The Executioner

The Executioner is a Spanish-Italian comedy drama about José Luis, a young mortician who wants to leave for Germany and train as a mechanic. He becomes involved with Carmen, the daughter of the kindly Amadeo, and the pair are caught together, which pushes them into marriage. Money is short and the couple need a home of their own, so Amadeo, who is nearing retirement after four decades as a prison executioner, persuades his son-in-law to apply for the post he is about to vacate. The job comes with an apartment, and José Luis takes it believing he will never actually have to carry out a sentence.

Luis García Berlanga directed, working on the script with Rafael Azcona and Ennio Flaiano. It was his fourth feature, following El circo, Welcome Mr. Marshall! and Placido, and it came five years after Placido. Nino Manfredi plays José Luis, Emma Penella plays Carmen, and José Isbert plays Amadeo; José Luis López Vázquez, Ángel Álvarez and Guido Alberti appear in supporting roles, with 41 credited cast members in all. Moris Ergas produced for the Spanish and Italian companies behind it.

The film runs 91 minutes. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.9 from around 8,100 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.6 from roughly 198 votes, a smaller but similarly positive sample.