Gutiérrez's first widely successful feature, Muerte de un burócrata (Death of a Bureaucrat) (1966) introduces itself as a sort of homage to the history of cinematic comedy, and includes direct allusions to the work of Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Luis Buñuel, and many others.
Although criticism of the Revolution and Cuban society was at the heart of not only Memories, but all of Gutiérrez's works, Gutiérrez continued to be a dedicated supporter of Cuban Socialism.