El Hijo del crack is a 1953 Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 football drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 co-directed by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson

Leopoldo Torre Nilsson

Leopoldo Torre Nilsson , also known as Leo Towers and as Babsy, was an Argentine film director, producer and screenwriter....

 and Leopoldo Torres Ríos

Leopoldo Torres Ríos

Leopoldo Torres Ríos was an Argentine film director and screenwriter. His brother Carlos Torres Ríos was a notable cinematographer...

 and starring Armando Bo

Armando Bo

Armando Bó was an Argentine film actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter and score composer of the classic era...

 and Oscar Rovito. The film, a tale of a dwindling professional football star and his son was released on December 15, 1953 in Normandie cinema in Buenos Aires. The cast involved major professional football players of the time as Mario Boyé

Mario Boyé

Mario Emilio Heriberto Boyé Auterio was an Argentine footballer. A powerful striker, he played for Boca Juniors, Racing Club de Avellaneda and Huracán in Argentina, Genoa in Italy and Millonarios in Colombia....

, Tucho Méndez and Ángel Labruna

Ángel Labruna

Angel Amadeo Labruna, , was a football player and coach in Argentina. He is tied with Arsenio Erico as the all-time highest goalscorers in the Argentine first division...

 and journalists such as Fioravanti

Fioravanti

Fioravanti is an Italian automotive design studio in Moncalieri outside the city of Turin. The company began in 1987 as an architectural practice working on projects in Japan, and since 1991, it has focused its activities on automotive design....

. It is the last film in which Leopoldo Torres Ríos and Leopoldo Torre Nilsson (father and son) worked together. The 77 minute film was produced by Sociedad Independiente Filmadora Argentina  (SIFA).

Plot

Mario Lopez (Oscar Rovito) is a child, the son of an aging footballer (Armando Bo) . On the one hand, while his father is disowned by supporters for being no longer physically able to play it, he tries to convince himself that this is a temporary decline and he will return to his former star status. On the other hand, his mother and his maternal grandfather, reject the world of football and the street, arguing that it is a primitive world and inadequate, isolating him. Only his son remains a major fan. Dying from a serious illness, he tries to please his fans once more and regain his legendary status.

Cast

• Armando Bo
  Armando Bo
  Armando Bó was an Argentine film actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter and score composer of the classic era...
  
   as Héctor 'Balazo' López
• Óscar Rovito as Mario López
• Miriam Sucre as María del Carmen de López
• Francisco Pablo Donadio as Alvarado
• Pedro Laxalt
  Pedro Laxalt
  Pedro Laxalt was an Argentine actor. He starred in the 1950 film Campeón a la fuerza ....
  
   
• Héctor Armendáriz
• Alberto Rinaldi 
• Rolando Dumas 
• Nelson de la Fuente 
• Carlos Benso 

Reception

The International Film Guide described the film as a "purely commercial work", unlike many of Torre Nilson's other films such as El Crimen de Oribe (1950) and later films which were more art films with attention to themes, plot and psychological aspects. Jorge Miguel Couselo in his 1984 book Historia del cine argentino remarked that "despite a poor script, [the film] showed seriousness" and praised the talent and performance by Oscar Rovito playing the son. Ricardo Oliveri in his 1997 book Cine argentino: crónica de 100 años concurred that Rovito had contributed a good performance and described the film as an "agreeable product". The Institute de Literatura Argentina highlighted the strong presence of the father and son in the film and noted its neorealist elements and charge.