The Mambo Kings

Starring:Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, Cathy Moriarty, Maruschka Detmers, Pablo Calogero, Scott Cohen, Desi Arnaz Jr., Mario Grillo, Ralph Irizarry, Pete Macnamara, James Medina, Marcos Quintanilla, Tito Puente, J.T. Taylor, William Thomas Jr., Yul Vazquez, Celia Cruz, Roscoe Lee Browne, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Talisa Soto
Director: Arne Glimcher
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

This period drama is hot, hot, hot. Stylish and sexy, it is adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, by Oscar Hijuelos, the story of two brothers who flee from Cuba in the early 1950s, heading for New York. Hoping to make a name for themselves as famous musicians, the duo face hardships and painful discoveries along the way. Armand Assante is the older of the two, with a smoldering Antonio Banderas as his younger, more impetuous brother. (In his first English-speaking role, Banderas delivered all of his lines phonetically.) The pulsating, sweaty energy of the first half of the film is not sustained throughout. Partly this is because a movie about the rise and fall of minor celebrities has been done to death. Even when the action slows down, however, the story does not bore. There is too much sensuality and vitality exuded by both Assante and Banderas. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Description

In the 1950s, two Cuban brothers come to America to seek fame and fortune as musicians.

Customer Reviews:

It never gets old........2007-01-05

I recently purchased "Mambo Kings" on DVD. I've watched it many times on VHS and it was time to update and use my surround sound system so that I get the full effect of the music. If your into good looking men with a passion for latin music and women, you need to see this one. Makes me wish I was born earlier to participate in the dancing too.

MAMBO KINGS.......2006-07-03

I found this movie just average, but then I might have expected more from this film because of all the hype it had been given.

Beautiful Maria of My Soul.......2006-06-04

I rate this movie 3 stars and a half (or 7 out of 10), and I definetely recommend it to everyone. It is entertaining, the music is great, and the actors are good. I think this is the first movie Banderas did in America, and he was learning English while shooting the movie. He is a great actor, that caught the directors' eye for his roles in Almodývar's movies, and he did great. Jeremmy Irons did a screen test for that role, but Antonio got the job instead. The night club scenes are really good, and the best is the relationship between the two brothers, who leave Cuba behind searching for the American Dream (and trying to save Nýstor's life).
It is very interesting to follow the director's commentary after you watched the movie, because he tells you a lot of interesting things. I know the movie should speak by itself, but once you watch the movie, if you have time, give that extra a try. It is really worth it, and one of the reasons we should be thankful of the DVD format.
The best in the movie is the music (we get to see Tito Puente and Celia Cruz, both already passed away now), and the worst may be the plot, with some "holes" that in my opinion make the movie weaker. For example, the relationship between Dolores and Cýsar could have been developed deeper (I did not read the book, so I do not know if the movie is 100% loyal to the book). The DVD comes with a "Behind the Scenes" documentary, which is nice to see, but it is too short (sometimes they are too long, but this is too short) and you get to hear all maine actors and the director sepaking about the movie.

Loosely Based On The Hijuelos Novel.......2005-10-24

Oscar Hijuelos' great novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love forms the basis for this film although the movie version stops about halfway through Hijuelos' story largely ignoring the tragic second half of Cesar Castillo's life without his brother.

The brothers are played by Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas and both are extraordinarily well cast. Assante conveys the more hedonistic Cesar with greaat intensity and Banderas actually steals the film with a remarkable performance as the more sensitve brother Nestor.

Fine casting, including a fairly strong performance by the late Celia Cruz makes this movie a pleasure to watch. Marusckha Detmers plays Nestor's wife Dolores and while she looks great she poses more effectively than she acts.

Overall this is a fine entertaining film and while the plot is derived from the novel in order to translate it to the screen some obvious liberties were taken with the story that frankly do not detract much from the enjoyment of a film that stands on it's own merit.

The backdrop of 1950's Mambo-crazed NYC is also very cool and well done.

Cool film!.......2005-03-12

Reportedly,this is Antonio Banderas' first English-speaking film. This film is set in the late 1940's to early 1950's Here,we hear the great sound of Mambo,probably based on the concept of TV's I Love Lucy.

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