The Mambo Kings
Encyclopedia
The Mambo Kings is a 1992 drama film
starring Armand Assante
and Antonio Banderas
. Directed by Arne Glimcher
in his directorial debut, the film is based on the Pulitzer Prize
-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
by Oscar Hijuelos
. The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream
.
Eventually ending up in New York, the brothers 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 César.
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 sitcom 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 César and Nestor as overnight stars.
Fame does not 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. César, 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. César is in the back seat and barely hurt, but Nestor, driving the car, is killed. The life of César, shattered, is never the same. To honor his brother's memory, César opens his own small club, which is well received. Dolores pays him a visit at his club and asks him to sing Nestor's song for her.
, a powerful art dealer in New York City. Prior to directing the film, Glimcher had produced previous films such as Gorillas in the Mist
, and The Good Mother
.
Glimcher had been a big fan of mambo music, and heard that Oscar Hijuelos
was writing a book relating to the subject. Glimcher wanted to read the book before it was even published. Hijuelos sent Glimcher a manuscript of the book, which Glimcher read before buying the rights to make a feature film. Hijuelos’ book, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
was published in 1989 and went on to win a 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
.
and Armand Assante
in mind to play the Castillo brothers. Assante had appeared in minor supporting roles, and had not yet broken out as a major star; Banderas, a Spanish movie star, was best known for his work in the films of Pedro Almodóvar
. Executives at Warner Bros.
, however, wanted Jeremy Irons
to play César and Ray Liotta
to play Nestor. Both actors had received critical acclaim for their performances in Reversal of Fortune
and Goodfellas
respectively, and the studio felt that they would appeal to a wider audience.
Glimcher fought hard for Banderas, who was looking to make an international breakthrough in his first English-speaking role. Despite Banderas’ total lack of English skills at the time, Glimcher thought he would be perfect for the film. Through a translator, Glimcher told Banderas to work on improving his English for a month and then come to Hollywood for a screen test. Banderas wound up making a screen test opposite Jeremy Irons, which the executives at Warner Bros. loved. However, Glimcher thought Irons was the wrong choice to play Cesar; while he enjoyed Irons' performance, Glimcher still felt that Armand Assante was an ideal choice to play Cesar.
Annabella Sciorra
was originally set to play Nestor’s new love interest Delores. Sciorra had to pull out, however, due to a scheduling conflict. Maruschka Detmers
stepped in to take over the role just two weeks prior to filming. Glimcher cast actress Cathy Moriarty as César's girlfriend Lanna Lake, having loved her performance in Raging Bull.
In an effort to bring some authenticity to the mambo world of the 1950s depicted in The Mambo Kings, Glimcher hired legendary real-life musicians Tito Puente
and elia Cruz] and James JT Taylor to appear in small roles.
of Rolling Stone
wrote that the film "runs on pure emotion", and that it "celebrates the mysterious power of a music that can make you feel like dancing and bring you to your knees." Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
gave the film three and a half stars of four, writing the film's "story is as old as the movies, but The Mambo Kings is so filled with energy, passion and heedless vitality that it seems new, anyway." Desson Howe of the Washington Post wrote that the film "is so pumped up with life it threatens to burst. It's beautifully filmed and flashily edited. It pulsates with rhythmic ecstasy. It throbs, it sweats, it pounds, it undulates." As of 2009, the film currently a 78% rating on the online review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
, based on a total of 18 reviews.
for its original song, Beautiful Maria of My Soul, which was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award
in the same category
. The film's song was also nominated for the Grammy Award
s' "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 Celia Cruz
, Tito Puente
and Arturo Sandoval
performed on the soundtrack album.
. An out-of-town tryout in San Francisco included Esai Morales
, Christiane Noll
, David Alan Grier
, Jaime Camil
, Cote de Pablo
and Justina Machado, but the production never opened on Broadway
.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
starring Armand Assante
Armand Assante
-Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family...
and Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
. Directed by Arne Glimcher
Arne Glimcher
Arnold "Arne" Glimcher is an American art dealer, film producer and director. He is the founder of The Pace Gallery and is widely known as one of the art world's most powerful dealers. Glimcher has also produced and directed several films, including The Mambo Kings and Just Cause.-Life and...
in his directorial debut, the film is based on the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love is a 1989 novel by Oscar Hijuelos.It is about the lives of two Cuban brothers and musicians, Cesar and Nestor Castillo, who immigrate to the United States and settle in New York City in the early 1950s....
by Oscar Hijuelos
Oscar Hijuelos
Oscar Jerome Hijuelos is an American novelist. He is the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.- Early life and career :...
. The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream
American Dream
The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each...
.
Plot
In the early 1950s, Cuban brothers and musicians César (Assante) and Nestor (Banderas) flee from 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 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 César.
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
Beautiful Maria of My Soul
"Beautiful Maria of my Soul" is a song prominently featured in the 1992 motion picture The Mambo Kings. In the film, it is performed in Spanish by Antonio Banderas and in English by Los Lobos. The song was written and composed by Arne Glimcher and Robert Kraft...
", until by chance one day he encounters Dolores (Maruschka Detmers
Maruschka Detmers
Maruschka Detmers is a Dutch actress. She moved to France as a teenager, where she captured the attention of director Jean-Luc Godard. In 1983, she made her dramatic debut under Godard's direction in Prénom Carmen...
), 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
Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer. While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is probably best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American TV series I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to...
(played by his son, Desi Arnaz, Jr.
Desi Arnaz, Jr.
Desi Arnaz, Jr. , is an American actor and musician and the son of entertainers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.-Early life:...
). 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 sitcom series, I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
.
Cleverly intercutting footage of Banderas and Assante into an actual I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
episode (where the brothers' characters appear to actually be interacting in a scene with Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
), the film depicts the rise to prominence of César and Nestor as overnight stars.
Fame does not 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. César, 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. César is in the back seat and barely hurt, but Nestor, driving the car, is killed. The life of César, shattered, is never the same. To honor his brother's memory, César opens his own small club, which is well received. Dolores pays him a visit at his club and asks him to sing Nestor's song for her.
Development
The Mambo Kings marked the directorial debut of Arne GlimcherArne Glimcher
Arnold "Arne" Glimcher is an American art dealer, film producer and director. He is the founder of The Pace Gallery and is widely known as one of the art world's most powerful dealers. Glimcher has also produced and directed several films, including The Mambo Kings and Just Cause.-Life and...
, a powerful art dealer in New York City. Prior to directing the film, Glimcher had produced previous films such as Gorillas in the Mist
Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey
Gorillas in the Mist is a 1988 American drama film directed by Michael Apted and starring Sigourney Weaver as naturalist Dian Fossey. It tells the true-life story of her work in Rwanda with Mountain Gorillas and was nominated for five Academy Awards....
, and The Good Mother
The Good Mother (1988 film)
The Good Mother is a 1988 American drama film and an adaptation of Sue Miller's novel of the same name. Directed by Leonard Nimoy, the film Diane Keaton and Liam Neeson in the leading roles...
.
Glimcher had been a big fan of mambo music, and heard that Oscar Hijuelos
Oscar Hijuelos
Oscar Jerome Hijuelos is an American novelist. He is the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.- Early life and career :...
was writing a book relating to the subject. Glimcher wanted to read the book before it was even published. Hijuelos sent Glimcher a manuscript of the book, which Glimcher read before buying the rights to make a feature film. Hijuelos’ book, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love is a 1989 novel by Oscar Hijuelos.It is about the lives of two Cuban brothers and musicians, Cesar and Nestor Castillo, who immigrate to the United States and settle in New York City in the early 1950s....
was published in 1989 and went on to win a 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It originated as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.-1910s:...
.
Casting
From the beginning, Glimcher had actors Antonio BanderasAntonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
and Armand Assante
Armand Assante
-Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family...
in mind to play the Castillo brothers. Assante had appeared in minor supporting roles, and had not yet broken out as a major star; Banderas, a Spanish movie star, was best known for his work in the films of Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...
. Executives at Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, however, wanted Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
to play César and Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta
[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...
to play Nestor. Both actors had received critical acclaim for their performances in Reversal of Fortune
Reversal of Fortune
Reversal of Fortune is a 1990 film adapted from the 1985 book Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case, written by law professor Alan Dershowitz...
and Goodfellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
respectively, and the studio felt that they would appeal to a wider audience.
Glimcher fought hard for Banderas, who was looking to make an international breakthrough in his first English-speaking role. Despite Banderas’ total lack of English skills at the time, Glimcher thought he would be perfect for the film. Through a translator, Glimcher told Banderas to work on improving his English for a month and then come to Hollywood for a screen test. Banderas wound up making a screen test opposite Jeremy Irons, which the executives at Warner Bros. loved. However, Glimcher thought Irons was the wrong choice to play Cesar; while he enjoyed Irons' performance, Glimcher still felt that Armand Assante was an ideal choice to play Cesar.
Annabella Sciorra
Annabella Sciorra
Annabella Sciorra is an American film, television, and stage actress. Sciorra received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead for the 1989 film True Love, and came to widespread attention in her co-lead role in Spike Lee's 1991 film Jungle Fever...
was originally set to play Nestor’s new love interest Delores. Sciorra had to pull out, however, due to a scheduling conflict. Maruschka Detmers
Maruschka Detmers
Maruschka Detmers is a Dutch actress. She moved to France as a teenager, where she captured the attention of director Jean-Luc Godard. In 1983, she made her dramatic debut under Godard's direction in Prénom Carmen...
stepped in to take over the role just two weeks prior to filming. Glimcher cast actress Cathy Moriarty as César's girlfriend Lanna Lake, having loved her performance in Raging Bull.
In an effort to bring some authenticity to the mambo world of the 1950s depicted in The Mambo Kings, Glimcher hired legendary real-life musicians Tito Puente
Tito Puente
Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...
and elia Cruz] and James JT Taylor to appear in small roles.
Reception
Upon its theatrical release on March 1, 1992, reviews for The Mambo Kings were generally positive. Peter TraversPeter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
wrote that the film "runs on pure emotion", and that it "celebrates the mysterious power of a music that can make you feel like dancing and bring you to your knees." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
gave the film three and a half stars of four, writing the film's "story is as old as the movies, but The Mambo Kings is so filled with energy, passion and heedless vitality that it seems new, anyway." Desson Howe of the Washington Post wrote that the film "is so pumped up with life it threatens to burst. It's beautifully filmed and flashily edited. It pulsates with rhythmic ecstasy. It throbs, it sweats, it pounds, it undulates." As of 2009, the film currently a 78% rating on the online review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, based on a total of 18 reviews.
Music
The film received an Academy Award Best Original Song nominationAcademy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
for its original song, Beautiful Maria of My Soul, which was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
in the same category
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.-1960s:...
. The film's song was also nominated for the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s' "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 Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz
Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...
, Tito Puente
Tito Puente
Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...
and Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval is a jazz trumpeter and pianist. He was born in Artemisa, in the newest renamed Artemisa Province, Cuba....
performed on the soundtrack album.
Stage play
The film became a stage musical in 2005, with lyrics by Arne Glimcher and music by Carlos FranzettiCarlos Franzetti
Carlos Alberto Franzetti is a Latin Grammy Award-winning composer and arranger from Buenos Aires, Argentina.Franzetti started studying music at Buenos Aires' National Conservatory at the age of 6 and later began taking private piano lessons. He began studying music composition after moving to...
. An out-of-town tryout in San Francisco included Esai Morales
Esai Morales
Esai Manuel Morales is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Bob Morales in the 1987 biopic La Bamba. He also appeared in the PBS drama American Family and in the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd.. However, he is best known for his roles as Lt...
, Christiane Noll
Christiane Noll
Christiane Noll is an American singer and actress known for her work in musicals and on the concert stage. She is perhaps best known for originating the role of Emma Carew in Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll & Hyde, as well as her roles in Urinetown and City of Angels.-Life and career:Noll was born in New...
, David Alan Grier
David Alan Grier
David Alan Grier , also known as "D.A.G." , is an American actor and comedian known for his work on the sketch comedy television show In Living Color.-Early life:...
, Jaime Camil
Jaime Camil
Jaime Federico Said Camil de Saldaña da Gama is a Mexican actor, singer and host.-Biography:Born in Mexico City, Mexico, Camil is the son of Jaime Camil Garza, a very successful Mexican businessman, and Cecilia Saldaña Da Gama, a Brazilian singer...
, Cote de Pablo
Cote de Pablo
María José de Pablo Fernández, better known as Coté de Pablo , is a Chilean-American actress and recording artist. De Pablo has won an ALMA Award for her role as NCIS Special Agent Ziva David in the television series NCIS...
and Justina Machado, but the production never opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
.