Buñuelian black humor informs the social satire of this first masterpiece by Ferreri, written with his frequent collaborator, the Spanish scenarist Rafael Azcona. An elderly widower, Don Anselmo (played by the renowned Spanish actor José Isbert) is the powerless patriarch of his family. At loose ends in the large family apartment, he covets a motorized wheelchair as the key to his freedom. With this he can buzz around town alongside his disabled pal Don Lucas (whose own wheelchair is a custom job), join in the wheelchair races, and become part of the fraternity of the disabled. When his family, citing his good health, refuses to indulge the request, our hero takes drastic measures by which he inherits the family money and can purchase the wheelchair of his dreams. Playing on the very prevalent lack of interest in the disabled and their needs, The Wheelchair is also a mordant satire on the bourgeoisie. This curious malcontent rides circles around the fussy taboos of his class.