The Mambo Kings

In the early 1950s, Cuban brothers and musicians César (Assante) and Nestor (Banderas) flee from Havana after getting into a violent dispute with the mobster owners of a club where they performed. Eventually ending up in New York, 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 César. Nestor, in the meantime, remains oblivious to other women while continually composing his ode to his lost Cuban love, Maria. He writes version after version of the same ballad, “Beautiful Maria of My Soul”, until by chance one day he encounters Dolores (Maruschka Detmers), a shy but attentive young woman who wishes to become a school teacher. 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’s and Dolores’ modest home, Arnaz generously invites the struggling Castillos to sing and act on an episode of his smash sitcom series, I Love Lucy. Cleverly intercutting footage of Banderas and Assante into an actual I Love Lucy episode (where the brothers’ characters appear to actually be interacting in a scene with Lucille Ball), the film depicts the rise to prominence of César and Nestor as overnight stars. 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 Dolores, but lacks the passion he felt for his beloved Maria back home. César, meantime, suppresses his true feelings, that a woman like Dolores would actually be perfect for him.There are tragic consequences one snowy night when the Castillo brothers’ car veers off the road and into a tree. Cesar is in the back seat and barely hurt, but Nestor, driving the car, is killed. The life of César, shattered, is never the same. —wikipedia