Cuba (1979)

Director:

Richard Lester

Writer:

Charles Wood (writer)

Release Date:

21 December 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Thriller | War

Tagline:

Part Heaven... Part Hell... Pure Havana.

Plot:

A British mercenary arrives in pre-Revolution Cuba to help train the corrupt General Batista's army against Castro's guerrillas while he also romances a former lover now married to an unscrupulous plantation owner.

Plot Keywords:

Cuba | Revolution | Mercenary | Infidelity | 1950s

Cast

Sean Connery	...	Maj. Robert Dapes
Brooke Adams	...	Alexandra Lopez de Pulido
Jack Weston	...	Larry Gutman
Hector Elizondo	...	Capt. Raphael Ramirez
Denholm Elliott	...	Donald Skinner
Martin Balsam	...	Gen. Bello
Chris Sarandon	...	Juan Pulido
Danny De La Paz	...	Julio Mederos
Lonette McKee	...	Therese Mederos
Alejandro Rey	...	Faustino
Louisa Moritz	...	Miss Wonderly
Dave King	...	Miss Wonderly's Press Agent
Walter Gotell	...	Don Jose Pulido
David Rappaport	...	Jesus
Wolfe Morris	...	Gen. Fulgencio Batista

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Australia:M | Sweden:15 | Finland:K-16 | USA:R | UK:12 (cut) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Cádiz, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Holmby Pictures

Trivia:

The role of Alexandra was offered to Diana Ross who turned it down.

Goofs:

Factual errors: At the start of the film, a subtitle announces "1959", indicating the year in which the story takes place. However the actual date of the last event of the film - Fidel Castro riding into Havana, marking the completion of the Revolution - was 1 January 1959. All of the preceding events must have occurred in 1958.

Quotes:

Maj. Robert Dapes: Why were those people shot?
Capt. Raphael Ramirez: Perhaps they tried to escape.
Maj. Robert Dapes: From what?
Capt. Raphael Ramirez: From being shot.
Maj. Robert Dapes: But how did they know they were rebels?
Capt. Raphael Ramirez: Because they tried to escape.
Maj. Robert Dapes: Well, wouldn't you?
Capt. Raphael Ramirez: Of course.
Maj. Robert Dapes: Are you a rebel?
Capt. Raphael Ramirez: If I try to escape, I am. Wasn't it the same in Malaya? You didn't know them till they ran.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Features Dracula (1958)

"Cuba", a piece of history, a deliciously sad love story

Richard Lester had the same "bad luck" than -let's say- Orson Welles. Lester's first movies on The Beatles were masterpieces, without any doubt. These were bad news for Lester's later pictures because everybody was expecting wonderful things like "Hard Day's Night" or "Help". And, simply, Lester was unable to deliver. OK, with a few exceptions. "Cuba" was one of them (and maybe "Petulia" was the other). "Cuba" is a great movie. Having as a backdrop the last few days of Batista's dictatorship in Cuba (with notable dramatic appeal and amazing historical accuracy), Lester carefully develops a very sad and beautiful love story. Sean Connery and Brooke Adams as the lovers who meet again after fifteen years are really superb. Chris Sarandon is so perfect a villain that you would like to kill him with your own hands. But the most important issue is Lester's ability to create an atmosphere of disenchantment, of sadness looking at all these people who cannot, who will not ever understand how to love each other and live in peace.