Escombros
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Rolando Barrera
Lili Flores
Leticia Mesa
Eduardo Medina
Alberto O'neill
Baudilio Ramírez
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When cornered by a police lieutenant, Eddie Randall advises the officer that he has a gun then tells him how he came to this moment: Eddie, who learned Spanish from Mexican friends in Salinas, California, relocates to New York's Spanish Harlem and is seduced by Rita Felton, a rich, self-styled "gringa" who offers him work in her import/export business. Eddie leaves Rita, however, when he discovers that she is a smuggler of illegal goods and has other men in her life. Later, Eddie is invited to a party by a Mexican friend, Pancho Pimentel, and meets Julie Fernández, a Puerto Rican pianist, who offers him lodging in her mother's house. Eddie is unable to find honest work, and although he is in love with Julie, his pride will not allow Julie and her mother to support him. Julie begs him to stay but he leaves and is lured into a shakedown racket, posing as a cuckolded husband, while he and a woman rob her unsuspecting lover. Disgusted with his hopeless situation, Eddie returns to Rita and her associates and becomes a prosperous criminal. Years later, Eddie and Julie meet in a park. She is now the mother of a five-year-old son and tells Eddie that she is still very much in love with him. Although Eddie loves her more than ever, he asks her to forget him, as he is unwilling to involve her in the life of a criminal. After one of Rita's deals goes bad, Eddie is sought by the police on a murder charge and, after phoning Julie to say goodbye, is cornered by the police.
Director
Rolando Barrera
Cast
Lili Flores
Leticia Mesa
Eduardo Medina
Alberto O'neill
Baudilio Ramírez
Aída Matos
Rubén Rosario
Juan Monje
Eusebio Mesa
Raymond Medina
Osvaldo Camerón
Magdalena Caballero
Manuel Beltrán
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film begins with the following written prologue: "This is a story of a man named Eddie Randall who destroyed himself in a place called Harlem. This is the story of both and not the story of a country or a race."
"Escombros" translates into English as "Debris." As no print of this film was located, the information in this record stems from a list of the film's dialogue submitted by the producer to the New York State censor board, which passed the film for exhibition in 1954. There is no indication in the list as to who is speaking the dialogue or when one sequence ends and the next begins.
No reviews have been found. A modern source gives the producer/director's last name as Barreros, states that he was a Dominican playwright and that the film was based on one of his plays. The same source also indicates that the film featured a non-professional cast.
