Of course you've noticed how much Jess Franco smokes during his numerous DVD interviews and public appearances. Jess really loves to smoke, that's for sure. And he fills his films with characters smoking. He even named all the main characters in his marvelous Noir parody LOS BLUES LA CALLE POP (AVENTURAS DE FILIPE MARLBORO, volumen 8) after popular American cigarette brands (Saul Winston was the villain and Jess himself played a paino player named Sam Chesterfield). Jess and his characters always smoke compulsively (it IS an addiction) but with class. Can you imagine Bogie without a Lucky Strike between his lips?
Above is a shot of the late, great Soledad Miranda enjoying a smoke between murders in SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY. Smoking can also be sexy in JF's universe, especially when Soledad is doing the puffing. There's no doubt Franco is one of the all time great smokers and it plays a prominent role in his films. Of course now that smoking is recognized as a deadly addiction it's no longer cool and become somewhat politically incorrrect. It's difficult for me not to light up when watching a Jess Franco film.
Yeah, I know, I need to quit... But I HAVE cut down to less than 10 a day!
COMING SOON: More shots of Jess and his characters smoking like crazy....
(c) Robert Monell, 2006
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