REVIEW: EL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I. (THE MAN OF GANIMEDES)
By Marc Gras (*)
Cult title in Spanish fantastic, EL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I. (THE MAN OF GANIMEDES, in the USA) is one of those films that leaves no one indifferent. Made in 1975 -although it was not released until 1977- by Juan Carlos Olaria (EL DIARIO ROJO), it is a weird film, bizarre if you will, but sincere and funny, a true example of the 70s DIY. Carried out by a movie fan halfway thereof the professionalization, EL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I. os Olaria’s first feature film. In it, he explored one of his favorite genres, science fiction, in a movie many have said, erroneously, is the first example of this genre in Spanish cinema.
Sometimes nicknamed the Catalan Ed Wood -although he was born in Zaragoza-, Juan Carlos Olaria had already made several short films when he decided to face his first feature. Influenced enormously by the American science fiction from the 50s and by series such as THE INVADERS Olaria wrote a script called THE MUTANTS that he would be renamed as EL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I., summarizing, in large part, the content of the film in its title -EL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I. means, literally, THE MAN PURSUED BY AN U.F.O.-. In the film, Richard Kolin is Alberto Oliver, a paperback writer whom the aliens have chosen as a human specimen to take to their world, sending a UFO manned by strange beings who chase Oliver until they get him.
The film, which Olaria budgeted at one and a half million pesetas -the old Spanish currency before the Euro. 1.5 million pesetas are about 9,000€, or $10,700- at the time, was financed by his father, who plays Commissioner Durán in the film, a former Republican military man, a convinced communist, who reluctantly accepted capitalism and his son’s desire to become a filmmaker. Although his father expected him to be an engineer, Juan Carlos Olaria fell in love with cinema since he got a camera in his childhood. Shooting family videos and amateur shorts with friends and family, his father included, was his favorite pastime.
For EL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I., however, he wanted Richard Kolin, pseudonym for José Coscolín Martínez (LOS MIL OJOS DEL ASESINO), a supporting actor in B films that Olaria discovered as a commercial actor, for the main role. He was joined by other regulars from 70s co-productions such as Manuel Bronchud (LOS VIOLADORES DEL AMANECER) or Dámaso Muní (KILMA, REINA DE LAS AMAZONAS). In the technical team we find the cameraman Francisco Marón, a regular in spaghetti westerns and later a José Antonio de la Loma collaborator in the PERROS CALLEJEROS saga and with Juan Xiol (5 DOLLARI PER RINGO), often credited as a screenwriter in the film but whose involvement was a lot beyond; as it is that Xiol was, to a large extent, the responsible for EL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I. to be as we know it.
Juan Xiol, director of several westerns of the time and of some of the first Spanish erotic films –destape-, decided to help Juan Carlos Olaria with his film after it was unsuccessfully screened, and with too long and too heavy editing, at Sitges Film Festival. He cut here and there, added some spicy scenes, and presented Olaria with a new more dynamic editing that, however, barely lasted an hour. It was then that they decided to shoot some additional scenes and ask the American consulate in Barcelona for NASA archive videos to use in the film. To their surprise, not only were the videos given but also they were charge nothing for that.
EL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I. aroused the interest of some distributors who did not meet Juan Carlos Olaria’s expectations. Time passed and, two years later, it ended up in the hands of the Valencian distributor José Fuster Candel (LAST SUMMER), who treated it with very little affection, relegating it to oblivion.
Olaria’s love for cinema and science fiction is evident in EL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I. And although the film has often been ridiculed for different reasons, the truth is that it is a very respectable work and an example of how to run a project with few resources, little knowledge but a lot of inventiveness. From the precious and psychedelic opening credits to the visual effects, music, or excellent dubbing, at least in its Spanish version, EL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I. is full of small hits. Let’s not forget that we are talking about an independent film and we have to value it as such.
By the way, Juan Carlos Olaria made the direct sequel to it, titled EL HIJO DEL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I., in 2020. But that’s another story.
EL HOMBRE PERSEGUIDO POR UN O.V.N.I. can be watched for free on YouTube, and a beautiful DVD edition was released by L’Atelier 13 in 2007 in Spain. Previously, it was released by VideoCadena in VHS under a different title, PERSECUCIÓN OVNI. No official U.S. editions exist so far, although an English language audio track does exist, with a dubbing made in Arcophon Studies, in Madrid, under Jack Taylor (MIL GRITOS TIENE LA NOCHE)’s direction.
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Marc Gras is a writer, filmmaker, and comic-book artist, author of several books devoted to pop culture, and collaborator of cult legends like Lloyd Kaufman and the late Ted V. Mikels. His comics have been published in Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and the US and include original works and graphic novel adaptations of films like Don’t Look in the Basement, Licantropo, La Noche del Terror Ciego, Enter The Devil, Bonefill Road, and many more.
You can follow him on his web https://tyrannosaurus.wixsite.com/marcgras, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
