Customer Reviews

Cuba [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

*Cuba* may be the best movie you've never heard of. The setting is 1958, just before the final collapse of the Batista regime. Sean Connery stars as a British mercenary with the odd name of Dapes, whom Batista's colonels hope will help them to stamp out Fidel Castro's revolutionaries. However, Connery pretty much figures out -- almost as soon as he arrives -- that Batista's cause will be lost, and so his attempts to guide the incompetent military are rather half-hearted. He's much more interested in reviving a love affair with an old flame, Brooke Adams (surprisingly glamorous, but with an on-again, off-again accent). Problem is, she's married to the profligate son (Chris Sarandon) of one of Cuba's wealthiest industrialists . . . and it's a lifestyle that rather fits in with her imperial demeanor. (She runs the cigar factory and the rum distillery while her husband gets drunk and chases the skirts of the hired help.) The movie does not pretend to be a terribly accurate account of the Cuban Revolution. What director Richard Lester goes for instead are impressionistic sketches of the land, its people, and its culture. All the stereotypes are here, lovingly rendered: the fat, pompous jefes; the sultry women; the tacky gringo culture superimposed on the place for the visiting American businessmen (one of whom is the always-welcome Jack Weston, in a terrifically sleazy performance); the cigar factories; the prostitutes; the skinny kids playing street baseball; posters of politicos; languid bathers poolside; tropical drinks with the little umbrellas . . . get the idea? The movie succeeds spectacularly in delineating the death-throes of a way of life. Havana in particular seems deserted, denuded of people: even blonde American strippers can't find an audience. *Cuba* is a poignant, and at times funny, daguerreotype of a nation filled with ghosts, just on the cusp of revolution.

This movie is on any list of my family's 10 favorite movies. We saw it in the theater when it was new, and hoarded the homemade videotape made from a TV broadcast, which was a major event in this household. Finally on DVD - it's wonderful that now we can see it in both widescreen and non.

The film rewards repeated viewing, since eventually you realize that all the comic business ties in with all the main plot lines. I think this mixture of relevant-to-the-plot background comic bits throughout a film must be Richard Lester's forte, since he does it so well in all of his movies. Here the comic bits are superb - there really are no loose ends!

Every character, every actor is wonderful, even the bit parts. Jack Weston gives one of the best performances of his life. It lingers in the imagination as THE picture of life at every stratum in Cuba at the end of the 1950s, even though (as has been observed in other reviews) the locations were really in Spain. The colors, the ambience, even the music - wonderful.

It's obvious to me, anyway, that this movie stands the test of time...it has survived to be reborn in DVD format. Thank goodness! - Because it deserves to be remembered and enjoyed.

This little gem of a movie hasn't lost its interest 25 years after it was shot. It offers a snapshot of Cuba during the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro that replaced the corrupt regime of Fulgencio Batista.

"Cuba" was made at Shepperton Studios, which is less well known than Ealing Studios, but produced a series of high-quality, low-budget films. This semi-documentary showcases Sean Connery as a British soldier-of-fortune who has been invited to Havana to rid the country of Castro's rebels. He recognizes an unstoppable force and spends more time trying to woo a former girlfriend (Brooke Adams) from her toy boy husband than dealing with the rebels. It's not much of a story: Connery and Adams aren't required to provide much more than eye-candy while the real action takes place in the background.

There are some wonderful vignettes of the wealthy, pampered Spanish ruling class with their beautiful mansions, fashionable clothing and decadent entertainment. The mixed-race general population, in contrast, lives in squalor. In one scene groups of women wait outside a prison every day hoping for news of their disappeared husbands and fathers. There's not much doubt where the director's sympathies lie. And there lies both the strength and weakness of the movie. Your chances of enjoying the movie depend entirely on your own politics. If you see Fidel Castro as a communist stooge, the slight plot isn't nearly enough to compensate for the movie's propagandistic tendencies. If your sympathies are with the victims of the dictatorial Batista regime, "Cuba" is an eye into the past.

CUBA is a fine serio-comic story set in 1959 during the final stage of the Batista regime. Sean Connery is a mercenary brought to Cuba by one of Batista's generals (Martin Balsam) to help crush the threat of Castro's revolutionaries. Connery runs into a past lover, Brooke Adams, who is now the manager of a tobacco factory. As the couple get reacquainted, the political turmoil reaches a breaking point. CUBA isn't meant to be a detailed examination of a prominent historical event. Instead, Batista's downfall serves as a backdrop for the Connery/Adams relationship, and how their lives become intertwined with several other characters. The great supporting cast includes Jack Weston as an opportunistic American businessman, Denholm Elliott as a boozy pilot, Chris Sarandon as Adams' womanizing husband, and Hector Elizondo as a perceptive military officer. Director Richard Lester does an admirable job of mixing dramatic action with amusing comic bits. The film satirizes the mentality of military men and guerrillas in a somewhat zany way, without eliminating the more disturbing elements. There are no true "good guys" in the story, but viewers can empathize with Connery as he deals with the insanity around him. Curiously though, Brooke Adams' character comes off as rather unsympathetic. This is one of Connery's lesser-known films, which is too bad, because the movie deserves to be seen.

A delightful movie that nobody seems to know about - Brooke Adams, Hector Elizondo, Denholm Elliot, Sean Connery - all fine performances in one of those films where the characters seem to continually cross each others' paths. Toothsome.

The movie CUBA is a little slow to get going. But. when we see Sean Connery's character (Maj. Robert Dapes) jump into that tank and start blasting shells away at the troops of his former employer, we realize that the previous hour and a half of laying down dramatic "pipe" (ie setting the scene) is paying off in the closing minutes to great effect.
So, the overall message when it comes to this 1979 picture is - stick with it, you will be rewarded.
Set in the 1950s as the Batista military dictatorship is on the brink of collapse to the rebel forces of Fidel Castro, the movie is an entertaining mix of romantic drama, suspense thriller and historical dramatization that twists with the emotions of the viewer and in turn fascinates one in the retelling of the little covered days leading up to the Cuban revolution.
Connery plays a British mercenary hired by the Batista government to help them deal with the growing unrest and "terrorist" forces in their island nation. While being greeted at the airport however he is startled to see a long lost love from 15 years earlier in Africa Alexandra Lopez de Pulido (played by Brooke Adams) greeting another traveler from the same flight.
Chasing down Alex he learns that she is in fact married to an unfaithful playboy of a husband (Chris Sarandon) while trying to keep a cigar factory afloat.
Connery's character, an ex-British Army officer seems to realize that Castro's forces are unstoppable and so he turns his attention to chasing Alex all across the island, which inadvertently leads him to witness some of the Batista atrocities committed on the common people. This is necessary to make believable his actions later in the picture.
The real interest in this movie however is inb its historical context, sure the romance has a dramatic whallop to it and the action (which seems to come in spurts) is thrilling. But the real impact in this movie (by Superman 2 director Richard Lester) comes in the recreation of those turbulent days and the history lesson it provides.
Of note in this movie is the appearance of several noted character actors in various roles including Martin Balsam, Walter Gotell, Denholm Elliott, Jack Weston and Hector Elizondo. All turn in some great performances.

The former secret service agent 007 is back on the screen, this time with a different name, different mission in pre Castro's Cuba. This movie is what Batista's government was all about. There is some action and is very politically oriented towards the revolution of El comandante Fidel. The movie is interesting to watch for anyone who wants to know what happened in Cuba during the final days. If you like this movie, check the Godfather (partII), it's more complete and shows how the gangsters dominated Havana before Castro came to power with his rebels. It's curious to see how a group of affluent people had such a good time in the capital, while the rest of the Island was falling apart!

"Cuba" is a vastly engrossing film that doesn't fail to entertain. It is graced with superb acting, a witty script, and mesmerizing art direction. What it lacks is a coherent point of view. I wasn't sure what director Richard Lester was trying to say about the events surrounding the Cuban revolution. Also enigmatic is the film's main character, a British mercenary played by Sean Connery. It is no reflection on the performance by Connery but the way the character is written we are left puzzled throughout as to his motivations. In my book, though, the pluses outweigh the negatives. View "Cuba" as entertainment and not as history.

Sean Connery is one of our favorite stars, so we were surprised to find this movie about Cuba. The movie is set in Cuba, as the government of Fulgencio Batista is overthrown by the revolutionaries, led by Fidel Castro and the likes of Che Guevara.

Connery plays the part of a mercenary trying to profit from the situation. He becomes involved with an old flame, who is now a factory manager of a family business. Sean Connery and Brooke Adams do a great job at imparting the trauma people lived during the first years of the revolution, amidst the chaos, murder, and exhuberance of Cuba's revolution.

While the movie depicts Batista's government as brutal, it fails to deliver the reality lived in those days. As Cuban-Americans, we obtained the movie to review with young adults to surface historical facts about Cuba. Sean Connery as 007 is a favorite of ours, so that kept their attention on events and we were able to discuss the reasons behind the revolution and why millions of Cubans today are exiled.

A rare find. We highly recommend watching this film, as it shares the beginning of destroyed dreams for generations of Cubans who had no alternative but to abandon their families and possessions in search for political freedom.

"Cuba" represents the best of the verite style of Richard Lester. If you're looking for traditional narrative or a big star vehicle for Sean Connery, you'll be disappointed. "Cuba" presents a loosely connected series of romantic and socio-political impressions that accurately portray the tragi-comic mixture of romance and corruption that led to the Cuban revolution and the ascendancy of Fidel Castro. Connery and Adams provide romantic elements, while Martin Balsam, Walter Gotell, and Jack Weston portray the utter corruption of pre-Castro Cuba. Hector Elizondo represents the last vestiges of moral sanity as documentray footage portrays an irreversibly decaying situation. His character's senseless death signals the final unravelling of a diseased society and the onset of revolution. Yet, the real star of this underappreciated film is Lester's camera and the director's keen idealism that shows through this carefully crafted cinema experience. "Cuba" ought to be one of Fidel's favorite films because Lester gets the revolution right.