The Mambo Kings

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The Mambo Kings
The Mambo Kings movie poster
Directed by	Arne Glimcher
Written by	Oscar Hijuelos (novel) Cynthia Cidre (screenplay)
Starring	Armand Assante Antonio Banderas Cathy Moriarty Maruschka Detmers Pablo Calogero Scott Cohen
Music by	Carlos Franzetti Robert Kraft
Cinematography	Michael Ballhaus
Editing by	Claire Simpson
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	March 1, 1992
Running time	104 min.
IMDb profile

The Mambo Kings is a 1992 film starring Antonio Banderas and Armand Assante and directed by Arne Glimcher based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love" by Oscar Hijuelos.

[edit] Plot summary

In the early 1950s, two Cuban brothers, musicians César and Nestor Castillo, must flee Havana after getting into a violent dispute with the mobster owners of a club where they performed.

Eventually ending up in New York, the brothers (Banderas and Assante) work at menial jobs while attempting to revive their musical careers. At a nightclub where Cesar briefly crashes the act of mambo star Tito Puente, they make new friends and connections, as well as meeting cigarette girl Lanna Lake (Cathy Moriarty), who falls quickly into a love affair with Cesar.

Nestor, in the meantime, remains oblivious to other women while continually composing his ode to his lost Cuban love, Maria. He writes version after version of the same ballad, "Beautiful Maria of My Soul," until by chance one day he encounters Dolores (Maruschka Detmers), a shy but attentive young woman who wishes to become a school teacher. When she becomes pregnant, they decide to get married.

Fate intervenes one night at a club, where the Castillo brothers have a part-time job. Nestor's love ballad captures the interest of one of the customers, who turns out to be the Cuban bandleader and American television star Desi Arnaz (played by his son, Desi Arnaz, Jr.). After a pleasant evening in Nestor's and Dolores' modest home, Arnaz generously invites the struggling Castillos to sing and act on an episode of his smash TV series, I Love Lucy.

Cleverly intercutting footage of Banderas and Assante into an actual I Love Lucy episode (where the brothers' characters appear to actually be interacting in a scene with Lucille Ball), the film depicts the rise to prominence of Cesar and Nestor as overnight stars.

Fame doesn't last, however. Nestor is not as ambitious as his brother and desires nothing more than to own his own small club. He is in love with Dolores but lacks the passion he felt for his beloved Maria back home. Cesar, meantime, suppresses his true feelings, that a woman like Dolores would actually be perfect for him.

There are tragic consequences one snowy night when the Castillo brothers' car veers off the road and into a tree. Cesar is in the back seat and barely hurt, but Nestor, driving the car, is killed. The life of Cesar, shattered, is never the same.

Tagline: With a suitcase full of song, Hearts filled with passion, two brothers come to America in search of a dream.

[edit] Music

The film received an Academy Award nomination for its original song, Beautiful Maria of My Soul, which was also nominated for a Golden Globe in the same category and the Grammy Awards' "Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television" category, along with a second number from the soundtrack, Mambo Caliente.

Latin music legends Tito Puente and Arturo Sandoval performed on the soundtrack album, as did Celia Cruz, who also has a dramatic role in the film.

The movie became a stage musical in 2005, with lyrics by Arne Glimcher and music by Carlos Franzetti. An out-of-town tryout in San Francisco included Esai Morales, Christiane Noll, David Alan Grier, Jaime Camil and Justina Machado, but the production never opened on Broadway.