able to meet other prominent playwrights and directors of the time such as Rodolfo Usigli, Seki Sano and José Revueltas.

He founded the University Theater of San Luis Potosí in 1937 and the theater company Lantern Magic with workers from the Mexican Union of Electricians. With Usigli he founded the company Midnight Theater (in reference to the free time that both had to collaborate in it); with Sano he would work as an assistant. In 1950 he made his directorial debut with "Los cuadrantes de la soledad" by José Revueltas, which reached 100 performances. Said montage also featured scenography designed by Diego Rivera.

In 1944 he wrote his first play, "El día de Mañana". As a film actor, he made his debut in the 1950s and was directed by directors such as Jorge Fons, Felipe Cazals, Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, Sergio Olhovich and Arturo Ripstein. In his role as a screenwriter, he wrote the scripts for films such as Anguish Nights and Journey to Paradise, among others. He was also a public official, as director of the theaters of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), where he promoted the massive construction of public theaters, reaching 38 venues. In the 1960s he collaborated closely with the writer Vicente Leñero, with whom he made various works such as the theatrical version of Los albañiles and Los Niños de Sánchez, among others.

The Hidalgo-Ignacio Retes Theater in Mexico City has been named after the actor since 2006

His son, Gabriel Retes, became a prominent actor, director and writer.

Movies for Ignacio Retes...

If I Never See You Again
Title: If I Never See You Again
Character: Poncho
Released: November 18, 1997
Type: Movie
Five elderly men form a music group and run away from the nursing home where they are interns with the hope of playing for an audience. They confront th city, the nursing home authorities, the police and all those who wish to destroy their dream which finally comes true when they are contracted to serve as musical background for strippers of a second class cabaret. In case i never see you again, is a movie about life, death, melancholy and the quest for happiness.
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Esmeralda Comes by Night
Title: Esmeralda Comes by Night
Character: Don Gregorio, Esmeralda's father
Released: September 5, 1997
Type: Movie
Esmeralda is married with 5 husbands at the same time, so she has to explain to the judge why she has done this.
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Bienvenido-Welcome
Title: Bienvenido-Welcome
Character: Producer
Released: August 17, 1995
Type: Movie
During a business trip a married man has an affair with a blonde who leaves him the message "Welcome to the world of Aids"
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Amor a la medida
Title: Amor a la medida
Released: November 19, 1993
Type: Movie
Pop musician lives out a situation in which he throws over a good woman for a bad woman and then discovers the terrible secrets of her checkered past... or does he?
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Encuentro Inesperado
Title: Encuentro Inesperado
Character: Ignacio Torres
Released: April 29, 1993
Type: Movie
Pilar Landeros, famous singer, comes to a huge and luxurious mansion from the airport. The journey has been long and Pilar wants to rest. Dismissed his driver and his butler; will try to sleep until breakfast time. The diva dreams of being killed by one of her admirers, but who appears in her room is the new maid, Estela...
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Playa azul
Title: Playa azul
Character: Matías
Released: January 1, 1992
Type: Movie
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Hard Years: The birth of a guerrilla fighter
Title: Hard Years: The birth of a guerrilla fighter
Character: El doctor
Released: August 30, 1989
Type: Movie
The lives of Rolo, Chino and Boby take different courses since the student movement of the 60’s. Some years later, the friends meet again. Rolo has turned into a guerrilla fighter, Boby into a businessman and Chino into an embittered and solitary man.
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Lovers, Partners & Spies
Title: Lovers, Partners & Spies
Character: Priest
Released: August 17, 1988
Type: Movie
Retired international police agent, now suburban housewife, is asked by her former partner to help him catch a serial killer.
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Mariana Mariana
Title: Mariana Mariana
Character: Psychiatrist
Released: August 5, 1987
Type: Movie
The story runs in the 1940s Mexico City. A schoolboy (Carlos) falls in love with his best friend's mother (Mariana). Carlos is impressed because this family is not like the ordinary mexican families of the time, because they have many expensive American things, although they are not rich. The drama begins when Carlos gets out of school to go to declare his love to Mariana, and is discovered by his teachers.
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Herencia maldita
Title: Herencia maldita
Released: January 1, 1987
Type: Movie
Mexican feature film
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The Realm of Fortune
Title: The Realm of Fortune
Character: Don Gil
Released: November 28, 1986
Type: Movie
Poor Dionisio finds himself as recipient of the good fortune, but soon he forgets that everything that goes up also has to go down, and that in the depressing nothingness of his town it is easy to die.
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Los Naúfragos II:  Los Piratas
Title: Los Naúfragos II: Los Piratas
Character: Emilio Albani
Released: July 31, 1986
Type: Movie
The Cast Aways saga continues as the shipwrecked islanders discover a cave full of buried treasures, along with the bones of Pirates. They use the cave as a shelter and plan an escape with the loot. Before their plan is complete, a ship arrives with pirates, lead by a young woman, who have come to claim their treasure as their own, and a battle ensues between them and the shipwrecked islanders.The islanders discover by chance that the new arrivals have no claim to the treasure, and their leader a treasure hunting imposter.
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Chido Guan, el tacos de oro
Title: Chido Guan, el tacos de oro
Character: Nacho Esquivel
Released: May 15, 1986
Type: Movie
Street-punk drafted to soccer team, rises to stardom. Cuz he plays so good.
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Three of Cups
Title: Three of Cups
Character: Felipe Martínez
Released: January 4, 1986
Type: Movie
While touring the towns, two revelers meet a beautiful woman who awakens greed and passion in both.
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El rey de la vecindad
Title: El rey de la vecindad
Character: Don Matías
Released: December 18, 1985
Type: Movie
Sentimental comedy about ups and downs in a working-class neighborhood.
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El centro del laberinto
Title: El centro del laberinto
Released: January 1, 1985
Type: Movie
Mexican feature film
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Knock Out
Title: Knock Out
Character: Old man in the building
Released: November 22, 1984
Type: Movie
Rodrigo Zaracho, once a promising boxer, is in decline. While fleeing from a gang that is chasing him, he remembers his past.
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Motel
Title: Motel
Character: Cordova, Padrino
Released: March 29, 1984
Type: Movie
The discovery of the mutilated body of a wealthy woman leads a detective to an isolated motel.
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Luna de sangre
Title: Luna de sangre
Character: Pastor
Released: February 23, 1984
Type: Movie
Mexican feature film
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Mundo mágico
Title: Mundo mágico
Released: December 29, 1983
Type: Movie
Anthology movie that presents 3 stories about romance.
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Deceitful Appearances
Title: Deceitful Appearances
Character: Tío Alberto
Released: March 24, 1983
Type: Movie
The sexual misunderstandings caused by the real identity of a rich woman serve Hermosillo to satirize the moral and social hypocrisy of the provincial that every Mexican carries inside.
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La víspera
Title: La víspera
Released: October 7, 1982
Type: Movie
Aging politicians who have faded from the public eye hold a cocktail party to celebrate one friend's appointment to the President's Cabinet. Illusions are indulged, illusions are shattered.
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A Married Woman
Title: A Married Woman
Character: Papá de Irene
Released: January 28, 1982
Type: Movie
Irene is a young housewife and mother who tries to raise her young family, love her husband and keep her home all the while studying her masters' degree. Mario, her husband, is a good man, but he's tied by convention. When she has a strange mishap one day, her domestic life is catapulted in a whirl of horror and violence that will tear the fabric of her very existence apart.
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The flying pony
Title: The flying pony
Released: January 1, 1982
Type: Movie
Mythical and fantastic story on the wishes of a peasant boy, Diego, who become reality in the course of a day and a night. On the eve of his birthday, the child's godfather gives her a shot of cardboard. At night, the little dreams that is mounted on the horse and find a nymph that describes the exact location of much needed water does to your family.
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Everyone's Hell so Feared
Title: Everyone's Hell so Feared
Character: Dr. Morales
Released: September 9, 1981
Type: Movie
The inner demons of an aspiring writer, whose dissatisfaction has pushed him to alcohol and drugs, lead him to his self-destruction under the guise of confusing political positions.
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The Big Dead Dog
Title: The Big Dead Dog
Character: Armendariz
Released: August 20, 1981
Type: Movie
In a small town a dead dog lays on the middle of the main street. A bureaucratic process begins to determine who is responsible for removing it
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El tahúr
Title: El tahúr
Released: November 1, 1979
Type: Movie
Three childhood friends; when they grow up, the poor boy is shut out from the possibility of romancing the girl because of class issues. He leaves town, learns to play pro-level poker, wins a fortune, then goes home to ruin his rival's life.
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Aunt Alejandra
Title: Aunt Alejandra
Character: Doctor
Released: August 9, 1979
Type: Movie
The arrival of Aunt Alejandra triggers a series of nightmarish events that will put the life of a family at mysterious risk.
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Broken Flag
Title: Broken Flag
Character: Ernesto
Released: June 21, 1979
Type: Movie
When a group of young filmmakers witness and film a crime of passion, the most outrageous blackmail of the century begins. By means of a fantastic plan, the filmmakers send to the murderer, a financial and industrial big shot, a copy of the movie that incriminates him and they demand him an improvement of the standard of living for the working class.
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New World
Title: New World
Character: Don Diego de Alba
Released: August 10, 1978
Type: Movie
Towards the end of the 16th century, the Spanish conquerors living in the New World faced a serious problem: the evangelization of the indigenous people, who did not understand or accept Christianity due to their unshakable faith in their own religion. The court of the Inquisition cracks down on heretics and the natives prepare for a general uprising ...
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The Year of the Plague
Title: The Year of the Plague
Character: Dr. Mario Zermeño
Released: February 12, 1978
Type: Movie
A terrible disease is found in a Mexican town. A doctor tries to alert the authorities when he discovers its epidemic nature. No one listen to him and soon after the disease spreads. The government tries to control the information in order to prevent panic.
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Paper Flowers
Title: Paper Flowers
Character: China
Released: February 1, 1978
Type: Movie
On the thinnest of pretexts, a horde of homeless people descend on the apartments of two members of the comfortable middle class and proceed to loot and vandalize both homes, leaving the next morning with many of the belongings they found there, as well as one of the residents who has opted to join them. This political allegory is based on two plays by the Chilean playwright Egon Wolff.
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La casta divina
Title: La casta divina
Character: Don Emilio
Released: November 17, 1977
Type: Movie
Chronicle Caste War in Yucatan held in the nineteenth century, where the land and the people were the property of the landowners, who called themselves " divine caste ". On one hand, General Salvador Alvarado organized the revolution; on the other, the landowners hire Colonel Ortiz Argumedo to organized the defense of their autonomy. Don Wilfrido, one of the masters, do not hesitate to send his son to fight to maintain their wealth and privileges.
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Cuartelazo
Title: Cuartelazo
Character: Coronel Rebelde
Released: May 4, 1977
Type: Movie
Narration of one of the bloodiest episodes of the Mexican national history, The Tragic Ten, beginning when General Victoriano Huerta sent to kill President Francisco I. Madero, Vice President José María Pino Suárez and Senator Belisario Dominguez. The film recreates the moment of the execution at the hands of Huerta and his accomplices Bernardo Reyes, Félix Díaz and Manuel Mondragón.
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El reventón
Title: El reventón
Released: February 3, 1977
Type: Movie
Wild-partying hippie-artist-dilettantes end up forming a revolutionary terrorist cell. The misfit Gato loses a lot of money in bets and his father throws him out of his house. Ál leaves his girlfriend Laura for his lover, the married Adriana. Out of money Gato and Ál becomes urban guerrilla when they plan to kidnap Gato's rich father.
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Chin-Chin el Teporocho
Title: Chin-Chin el Teporocho
Released: August 15, 1976
Type: Movie
Rogelio’s story, a young man of humble origin in the neighborhood of Tepito, who falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy grocer, Michelle, but his marriage to her will be a failure and he will end up as a one more drunk.
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The Hard Years
Title: The Hard Years
Released: January 1, 1973
Type: Movie
Three boys, after participating in the events of 1968 in Mexico, find themselves in the need to get away from the social struggle
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Los Desalmados
Title: Los Desalmados
Released: June 17, 1971
Type: Movie
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La vida tiene tres días
Title: La vida tiene tres días
Character: Tomás, cartero
Released: September 1, 1955
Type: Movie
Big-city songwriter and small-town music student conduct a romance by mail, then finally meet.
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Doña Perfecta
Title: Doña Perfecta
Character: Jacintito
Released: October 10, 1951
Type: Movie
Liberal farmer Pepe has arrived in Santa Fe to visit his aunt, Dona Perfecta. While he's there, Pepe is eager to teach the traditional-minded townspeople a new way of living. Unfortunately for Pepe the people of Santa Fe aren't eager to embrace change, and when the citizens begin to voice resentment Pepe is forced to seek refuge with his sympathetic aunt. Dona Perfecta is just as traditional as any of the other townspeople though, and only suffers Pepe due to the fact that he is family. When Pepe and his cousin Rosario fall deeply in love, the situation quickly comes to a head.