Line #12 Film/TheMamboKings


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_5232.jpeg]]
2
3	->''"In the name of the Mambo, the Rumba, and the Cha-Cha-Cha."''
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5	''The Mambo Kings'' is a 1992 musical drama directed by Arne Glimcher and based on the award-winning novel ''Literature/TheMamboKingsPlaySongsOfLove'' by Oscar Hijuelos.
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7	Cesar (Creator/ArmandAssante) and Nestor Castillo (Creator/AntonioBanderas) are two Cuban musicians (Cesar's a singer and the manager, while Nestor plays trumpet and is the songwriter) who are forced to flee Cuba in the 1950's to escape the wrath of a gangster. They go to [[BigApplesauce New York City]] to live with relatives, and try to break into the music business. Except the clubs are controlled by Fernando Perez (Roscoe Lee Browne), and since Cesar refuses to be under the thumb of a gangster again, the brothers and their band have to struggle. Meanwhile, though Nestor falls in love with Delores Fuentes (Creator/MaruschkaDetmers), a student, he misses his old girlfriend Maria (Creator/TalisaSoto) from Cuba.
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9	Best known for its [[AwardBaitSong Oscar-nominated song]] "Beautiful Maria of My Soul".
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11	----
12	!!This movie contains examples of:
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14	* AdaptationDistillation: The story in the movie only makes up a small portion of the novel; most of the novel takes place years later.
15	* AndImTheQueenOfSheba: When Cesar claims to Lana she's the first American woman he's slept with, she responds, "And I'm the Statue of Liberty."
16	* AsHimself: Mambo legend Music/TitoPuente.
17	* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: At the beginning of the movie, Maria goes with a gangster who would kill Cesar and Nestor otherwise. She begs Cesar not to tell Nestor, and for a while, he keeps that promise.
18	* ChivalrousPervert: Cesar is somewhere between this and TheCasanova.
19	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Creator/DesiArnaz (played by Creator/DesiArnazJr) gives the Castillo brothers their big break by having them appear on ''Series/ILoveLucy''.
20	* LargeHam: Cesar.
21	-->'''Anna Maria:''' He thinks he's the last Coca-Cola in the desert.
22	-->'''Lana:''' He is, honey.
23	* LoveTriangle: Delores falls in love with Nestor, but while he loves her, he's still hung up on Maria. Meanwhile, she also has feelings for Cesar, and he for her, but they never act on them because [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy they don't want to hurt Nestor]].
24	* MoodWhiplash: The movie goes back and forth between the exhilaration of the music and the dark turns of the plot, particularly when [[spoiler: Nestor cheats on Delores, and when he dies in the car accident]].
25	* RealEventFictionalCause: The famous ''Series/ILoveLucy'' episode "Cuban Pals" is here shown to be an excuse for Desi Arnaz (played by his RealLife son, Desi Arnaz, Jr.) to invite the Mambo Kings to appear on an episode of the show. The "translation" scene is re-created with Cesar and Nestor appearing in the place of the original actors (and Desi Jr. in place of his father) while archive footage of Creator/LucilleBall is used from the original episode. Then a wholly fictitious scene is shown of Desi-as-Ricky introducing the Mambo Kings to perform "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" at the Tropicana nightclub. The real ''I Love Lucy'' often had musical numbers, but Desi/Ricky was very much the star of all of them - he would happily perform ''with'' a musical guest but he wouldn't cede the stage to them as he does in the movie. (For bonus points, the Castillo family is shown watching ''I Love Lucy'' as if it were airing live - but though the show was filmed before a live studio audience, it was just that - ''filmed'', and aired later.)
26	* TimePassesMontage: While Fernando and Evalina are seen dancing, we see the cheap gigs the Mambo Kings and their band are forced to play, such as a bar mitzvah and a birthday party.

Context Film / TheMamboKings