Havana

Rating:
Summary: WORST Movie I've EVER SEEN!!!
Review: The acting is terrible!!! (Redford should have hung up his spurs after the "Sting"!) The dialogue is Terrible!!! The Directing is terrible!!!!!!!! The pace and tempo are out of wack. They must have spent all their budget on Redford and shiny old cars rather than story, direction, continuity, and production. AND yet there was so much potential. My frustration is unbearable!!!

Any movie I can think of is better than "Havana"!!! Try "LA Confidential", "Chinatown", "Casablanca", in fact any Bogart movie...the list is endless!!! I'd recommend my five year old's "Dumbo" ahead of "Havana".

AHAH!!! I just had a stroke of genius!!! Redford crash lands his Gulfstream V in remote Africa and loses his ability to speak, and the chimps nuture him back to health. The name of the movie, "The Homo Sapien Whisperer".





Rating:
Summary: All the elements of a great film
Review: The story is a powerful one -- the struggle of the supposedly just (the little people) against the corruption of the greedy (the politicos, the power-brokers, even the USA). Within the story, but given equal status, is a sort of love triangle between three excellent and well-attuned actors: Julia, the idealist doctor risking his life to fight for the freedom and well-being of his people; Olin, his wife and a former actress finding purpose in her life by being part of the struggle; and Redford, an itinerant gambler avoiding purpose or morality, but slowly coming to find both, whether out of love for Olin or awakening to just what is going on around him. It all takes place in Cuba, but it can be anywhere, at any time in modern history -- a small story about people desperate for something beyond their own petty needs, about people feeling passion or needing comfort. This is high drama in a sweeping film about a society really giving birth to itself, about the corruption that is expelled and the hopes/dreams aroused as freedom is won. It does not stint on pointing fingers, exposing truths, or revealing tragedies. The needs that drive all three main characters are never hidden -- each is obvious in their attempts to live up to their own convictions. The romance is tense, then caring, finally sensual. Plot twists keep the suspense high, as does the political tension. An underrated classic.

Rating:
Summary: There Is Only One City I Miss...
Review: This film is chock full of top notch performances, even by bit players. Robert Redford is the professional poker player looking for that one big game. While on the Key West ferry to Havana Redford bumps into Lena Olin, he falls for her and there is some great dialogue between them. However, it turns out she is the wife of a revolutionary. In this film you can feel the heat, and the humidity. Great vintage cars, clothes, even haircuts, put you right in the late 1950's. Many outstanding supporting roles including Tomas Milian as one of the Cuban dictator Batista's muderous secret policeman. As the clock ticks down Redford is torn between setting up suckers for card games and chasing a woman he knows he can never really have. A great scene of advice is played between Richard Farnsworth and Redford and the movie has a marvelous opening pre-titles sequence. You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: There Is Only One City I Miss...
Review: This film is chock full of top notch performances, even by bit players. Robert Redford is the professional poker player looking for that one big game. While on the Key West ferry to Havana Redford bumps into Lena Olin, he falls for her and there is some great dialogue between them. However, it turns out she is the wife of a revolutionary. In this film you can feel the heat, and the humidity. Great vintage cars, clothes, even haircuts, put you right in the late 1950's. Many outstanding supporting roles including Tomas Milian as one of the Cuban dictator Batista's muderous secret policeman. As the clock ticks down Redford is torn between setting up suckers for card games and chasing a woman he knows he can never really have. A great scene of advice is played between Richard Farnsworth and Redford and the movie has a marvelous opening pre-titles sequence. You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A vastly underated, underviewed romantic work.
Review: This gem was universely panned in reviews for being a 'Casablanca' clone. As a 'Casblanca' devotee, I cannot condemm it as such. Of course the love triangle element is present, and there are some other striking similarities, but the quality of "Havana" remains. The hardened Redford character, his aura penetrated by the mysterious ingenue, is a study in loneliness. Anyone who is not moved by this love story, albeit with some story flaws covered by other reviewers, is a hardened audience indeed. And for those whose contact lenses hurt them at the end of the day due to insufficient tear production, suffice to say a viewing of "Havana" will be just what the eye doctor ordered.

Rating:
Summary: Better than I expected
Review: This is really a beautiful movie on several levels. The sets and atmosphere really do seem to capture the feel of pre-revolution Havana. Redford is quite good in the lead, although I was less impressed Lena Olin as a leading lady. She seemed a bit stiff in many scenes and I wasn't as convinced that a hard core gambler and pleasure seeker like Redford's character would be so quick to fall for her. I thought that Raul Julia was great in a relatively small part.
The movie really was more about atmospherics for me than anything to do with the love story. I enjoyed the depiction of Havana and the decadence of it's nightlife as well as the growing threat of violence as the rebels approach. The night of the government's fall is very similar to the scene from Godfather II including people smashing parking meters, etc.
All in all I would recommend this for those interested in Cuba during that period.

Rating:
Summary: Marvellous! And no comparision to "Casablanca"!
Review: Why to compare "Havana" with "Casablanca"? It is the same old story of crashing empires or regimes or worlds and people's small dramas in the stream of the events. It is the same as "Doctor Jhivago" or "Hannover Street" were. And we have a great American Actor, one of the best America ever had, aging, but 100% charmant. And I would dare to say he is at least so good as Boggie was. The problem is Lena Olin. I asked my friends if she, the character, would be a woman to risk your life for. Answer was NO. She is limited and on the wrong side, compared with Bergman. I would have choosen Meryl Streep for the role.