Amadeo, an executioner in Madrid, meets José Luis, a funeral parlour employee who is going to pick upthe prisoner that Amadeo has just executed. José Luis cannot find a girlfriend, since all girls leave him when they find out that he works in a funeral parlour. Amadeo's daughter, Carmen, cannot find a boyfriend, because all the candidates leave when they find out that her father is an executioner. Carmen and José Luis get to know each other and start a relationship that they declare to Amadeo when Carmen becomes pregnant. Amadeo hopes that the government will give him a flat, but they refuse it because by the time they give it to him, he will be retired. He and his daughter trick José Luis into accepting the role of executioner to keep the housing, assuring him that he won't have to kill anybody. When an order arrives for an execution in Mallorca, José Luis is horrified and wants to resign, but this would mean losing the flat and returning the salary he has earned. Amadeo and Carmen tell him to wait until the final moment, since the prisoner is ill and will surely die before being executed. At the end, in a memorable scene, José Luis is dragged to the garrote, as if he was the convict instead of the executioner.
Ángel Álvarez as Álvarez, an undertaker, Rodríguez's colleague
Guido Alberti as director of the prison
Julia Caba Alba as Mujer visitante de la obra nº 2
María Luisa Ponte as Estefanía
María Isbert as Ignacia
Erasmo Pascual
Xan das Bolas as Guarda de la obra
José Orjas
José María Prada
Félix Fernández as Monaguillo nº 2
Antonio Ferrandis
Real events
The final scene is inspired by the execution of Pilar Prades Expósito, carried out by the executioner Antonio López Sierra. Curiously, years after, José Monero also accepted the role of executioner, convinced that he wouldn't have to act, and wanted to resign when he was required for the execution of Heinz Ches, which he eventually carried out.
Awards
Director Luis García Berlanga won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Venice Film Festival for the film. At that moment, Francoist Spain was under international pressure because of the death sentence for the Communist leader Julián Grimau. The Spanish ambassador to Italy, Sánchez Vega, criticized the film as "communist."
