Assassination Tango (2002)

Director:

Robert Duvall

Writer:

Robert Duvall (written by)

Release Date:

4 September 2003 (Argentina)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

No one is more dangerous than the man who lives two lives.

Plot:

An aging hitman gets a contract to kill a general in Buenos Aires. But when his mark becomes unavailable, he becomes involved in Argentinian tango culture.

Plot Keywords:

Tango | Argentina | General | Dancer | Hitman

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Robert Duvall	...	John J.
Rubén Blades	...	Miguel
Kathy Baker	...	Maggie
Luciana Pedraza	...	Manuela
Julio Oscar Mechoso	...	Orlando
James Keane	...	Whitey
Frank Gio	...	Frankie (as Frankie Gio)
Katherine Micheaux Miller	...	Jenny
Frank Cassavetes	...	Jo Jo
Michael Corrente	...	Cop at Newsstand
Raúl Outeda	...	Tony Manas
Géraldine Rojas	...	Pirucha
Renee Victor	...	Stella
Richard Marquez	...	Salsa Band Member
Nelson Marquez	...	Salsa Band Member
Guillermo Cespedes	...	Salsa Band Member
Humberto Nengue Hernandez	...	Salsa Band Member
Elvio Nessier	...	General Humberto Rojas
Alicia Palmes	...	Housekeeper
Susana Lanteri	...	General's Wife
María Nieves	...	Tia Maria
Orlando Paiva	...	Paiva
Jorge Noya	...	Hotel Night Clerk
Héctor Malamud	...	Hotel Day Clerk
Daniel Reyes	...	Chief of Police
Fernando Llosa	...	Intelligence Officer
Gregory Dayton	...	Intelligence Officer's Aide
Eduardo Wigutow	...	Orlando's Uncle
Marzenka Novak	...	Orlando's Aunt
Natalia Lobo	...	The Prostitute
Ricardo Lazara	...	Pensione Owner
Carmen Renard	...	Pensione Owner's Mother
Javier Rodriguez	...	Pirucha's 1st Tango Partner
Pablo Verón	...	Pirucha's Final Tango Partner
Armando Orzuza	...	Manuela's Tango Partner
Jorge Dispari	...	Tango Instructor and Choreographer
María del Carmen Romero	...	La Turca
Jorge Manganelli	...	Sin Rumbo Club MC
Jorge Varas	...	News Reporter
Javier Montu	...	TV Announcer
Alberto Gabiero	...	Deli Man
Stella Misse	...	Manuela's Girlfriend
Mariana Otero	...	Manuela's Girlfriend
Delfina	...	Manuelita
Maria Salome Resano	...	Riding Teacher
Gabriel Cejas	...	Chirozo Guy
Carlos Rodida	...	Carlito
Estela Arcos	...	Ballroom Teacher
Dario Dorzi	...	Ballroom Dancer
Alicia Beatriz Sampayo	...	Ballroom Dancer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Macarena Farias	...	Classmate girl
Olga Nani
Hernán Lozano	...	Man in show (uncredited)
Gustavo Pastorini	...	Men at bar (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Duvall

Writing credits
Robert Duvall		(written by)

Produced by
Steven Brown	....	co-producer
Rob Carliner	....	producer
Francis Ford Coppola	....	executive producer
Robert Duvall	....	producer
Raúl Outeda	....	co-producer
Linda Reisman	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Luis Bacalov

Cinematography by
Félix Monti

Film Editing by
Stephen Mack

Casting by
Ed Johnston
Renee Rousselot

Production Design by
Stefania Cella

Art Direction by
Sara Parks

Set Decoration by
Javier Casals

Costume Design by
Beatriz De Benedetto

Makeup Department
Anthony Gueli	....	hair stylist: second unit
Silvana Kopel	....	key makeup artist
Nancy Marignac	....	assistant hair stylist
Alberto Moccia	....	key hair stylist
Manlio Rocchetti	....	makeup artist: Mr. Duvall

Production Management
Barbara Factorovich	....	unit manager
Michele Giordano	....	production supervisor: second unit
Jennifer Lane	....	post-production supervisor
M. Michelle Nishikawa	....	production supervisor
Jonathan Perel	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fernando Altschul	....	first assistant director
Yvette Gurza	....	second assistant director
Elaine Kavanagh	....	second assistant director: second unit
Amanda Slater	....	first assistant director: second unit
Sebastián Wainstein	....	second second assistant director

Art Department
Federico Casagrande	....	assistant set decorator
Mauro Do Porto	....	assistant property master
Matías Games	....	assistant set decorator
Martín Libert	....	set dresser
Horácio Mondello	....	lead man
Julio Pascoli	....	construction coordinator
Elizabeth Schlitten	....	property master: second unit
Alejandra Tomás	....	property master
Maria Vacas	....	art department coordinator

Sound Department
Steve C. Aaron	....	production sound mixer
Roberto Cappannelli	....	sound re-recording mixer
Benjamin Cheah	....	supervising sound editor
Scott Clements	....	boom operator
Marko A. Costanzo	....	foley artist
Gisburg	....	assistant sound editor (as Gisburg Smialek)
Kenton Jakub	....	adr editor
George A. Lara	....	foley mixer
Mark Pearman	....	sound effects recordist
Jacob Ribicoff	....	foley supervisor
Jac Rubenstein	....	supervising dialogue editor
Steve F.B. Smith	....	stereo sound consultant: Dolby (as Steve Smith)
Wyatt Sprague	....	sound effects editor
Pablo Trilnik	....	sound effects recordist
Peter Waggoner	....	sound re-recording mixer
Lila Yomtoob	....	apprentice sound editor
Paul J. Zydel	....	adr engineer (as Paul Zydel)

Special Effects by
Federico Cueva	....	special effects coordinator

Visual Effects by
Steven Fagerquist	....	digital compositing artist
Peter Koczera	....	senior digital artist
Derek Ledbetter	....	visual effects

Stunts
Federico Cueva	....	stunt coordinator
Mariano Cueva	....	stunts
Andrea López	....	stunts
Patricio Skinner	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Julio Aranda	....	assistant chief lighting technician
Willi Behnisch	....	camera operator: "b" camera (as Jorge Guillermo Behnisch)
Joe Christofori	....	first assistant camera: second unit
Mark Egyud	....	assistant lighting technician: second unit
Brian Heller	....	aerial cinematographer
Daniel Hermo	....	electrician
Alejandro Manocchio	....	second company grip
John McEnerney	....	second company grip: second unit
Jorge 'Quito' Molina	....	chief lighting technician
Derek Murphy	....	electrician: second unit
Ignacio Musich	....	first assistant camera
Guillermo Nespolo	....	key grip
Gilberto Otero	....	camera operator
Vanesa Ritaco	....	second assistant camera
Carlos Ritter	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
Demián Rodenstein	....	second assistant camera: "b" camera
Joseph Sciretta	....	chief lighting technician: second unit (as Joe Sciretta)
Kevin Smyth	....	key grip: second unit (as Kevin Smythe)
Juan Ángel Urrozola	....	still photographer
Valeria Weil	....	video assist operator

Casting Department
Sondra James	....	voice casting
Jennifer Levy	....	casting associate
Pablo Pérez Giménez	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Pam Aaron	....	costumer: second unit
María Christina Astudillo	....	seamstress
Laura Calcaterra	....	wardrobe assistant
Carla Danio	....	assistant wardrobe
Ellen Falguiere	....	assistant costume designer
Fátima Macera	....	key costumer (as María Fátima Macera)
Paula Taratuto	....	key costumer
Coca Álvarez	....	seamstress

Editorial Department
Gilbert Carreras	....	color timer (as Gil Carreras)
Jeff Chaves	....	colorist (digital color correction)
Guillermo Grillo	....	second assistant editor
Alejandro Santangelo	....	assistant editor
Amy R. Trachtman	....	post-production coordinator
Kenneth Wachtel	....	assistant editor
Philip Weisman	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Missy Cohen	....	additional music editor
Charles Feldman	....	music supervisor (as Charlie Feldman)
Goffredo Gibellini	....	score mixer
Patrick Mullins	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Ricardo Avelluto	....	transportation coordinator
Gabriel Goldszmidt	....	transportation captain
Joe Mallon	....	transportation captain: second unit

Other crew
Susan Paley Abramson	....	assistant to executive producer
Patricia Apter	....	production coordinator
Julia Auge	....	assistant to producer
Luis Bernardez	....	assistant to unit production manager
Laura Calcaterra	....	production assistant
Al Cerullo	....	helicopter pilot
Demian Cosentino	....	assistant location manager
Barbara Factorovich	....	location manager
José Gabriel Fernández	....	assistant accountant
Jennifer Zolten Freed	....	post-production accountant
Tomás Gutiérrez	....	production assistant
Jeff Hill	....	unit publicist
Shannon Lail	....	production executive: Zoetrope
Martin Miranda	....	location assistant
Natalia Mussolana	....	assistant production coordinator
Leandro Nicemboim	....	production assistant
Sean Oliver	....	adr loop group
Julie Oppenheimer	....	script supervisor: second unit
Adam Prince	....	production coordinator: Los Angeles
Gregory Routt	....	location manager: second unit
Eric Schwarz	....	production coordinator: second unit
Anabella Speziale	....	assistant to producers
Mary Sunshine	....	production accountant
Spring Sutter	....	assistant accountant
Graciela Torres	....	production accountant
Tracy Young	....	script supervisor
Paula Zito	....	apprentice

Production Companies

• United Artists (presents)
• American Zoetrope
• Butcher's Run Films (in association with)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation (MGM) (2003) (USA) (theatrical) (as MGM Distribution Co.)
• United Artists (2003) (USA) (theatrical)
• Compañía General de la Imagen (CGI) (2003) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Bodega Films (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• Gativideo (2004) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2004) (Argentina) (VHS)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (VHS) (pan and scan)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• TGG Direct (2012) (USA) (DVD) (for Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment included in "2 Movies: Robert Duvall" double feature)
• Fox Pathé Europa (200?) (France) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (Europe) (200?) (UK) (DVD)

Other Companies

• C-5  foley design
• Cámarás & Luces  cameras
• Cámarás & Luces  lighting equipment
• Digital Records Roma  music recorded & mixed at
• Falco Ink.  unit publicity
• Film Finances  completion guarantor
• Howard Anderson Company, The  titles and opticals
• Image Resolution, The  titles and opticals
• Law Offices of George Sheanshang  legal counsel (as The Law Offices of George Sheanshang)
• RCA Victor  soundtrack
• Sound One Corporation  sound re-recording facilities
• Trevanna Post  post-production accounting
• Viv Kim Negative Cutting Service  negative cutting

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some violence

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA | Argentina

Language:

English | Spanish | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | USA:R | Germany:12 | France:U | Netherlands:6

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Company:

United Artists

Trivia:

This movie is Robert Duvall's tribute to tango, which is why he filmed it in Buenos Aires using many real tango dancers and authentic tango locations. Some of the tango celebrity faces you can spot include: Geraldine Rojas and Javiar Rodriguez (Pirucha - sister of Manuela and her first partner), Pablo Veron (Pirucha's final parter in the closing credits), Jorge Dispari and La Turca, Orlanda Paiva, Maria Nieves, Armando Orzuza, Carlos Copello, Alicia Monti, Los Hermanos Macana (two men performing a dance). The club with the checkerboard floor is Club Sin Rumbo, in the outskirt of the city, but a famous barrio for producing excellent tango dancers.

Quotes:

John J.:At this age in my life I've finally decided to settle down.
Manuela:Just with one?
John J.:With one what?
Manuela:One woman.
John J.:Two women.
Manuela:Wow.
John J.:She has a daughter. Terrific.
Manuela:One and a half women.
John J.:Yeah.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Moviemaking in Virginia: Take 3 (2008) (V)

Soundtrack:

Contigo

impressive performance in an uneven film

In `Assassination Tango,' a film for which he provided both script and direction, Robert Duvall plays an aging professional killer who also happens to be a tango aficionado. Like the gangsters in `The Godfather,' John J. Anderson is able to compartmentalize the morally contradictory elements of his life: he can gun down in cold blood a total stranger, while at the same time lavishing limitless love and affection on his girlfriend and the ten-year old `stepdaughter' whom he worships and adores. When he is sent to Buenos Aires to take out a disreputable retired general, John falls in love with both a lovely young dancer and the style of `genuine' tango dancing to which she introduces him.

`Assassination Tango,' despite the unsavory elements of the story, is a quiet, muted film that is more about this strangely paradoxical character than it is about either assassination or tango. John is a man who has kept his emotions pretty well in check his whole life and now, as he begins to see the end of that life coming, he feels the need to make some kind of meaningful connection with the people around him. What makes John interesting is the way in which Duvall has chosen to portray him. For the most part, John seems totally subdued in his mannerisms and tone of voice, but he often erupts unexpectedly in fits of uncontrolled mania and violence – aimed more at objects like payphones or people who annoy him than at his carefully chosen victims, whom he liquidates with an emotional detachment worthy of his profession. Duvall hits all the right notes in making his character both frighteningly bizarre and strangely sympathetic all at the same time.

As a writer, Duvall does better with dialogue than with the narrative framework as a whole. Particularly effective is John's constantly asking the Argentineans with whom he's conversing to repeat what they have just said. Most writer/directors would not be shrewd enough to add this calculated bit of realism, which seems just right given the bilingual situation he has set up. Unfortunately, Duvall's considerably less successful with the story itself, which often wanders aimlessly, lacks clarity (particularly in the cloak-and-dagger sequences) and suffers from an overall failure to meld the various elements into a compelling whole. The supporting performers are all good, but, ultimately, we are left wondering just what Duvall had in mind when he set about making this film. If his purpose was to show that even coldhearted killers can love their kids and appreciate art and beauty, then that ground was pretty much covered by `The Godfather' movies. Even the tango scenes are generally blasé and uninspiring, forcing us to wonder just what it is about this dance that both intoxicates John and leads one of the women in the film to say that the tango is `life, love, hate,' an encomium that certainly doesn't seem justified by the dance sequences in this film.

`Assassination Tango' deserves to be seen for Duvall's performance and for the uniqueness of both its setting and its main character. Just don't expect to be swept off your feet by the dancing.