Fresh
A spirited evocation of the mambo craze which swept post-war America, adapted from Oscar Hijuelos' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Derek Adams, Time Out
The Mambo Kings
With a suitcase full of song, Hearts filled with passion, two brothers come to America in search of a dream.
1992 · 1h 44m · R
Drama, Music
Directed by
Arne Glimcher
Overview
The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.
Director and cast
- Arne Glimcher Director
- Antonio Banderas as Nestor Castillo
- Armand Assante as Cesar Castillo
- Cathy Moriarty as Lanna Lake
- Maruschka Detmers as Delores Fuentes
- Pablo Calogero as Ramon - The Mambo Kings Band
- Scott Cohen as Bernardito - The Mambo Kings Band
- Desi Arnaz Jr. as Desi Arnaz Sr.
- Mario Grillo as Mario - The Mambo Kings Band
- Ralph Irizarry as Pito - The Mambo Kings Band
- Pete Macnamara as Johnny Bing - The Mambo Kings Band
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
82%
Tomatometer
Rotten
It's as if there were a terrible telephone connection between the film's vivid sound track and its tepid romantic melodrama, to which the music is supposed to give style and substance.
Vincent Canby, New York Times
Fresh
"The Mambo Kings" is so pumped up with life it threatens to burst. It's beautifully filmed and flashily edited. It pulsates with rhythmic ecstasy. It throbs, it sweats, it pounds, it undulates.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Fresh
A corny, eye-filling concoction of sound and strife, it recalls the heyday of a dance craze with the Technicolor splash of a 1950s musical.
Rita Kempley, Washington Post
Fresh
In some ways this story is as old as the movies, but "The Mambo Kings" is so filled with energy, passion and heedless vitality that it seems new, anyway.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
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