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''The Mambo Kings'' is a 1992 French–American drama film directed by Arne Glimcher. It is an adaptation of Oscar Hijuelos's 1989 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel ''The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love''. The film stars Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas as Cesar and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in the hopes of reviving their failed musical careers. ''The Mambo Kings'' marks the directing debut of Glimcher and features Banderas in his first English-language role. Glimcher purchased the film rights to Hijuelos's novel in 1988, before hiring Cynthia Cidre to write the screenplay. Various studios rejected the film, and after an unsuccessful pre-production development at Universal Studios, the project moved to Warner Bros., with Regency Enterprises and Le Studio Canal+ agreeing to co-finance the film. When Warner Bros. wanted Jeremy Irons and Ray Liotta in the lead roles, Glimcher had to convince executives to cast Assante and Banderas instead. Filming for ''The Mambo Kings'' took place in Los Angeles, on sets recreating 1950s New York. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, but underperformed at the box office, grossing only $6,742,168 during its domestic theatrical release. For its original song "Beautiful Maria of My Soul", ''The Mambo Kings'' earned nominations from several groups, including the Academy Awards. ==Plot== In the early 1950s, Cuban brothers and musicians Cesar (Armand Assante) and Nestor Castillo (Antonio Banderas) flee from Havana, Cuba after getting into a violent dispute with the mobster owners of a club where they performed. Eventually ending up in New York City, the brothers work at menial jobs while attempting to revive their musical careers. At a nightclub where Cesar briefly crashes the act of mambo star Tito Puente, they make new friends and connections, as well as meeting cigarette girl Lanna Lake (Cathy Moriarty), who falls quickly into a love affair with Cesar. Nestor, in the meantime, remains oblivious to other women while continually composing his ode to his lost Cuban love, Maria (Talisa Soto). He writes version after version of the same ballad, "Beautiful Maria of My Soul", until by chance one day he encounters Delores (Maruschka Detmers), a shy but attentive young woman who wishes to become a schoolteacher. When she becomes pregnant, they decide to get married. Fate intervenes one night at a club, where the Castillo brothers have a part-time job. Nestor's love ballad captures the interest of one of the customers, who turns out to be the Cuban bandleader and American television star Desi Arnaz (played by his son, Desi Arnaz, Jr.). After a pleasant evening in Nestor and Delores's home, Arnaz generously invites the struggling Castillos to sing and act on an episode of his smash sitcom series, ''I Love Lucy''. Fame does not last, however. Nestor is not as ambitious as his brother and desires nothing more than to own his own small club. He is in love with Delores, but lacks the passion he felt for his beloved Maria back home. Cesar, meantime, suppresses his true feelings, that a woman like Delores would actually be perfect for him. Cesar eventually reveals to Nestor that Maria left him for a Cuban mobster in exchange for cancelling a contract hit against Nestor. There are tragic consequences one snowy night when the Castillo brothers' car veers off the road and into a tree. Cesar, in the back seat of the vehicle, is barely hurt, but Nestor, having driven the car, is killed. The life of Cesar, shattered, is never the same. To honor his brother's memory, Cesar opens his own small club, which is well received. Delores pays him a visit and asks him to sing Nestor's song for her. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Mambo Kings」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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