Havana
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Movie Reviews of Havana
Movie Review: Bad Reputation Undeserved.
Summary: 4 Stars
Many will claim that Sydney Pollack and Robert Redford were on auto-pilot while making this film. Based on their previous collaborative efforts, the well-received Three Days of the Condor, The Way We Were, The Electric Horseman, and Out of Africa, which swept the Academy Awards, people wanted to see their movies. They could make any movie they wanted. They made Havana, and NOBODY wanted to see it.Maybe Pollack, brilliant in his own right, set his watch according to Redford's schedule at this time, and history shows that, subsequent to Havana, and its box office failure Sydney Pollack basically quit directing. His influence in film is still served, and may be better served as a producer, witness Sliding Doors, Sense and Sensibility, Fabulous Baker Boys, and Searching For Bobby Fischer, all of which he helped bring to the screen.
But, back to the matter at hand-Redford as a gambler, Lena Olin, his distraction (and what a distraction)--the film feels good, looks good, and gives us some perspective on Cuba in the waning hours of Batista.
Olin (pre-Romeo is Bleeding, post Unbearable Lightness of Being) is properly introduced to American audiences, and is not inappropriate as leading lady to one of Hollywood's leading stars, Redford, who, even on auto-pilot, delivers a strong, engaging performance.
I understand this film was heavily maligned at release, and failed dismally at the box office, but I enjoyed it. It is a beautiful film to watch with attractive leads-and that alone stands it well ahead of many of the alternatives out there today.
Movie Review: Underrated, but uneven
Summary: 4 Stars
Robert Redford gives one of his best performances as an aging professional card-player in Havana trying for a last big score before Cuba falls to Castro. He helps Roberta Duran, wife of a Cuban revolutionary, to smuggle some military radios into Cuba almost as a lark--and finds himself deeply and romantically involved with her. The first hour or so of "Havana" is a triumph of production, with Pollack's evocation of the pre-Castro Cuban capital almost (but not quite) the equal of Coppola's in "Godfather II." After that, the action slows considerably, and credibility is stretched as Weil gets involved with the CIA and Batista's secret police in ways that are, to say the least, "out of character" for his character. Tomas Milian and Raoul Julia (unbilled) excel as the head of the secret police and the leader of the opposition, respectively, and Alan Arkin gives a typically fine performance as a Mob-connected casino manager. But Lena Olin is curiously ineffective as Roberta Duran, which adds to the credibility-stretching. Still, this is a very worthwhile movie that has been sadly underrrated.Movie Review: OUT OF CUBA
Summary: 4 Stars
Strange like things go. HAVANA is from the same brand of OUT OF AFRICA but failed terribly at the box-office while Karen Blixen book's adaptation was a hit. Both movies describe an unhappy love story in a world collapsing and should equally appeal to amateurs of romantic adventure pictures.Even if the screenplay leaves a slight aftertaste of Alfred Hitchcock's TOPAZ in the mouth, it still provides excellent scenes involving a great Lena Olin as a scandinavian guerilla sympathizer and a lucid Robert Redford who plays the character of a distant cousin of THE WAY WE WERE's hero.
Sydney Pollack surely knows how to direct an intimate scene between a man and a woman and one enjoys these scenes without any scruples. As for the political analysis of the events happening during this last week of 1958 in Cuba, don't wait for more than the usual clichés one can expect from a production of one of the Hollywood majors.
A DVD zone forgotten movies.
Movie Review: Better than I expected
Summary: 4 Stars
This is really a beautiful movie on several levels. The sets and atmosphere really do seem to capture the feel of pre-revolution Havana. Redford is quite good in the lead, although I was less impressed Lena Olin as a leading lady. She seemed a bit stiff in many scenes and I wasn't as convinced that a hard core gambler and pleasure seeker like Redford's character would be so quick to fall for her. I thought that Raul Julia was great in a relatively small part.
The movie really was more about atmospherics for me than anything to do with the love story. I enjoyed the depiction of Havana and the decadence of it's nightlife as well as the growing threat of violence as the rebels approach. The night of the government's fall is very similar to the scene from Godfather II including people smashing parking meters, etc.
All in all I would recommend this for those interested in Cuba during that period.
Movie Review: a beautiful love story
Summary: 4 Stars
The Act takes place during the final days of Cuba under the collapsing Batista regime.
A high-stakes card gambler (Robert Redford) comes very often to Cuba seeking big score poker games. On this final trip he meets the wife of a rich Physician allied to Castro. Redford is immediately attracted to her and it becomes mutual after the husband is arrested and presumed killed by the Cuban police. The Love affair will direct the rest of the movie until the Batista regime finally falls in the hand of Castro's revolution.
A beautiful love story combined with with good history scenes of that period in Havana.
The DVD quality is good. If you watch and like this movie than I would highly recommend to you; "The Bridges of Madison County" and "Saigon"