Paco Martínez Soria: 7 essential films and the Spain they portrayed

A flat cap, a suitcase, an Aragonese accent, and an extraordinary ability to get into trouble the moment he arrives in the city. That is the image many still have of Paco Martínez Soria, one of the most recognizable actors of Spanish comedy. But behind those seemingly simple characters, there was something more. His films spoke of rural Spain versus the city, tourism, family changes, generational differences, and the modernization of the country. If you want to rediscover him, these are seven essential Paco Martínez Soria films and the reasons why they are still remembered decades later. 1. The City Is Not for Me (1966) This is probably the film that definitively turned Paco Martínez Soria into a star of popular Spanish cinema. He plays Agustín Valverde, a man from a village who temporarily leaves his quiet rural life to visit his son in Madrid. There, he encounters an affluent family and urban customs that completely clash with his way of understanding life. The film constantly plays with the contrast between the countryside and the city, the traditional and the modern, one of the great changes Spain was experiencing during the 60s. Its enormous success also consolidated the character that would accompany the actor throughout much of his career: the seemingly naive man who ends up proving to have much more common sense than those around him. 2. What Do We Do with the Kids? (1967) A year later came another of his most characteristic comedies. In What Do We Do with the Kids?, Paco Martínez Soria plays a father who begins to discover that his children are not exactly as he imagined. Behind the comic situations appears a very recognizable theme: the clash between parents and children in a society that was changing rapidly. Customs, family authority, youth, and new ways of living collide in a film that today also functions as a curious snapshot of the Spanish family of the late 60s. 3. Tourism Is a Great Invention (1968) The title alone summarizes one of the great phenomena that were transforming Spain: the massive arrival of international tourism. Paco Martínez Soria plays Benito Requejo, the mayor of a small town who dreams of turning it into a great tourist destination. To discover how to do it, he travels to the coast and encounters hotels, beaches, foreign tourists, and a Spain very different from the one he knows. The film turns that culture clash into comedy, but it also perfectly reflects an era in which tourism began to change the economy, the customs, and even the image of the country. That is why Tourism Is a Great Invention is much more than a succession of gags: it is a small time capsule of 1960s Spain. 4. Grandfather Made in Spain (1969) On this occasion, Paco Martínez Soria plays Marcelino, a villager whose daughters have built their own lives in Madrid. When he travels to the capital, one of the favorite themes of his films appears once again: the confrontation between two generations and two ways of understanding life. But here, the heart of the story is especially familial. Marcelino discovers his daughters' problems and ends up intervening in them with that mixture of stubbornness, naivety, and common sense characteristic of the actor. Its very title, "Made in Spain", also ended up becoming one of those references immediately associated with his cinema. 5. Don Erre Que Erre (1970) If there was a perfect character for Paco Martínez Soria, it was a man willing to take an argument to its ultimate consequences. In Don Erre Que Erre, he plays Don Rodrigo Quesada, an extremely obstinate man who confronts a bank after it refuses to return money lost during a robbery. And if Rodrigo believes he is right, there is no civil servant, institution, or circumstance capable of making him change his mind. The film exploits one of Martínez Soria's great comic virtues: turning stubbornness into a true force of nature. It is also one of his most remembered films precisely because the character partially drifts away from the typical villager to focus on another trait very present in his cinema: the obstinate defense of that which he considers fair. 6. We Must Educate Dad (1971) The title flips a traditional expression: here, it is not the children who need educating, but the father. Paco Martínez Soria plays Severiano, a man who has become wealthy and tries to enter social circles far more sophisticated than those from which he comes. The problem is that his daughter believes her father's manners are not exactly up to the standard of his new position. Again, we find a recurring theme: social appearances versus authenticity. And, as usually happens in his films, the character who apparently needs to learn ends up teaching a few things to those who were trying to change him. 7. Grandfather Has a Plan (1973) Paco Martínez Soria did not only play authoritarian fathers and men from the countryside. He also knew how to comically exploit love and the zest for life in characters of a certain age. In Grandfather Has a Plan, he plays Leandro, a grandfather who proves that getting older does not necessarily mean giving up on falling in love or starting a new phase. The film plays with prejudices about age and with family reactions to a situation that does not fit what was socially expected of an older person. It is a good example of another habitual characteristic of his cinema: characters who refuse to behave exactly as others expect of them. Why are Paco Martínez Soria's films still liked? Viewed today, many of his films clearly belong to another era. Some customs, family roles, and ways of representing society have aged and must be understood within the context in which they were filmed. But perhaps precisely because of that, they are also interesting. Behind the comedy, we can see a Spain that was leaving the countryside, discovering tourism, growing economically, and changing its customs at great speed. And in the middle of all that, Paco Martínez Soria almost always appeared, playing the character who seemed to be out of place. The trick was that, in the end, the one who seemed old-fashioned was not always the one who had the least reason. That contrast, added to his way of speaking, gesturing, and building endearing and stubborn characters, explains why titles such as The City Is Not for Me, Tourism Is a Great Invention, or Don Erre Que Erre continue to be recognizable several generations later. Paco Martínez Soria turned into an icon Some images from those films have ended up becoming part of the popular memory of Spanish cinema. At Siempre Original, we have recovered some of those references in designs inspired by The City Is Not for Me, Tourism Is a Great Invention, and Grandfather Made in Spain. You can also discover our "Españoladas" collection, dedicated to unforgettable films, series, characters, and references of Spanish popular culture.

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1. The City Is Not for Me (1966)