Cheap The Mambo Kings (Video) (Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas) (Arne Glimcher) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Mambo Kings

The older brother, Cesar (Armand Cassante), highly aggressive, mucho macho, searches for a chance to show their skills, while the younger brother, Nestor (Antonio Banderas), the sensitive artist, writes their songs. One of those is a plaintive ode to Maria that reflects the agony of his spurned love for her while in Cuba. His haunting bolero, "Beautiful Maria of my Soul", ultimately lands the brothers a spot on the "I Love Lucy" TV show, propelling them to fame.

Despite their success, Nestor's obsessive love of Maria follows him in a troubled marriage with the beautiful Dolores Pointe (Marushka Detmers). The story, poignant and touching, is a credible slice of life during the colorful big-band era of that time. Nestor's continuing anguish over Maria's lost love finally ends in a fatal automobile accident that, although tragic, somehow seems fitting.

The acting and the music are excellent. If you enjoy Latin rhythm and Cuban passions, you'll love this movie.

One of the Best Period Dramas
This is one of the best and most entertaining dramas depicting immigrants in America and one of the few featuring Cuban immigrants. Armand Assante is phenomenal as the older brother. Reviewers have written about Antonio Banderas in this movie, and his performance is noteworthy, particularly because it was his first English-speaking role, and he did a great job. But Assante's acting, his dancing, his excitement and his ENERGY have rarely been equaled on the screen. He worked his heart out in this movie. Assante's performance in "Mambo Kings" was Oscar-worthy, and I think he is a totally underrated actor who has never really been given his due. This film is a must see, and you won't be sorry you spent the time.

I had to go buy a copy
This film is quite stylized tho some of the performances are naturalistic. The way the band, club, and dance sequences are filmed heightens the glamor and excitement, which is perfectly appropriate and well done - especially all that fierce color. American films of the period seem very black-n-white, as well as white, and perhaps the color used here was a corrective.

I agree that it's melodramatic. One hopes the plot will continue the initially triumphant story of the brothers as they take Manhattan and America, but that wasn't what Hijuelos wrote. Assante was as over-the-top as his character - I thought it was a wonderful performance - and one can feel the ultimately fatal difference between the brothers right from the start.

One thing I appreciated about this film (besides the music) was that the sex was presented as goofy. Films so often present sex as fraught with tension or guilt or some such, and here, two sex scenes have people giggling like fools. Much closer to my experience.

The soundtrack has the signature song sung in Spanish and IMO is better than the version used in the film.