El pico

is a 1983 Spanish film written and directed by Eloy de la Iglesia. It stars José Luis Manzano. The films centers on drug addiction, urban juvenile delinquency, and Basque nationalism in Spain during the 1980s. El Pico was the most successful among several movies, notorious in the years of the Spanish transition to democracy, dealing with juvenile delinquency in Spain during the late 1970s and early 1980s, along with Perros Callejeros I and II, Los ultimos Golpes Del Torete, Yo el Vaquilla, mostly directed by Jose Antonio De La Loma; Navajeros, Colegas, El pico 2, directed by Eloy de La Iglesia and Deprisa, Deprisa by Carlos Saura and later La Estanquera De Vallecas, and others. These films starred unknown young untrained actors and were known as quinqui films. Set in the Basque country in a cold and dark atmosphere, El Pico employs a rough, neo-realistic style. The film was De la Iglesia's biggest box-office hit, and it spun off a sequel: El pico 2. Plot Paco and Urko, two teenagers living in Bilbao in Spain, become best friends while attending the same academy. They come from different backgrounds. Paco has two younger sisters; his mother, Eulalia, is a traditional housewife; while his father, Evaristo Torrecuadrada, is a Civil Guard commander who holds right-wing views. Urko's parents are separated, and he lives with his father, Martín Aramendia, a leftist politician affiliated with one of the groups pushing for Basque autonomy. Unbeknown to their families, Paco and Urko are drug addicts. They hang out with Betty, a young Argentinian prostitute, who sleeps with both of them. In order to have the means to support their drug addiction, Betty puts them in contact with '' ("the lame one"), a drug dealer living in Barakaldo with his pregnant wife Pilar, who is also a heroin addict. El Cojo provides the two friends with drugs that they begin to sell. Paco also hangs out in secret with Mikel Orbea, a homosexual sculptor, who tries to warn him against the danger of using heavy drugs. Although Paco is heterosexual, he has had sex with Mikel in the past.