NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Radiance Blu-ray (September 2025): Radiance have transferred Carlos Saura's Los golfos ("The Delinquents") to Blu-ray. It is cited as "Restored in 4K in 2024 by Filmoteca Española in collaboration with Films 59 at Digital and Electronic Systems laboratory from the 35mm acetate negative, 35mm prints and other intermediate photochemical materials." Text screens tells us : "This version of LOS GOLFOS (Carlos Saura, 1959) was made at the Filmoteca Española by digitising the 35mm acetate image and sound negatives. The goal of this project has been to restore the version most faithful to the one originally submitted to the censor board. We thank Films 59 for providing key documents and information for the completion of this project. Special thanks and recognition to Pere Portabella." This 2024 4K restoration has reinstated the censored material, allowing contemporary audiences to experience Saura's original vision of a society on the brink, where ambition collides with systemic oppression. This HD presentation keeps the raw essence, delivering a visually immersive experience that highlights the beauty found in desolation and elevates the movie's confrontational style. The black-and-white cinematography by Juan Julio Baena (Aunt Tula) shines through with outstanding clarity, rich detail, and occasional depth, capturing the gritty urban landscapes of 1960s Madrid without sanitizing the poverty - faces, textures, and hard city edges are rendered sharply, enhancing the neorealist aesthetic while showcasing innovative angles, tracking shots, and a sense of spaciousness within the 1.33:1 frame.

NOTE: We have added 80 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Radiance use a linear PCM dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original Spanish language. The sound design captures the bustling chaos of markets, dance halls, and bullfighting arenas with clear, balanced mixes that avoid muddiness, allowing environmental sounds to immerse viewers in the protagonists' world while the sparse, evocative music underscores themes of desperation and aspiration. The uncompressed transfer is a solid presentation that complements the film's moody score by Antonio Ramírez Ángel and José Pagán (who both worked on titles like Vampiresas 1930, The Awful Dr. Orlof etc.), integrating post-synchronized sound typical of the era without detracting from the naturalistic dialogue and ambient urban noises. Radiance offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

NOTE: While Spanish film composer José Pagán (born 1916, died 2009) worked on films around the 1960s, no sources link him to José Manuel Pagán (also film composer - 1987's Anguish) as his son, and their differing maternal surnames (Santamaría vs. López) suggest they are unrelated. However, it is an odd coincidence. 

The Radiance Films Blu-ray of Los golfos offers a rich assortment of supplementary materials that deepen appreciation for Carlos Saura's debut, starting with a newly filmed 22-minute introduction by author, film scholar, and former director of Filmoteca Catalunya Esteve Riambau, recorded exclusively for Radiance in March 2025, where he provides essential historical context on the film's production amid Francoist Spain's repressive environment, detailing the societal conditions of the late 1950s, the challenges of censorship that delayed its domestic release, and Saura's innovative approach to neorealism as a critique of the regime's facade of prosperity. Complementing this is a 17-minute interview with filmmaker, curator, and Saura expert Ehsan Khoshbakht, created in May 2025, which delivers a comprehensive overview of Los golfos, exploring its key influences from Italian neorealism (such as Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves) and the emerging French New Wave, while highlighting the contributions of its makers, including producer Pere Portabella and cinematographer Juan Julio Baena, and situating it within the broader New Spanish Cinema movement as a bold departure from mainstream escapist fare. A particularly illuminating 13-minute feature on censored scenes, produced by the Filmoteca Española in 2024, presents the excised footage - totaling over ten minutes - alongside archival notes from the Franco-era censorship committee and Saura's own reflections, with deleted shots marked by a noticeable shift in color tone for easy identification; this includes sequences like an extended existentialist robbery discussion deemed too subversive, offering viewers insight into how the regime's interventions softened the film's raw portrayal of delinquency and societal blame, thus reframing its narrative restraint as a strategic necessity. Further enriching the package are two rare early short films by Saura: the silent 7-minute La llamada (The Call, 1955), a dreamlike one-reel vignette depicting a soldier awakened by his wife to heed the call of war, blending quotidian domesticity with surreal undertones of impending conflict; and the 34-minute La tarde del domingo (Sunday Afternoon, 1957), his undergraduate thesis project featuring voiceover narration, which follows an oppressed live-in maid navigating the stifling dynamics of a middle-class family, showcasing Saura's nascent interest in social inequality and psychological depth - though both appear in less pristine condition compared to the main feature, they provide valuable glimpses into his formative style. There is also a reversible sleeve boasting original poster art and a limited-edition booklet containing fresh analytical writing by critic Mar Diestro-Dópido, reprinted original documents such as censorship committee notes on the script, and a thorough technical breakdown of the 2024 4K restoration process; collectively, these extras are lauded in reviews as essential and revelatory, transforming the release into a comprehensive archival treasure that not only contextualizes the film's historical significance but also delights dedicated cinephiles with its depth and rarity. 

Carlos Saura's Los golfos represents a landmark debut in Spanish cinema, heralding the arrival of the New Spanish Cinema movement and introducing neorealist influences to a film landscape dominated by studio productions under Franco's dictatorship. Shot entirely on location in Madrid's impoverished outskirts, the film blends documentary-style realism with narrative drama to explore the harsh realities of urban poverty and youthful desperation. Produced during the waning years of Franco's regime, Los golfos emerged as a bold critique of Spanish society, capturing the disillusionment of post-war youth in a dictatorship that prioritized conservative values and economic "miracles" for the elite while ignoring urban poverty. Socially, the film addressed juvenile delinquency as a symptom of marginalization in Francoist Spain, where rapid urbanization created slums filled with rootless migrants from rural areas, like the Andalusian protagonists, highlighting the regime's failure to integrate the working class. Themes of innocence amid delinquency emerge, with the youths depicted not as villains but as victims of circumstance, their crimes driven by a childlike determination rather than malice. Radiance Films' Blu-ray release of Los golfos stands as an essential world premiere presentation of Carlos Saura's blistering debut, a neorealist gem that captures the tragic desperation of Madrid's youth with unsentimental humanism, marvelous performances from non-professionals, and a gripping narrative of ambition amid poverty; the 4K restoration and reinstated footage honor the director's vision, making it a time capsule of Franco-era Spain and a landmark in New Spanish Cinema. Overall, it's a highly recommended Blu-ray package from Radiance Films that not only revives a Palme d'Or-nominated classic but also underscores its enduring relevance as a youth-in-peril landmark with a unique voice on systemic inequality. Cinephiles should indulge.

Gary Tooze