As in the novel of the same title from Camilo Jose Cela, "La Colmena" is a sad composition with the stories of many people in the Madrid of 1942, just the postwar of the spanish civil war. The main theme of the film is the contrast between the poets, surviving close to misery under the Franco's regime, and the winners of the war, the emerging class of the people that makes easy money with illegal business.
Two penniless Italian buskers want to go to the USA but get on the wrong ship and end up in South America in a concentration camp where they are rescued by American parachutists from. Afterwards they become big shots in the States but their dream comes to an end : they are sent to fight in Vietnam
Catherine Hubscher, who washes the shirts of young Napoleon and other soldiers fighting the Revolution, falls in love with Sergeant Lefebvre. Circumstances bring Lefebvre a noble title and even more -- Napoleon decides to make him the local ruler over a large territorial fiefdom. But trouble brews when Madame Sans-Gene, now elevated to the nobility along with her man -- cannot keep her frank observations under control.
Miguel is a young Spanish naval engineer in love with an American student of History of Art. When she becomes pregnant, she decides that the easiest solution to her situation is to marry her civilly. However, in Spain in the 1970s, prior to the passage of the Divorce Law, the only way to do so is to apostatize the Catholic Church. For Miguel, a believing devotee, taking this step involves a deep inner conflict.
Enrique is a thirty-year-old lawyer who is married to Ana. Apparently he is a normal man who has only one obsession: the commercials. He feels a real passion for the erotic world of the ads either in billboards, trash cans, public transport, magazines or television. The continuous publicity bombardment ends up leading him towards a neurosis that changes his personality.
Cayetana, her boyfriend Paco and Venancio, her foster brother, commit small thefts and, from time to time, spend a few days in jail. Until they meet with Federico, a thief who has traveled abroad and convince them that using European methods success is guaranteed. Paco then decides to act scientifically and seizes a hospital surgical equipment. When they want to realize, poor Venancio is forced to give an injection to a dentistry patient and, even worse, Paco has to pull out a tooth. And all that, before entering the operating room
A German scientist takes refuge in an unnamed South American country, and finishes the development of a weapon of mass destruction. Lesky, is assistant, is paid by a Chinese spy ring to abduct the scientist, and appropriate the weapon. Super agent Z7's mission is to find them and prevent that, which he does - at a cost of a number of lives.
Carlos, a widower in his forties, lives with his daughter Lolita and his sister Merche. He is a candidate to Spanish Court's Proctor, so frequently travels outside Madrid. During one of those trips, he is forced to return at home precipitously, because his sister informed him that Lolita has left the house to live with some friends.
Two guys live without working quite well using thousands of tricks and fakes. But they soon change their attitudes when love arrives at their hearts.
Juan does not have a cent but lives beautifully. His nights of revelry and cabaret are famous in the night city environments. As heir to his old and very rich uncle Don Patricio, lives subsidized by creditors on account of his future inheritance. But John keeps a terrible secret: he has long been disinherited. When a telegram arrives announcing the death of the uncle, Juan returns to the family home in the Costa Brava. There he meets Anna, a wonderful woman who is the current heir to the family fortune.
Carmen leaves her husband Julio to go live with an intellectual who has made a career in the United States. While, Julio goes away to live of rent to house of an aristocrat come to less. After meeting several colorful characters, Julio decides to recover Carmen.
KGB authorities abduct two criminals (Franco and Ciccio) who look exactly like missing spacemen and pretend they are the returning cosmonauts. They launch them in a rocket, so that they can land in public view, leading the populace to believe it was the original space craft that has returned. The two criminals look so much like the astronauts, they even fool the wives of the astronauts. Later however, the original spacecraft returns to Earth undamaged, and the plan goes all to pieces. In the end, Franco and Ciccio stay in Russia and the real astronauts relocate to Italy.
The frog test confirms Julita is pregnant. This is usually a great news. In this case, no. She is a victim of premarital sex, and he, Paco, a mechanic who, according to some theories of French biologist, explained by a podiatrist friend, will not be liable. Don Ramiro, the father of Julia, is a liberal-minded man, but when his daughter tells him that she will have a son who will not parent, seeking the solution of fatherhood in his gun regulation.
Two French girls, Monique and Colette, come to Spain in their convertible car to attend a summer course at the International University of San Sebastian. The first contact with the country is in Pamplona. Monique considers heroes the boys who run in front of the bulls during the San Fermin festival.
Juana and Francisca are serving at the Stevens house, an American couple. Both of them have a boyfriend, one is an egg-carrier and the other is a transporter with his own motorcycle. And both with a totally totalitarian and macho concept regarding male-female relations. The girls also have two American suitors assigned to the American Base of Torrejón, friends of their masters. Thus, without almost pretending, the two girls will find themselves in the midst of the jealous Spaniards and the beefy Yankees.
