La Suerte de los Dioses (1990)
After single-handedly defeating Diopadre, a notorious supplier of Colombian cocaine, special agent Diego (Riepe) is hailed as a national hero.
Diego now wants only to retire from his life of danger and win back the love of his former girlfriend Mercedes (McCormick), a saloon proprietress who prefers a more peaceful routine.
Back in Colombia, Diopadre (Harloff) is still at large, and enraged by the costly loss of his cocaine export trade. He orders his henchman Guido (Swarthout) to put out a hit on Diego.
Diego and Mercedes are immediately pursued by assassins, but Diego unwittingly outwits them at every turn.
English subtitles are available in the Vimeo
player via the “closed captioning” control.
Unfortunately, most of this film’s camera footage is missing, because the 2005 digital transfer was incomplete and I hadn’t noticed at the time.
Nor had I noticed that much of the transfer of the VHS master lacks its audio, and so La Suerte de los Dioses remains only partly restored.
As such, the plot is even less coherent than in its original form, but by combining clips from the master and camera footage, I managed to include scenes with all of the cast members.
— Jim
Full Cast and Crew
Cast
- Ben Riepe
- Diego
- Kyle McCormick
- Mercedes
- Matt Harloff
- Diopadre
- Derek Swarthout
- Guido
- Jim Kropa
- Pancho
- Jim Kropa
- Jefe Montezuma
- David Moehlman
- coughing man at concert
- Andy Kropa
- voice of coughing man
- Dave Welander
- assassin with sawed-off dart gun
- Blair Buffington
- car bomber
- Blair Buffington
- taxi driver
- Craig Swarthout
- armed Diopadre guard
- Jason Potter
- fighter with flaming arm
- Nathan Poe
- hand-to-hand combatant
- Matt Welander
- fighter with staff
- Andy Kropa
- kidnapper
- Matt Harloff
- camarero
- Jason Potter
- Dick
- Kate Riepe
- Jane
- Andy Kropa
- child smoking in restaurant
- Derek Swarthout
- other restaurant diner
- Derek Swarthout
- voice of Tomas Brokaw (original)
- Camera Operator
- Puppeteer
- Maestra
- Special Thanks to
-
- Southeast Iowa Concert Band
- Bob McConnell, Conductor
Plot Synopsis
SPOILERS: Synopsis includes important plot points.
The national television news of Mexico announces the destruction of a cocaine cartel headed by the notorious Colombian drug lord Diopadre. The anchorman credits Diopadre’s defeat solely to Special Agent Digeo, who is about to be recognized with a prestigious award for his success.
Watching the coverage from his hideout, Diopadre becomes enraged over the billions of pesos he has lost due to Diego’s cleveness, and orders his henchman Guido to see that Diego is killed. Thus every hit man in Mexico becomes determined to pursue and assassinate Diego.
Diego delivers a brief speech accepting his award and paying tribute to his loyal dog Rex, a casualty of the drug war, killed by one of Diopadre’s men. As Diego leaves the podium, he is approached by Montezuma, chief of an ancient tribe of Incas oppressed by Diopadre. In gratitude, Montezuma casts a spell granting Diego La Suerte de los Dioses (“The Luck of the Gods”).
The award ceremony concluded, Diego returns to his car to find he has locked the key inside. Diego curses his luck and hails taxi to take him home. Moments later, the car explodes in flame, a bomb having been set by an ambitious assassin a few minutes earlier.
Diego then goes to a saloon operated by his old girlfriend, Mercedes, who had left him because of his commitment to a life of deadly danger. At the bar, Diego’s friend Pancho congratulates him on being honored as a hero, and advises Diego to tell Mercedes that his old life is concluded. Pancho wishes him luck, and Diego goes to speak with Mercedes.
The couple immediately embraces, and Mercedes confesses she never expected to see Diego alive again. She asks, “How’s Rex?” and Diego admits that Rex was murdered. Mercedes tells Diego the same might have happened to her had she stayed with him, but Diego pleads with her, telling her that he is now out of danger, and asking her out to a concert that evening.
At the concert hall, Diego and Mercedes listen from the balcony while the orchestra plays. A man seated in the row in front of them begins to cough, leading to a fit so loud that it is heard over the music by the entire audience. The coughing man seeks relief from a cough drop, and the sound of its cellophane wrapper further annoys Mercedes and Diego. The man then fumbles the cough drop, a hard candy which hits the wood floor and rolls away.
Meanwhile, an assassin lurks on the opposite balcony in the darkened room, preparing a gun.
The coughing man pulls a full bag of cough drops from his pocket, struggling noisily with the package until it bursts open, scattering more of the hard candies onto the floor. He quickly reaches down to grab one before they all roll away.
Just as the assassin takes aim at Diego, the coughing man picks up one of the drops and rises to his feet, haplessly intercepting the bullet meant for Diego.
Seeing the man fall back into his seat, Mercedes bolts from her seat for the door. Diego follows, unaware of the reason for her distress. The assassin begins to pursue, but slips on one of the cough drops and falls into a row of theatre seats. He quickly recovers and resumes his pursuit. As Diego exits following Mercedes, the assassin attempts one more shot, but the gun misfires, incapacitating the gunman himself.
Mercedes demands that Diego drive her home, and notices that Diego is driving a new car. Embarrassed, Diego explains haltingly that his old car was bombed that morning. Mercedes angrily storms away, telling Diego not to call her. Immediately upon entering her home, she is abducted by a Diopadre henchman.
Guido telephones Diego to tell him Mercedes is his prisoner, then Diopadre takes the phone demands that Diego trade his life for hers. Instead, Diego mounts an attack, overpowering multiple of Diopadre’s armed guards with cunning and kung‑fu, finally pushing Guido off of a high cliff and freeing Mercedes.
Diego and Mercedes go to a restaurant for dinner. After placing their orders, Merecedes asks the waiter to re‑seat them, as she is bothered by a child smoking a cigar at a nearby table. The waiter leads them to another table in a secluded room, then seats another couple of restaurant guests at the original table. In the kitchen, an assassin’s hand is seen adding poison to plates of food, which the waiter then picks up.
Mercedes tells Diego she now understands his reasons for having chosen a life of peril, and that she will not leave him again. The waiter brings their orders, but Mercedes sees they are incorrect. The waiter admits his mistake, that the plates were meant for their first table. The diners at that table taste the food and quickly succumb to the poison.
As they are leaving the restaurant, Diego and Mercedes are confronted by Diopadre himself, who gives a smug, long‑winded speech (as supervillains do) to assert that the hero at last has no escape. But just as Diopadre aims his gun at Diego, a storm blows in suddenly, and Diopadre is struck by lightning and burned to a crisp. Diego and Mercedes back away from Diopadre’s smoldering remains and walk out of frame.