jarlentjilenzi
This movie is for people who have been in love or like watching movies about love. Though this movie isn't your cliché type of love story (it also contains aspects on the Cuban revolution) the chore of the movie revolves around love.The movie is about a simple man (Jack) who visits Havana because he loves to gamble, to meet the woman (Roberta) that would change his outlook and life forever. She fights for the resistance, against Batista, while he's not into politics at all. She's married with a man (Arturo) that is the head of the resistance in Havana. When Arturo gets kidnapped and is considered killed, Jack and Roberta have the chance to fall in love. But Jack finds out that Arturo is still alive and faces the choice of letting Roberta go or staying quite...This is one of the most real, deep and touching love stories I have seen. It contains beautiful poetic dialogues and the acting is great. A beautiful story about the meaning of love, sacrifice combined with the Cuban revolution.
MJD 31
I first saw this film in 1995, before I became a huge movie fan, so I guess that innocence blinded me to the so-called similarities with "Casablanca" or allegedly poor directorial or acting performances. I saw it for what it was and it marked me for life. I've seen it again many times since then and it is always a beautiful romantic movie set against the backdrop of the Cuban revolution and the end breaks my heart every time. I loved the actors and their performance, the plot, the setting, the soundtrack... everything really. It's in fact one of the few movies I still hold very dear in my soul and that will never change. I found the characters believable and not false in any way. It also made me very interested in Cuba and its history. I really don't understand what was expected from this movie and why the harsh reactions back when it was released. All I say is, watch it and make up your own mind. I believe it is worth it. Enjoy!
Nazi_Fighter_David
Jack Weil, played by Robert Redford, feels at home in this corrupt city
He's a professional gambler looking for the game of his life
He played in every Elks Club and Moose Hall in America
He remembers every hand of every game and now he wants a shot, only one shot in Havana
But while he is on the verge of winning everything Bobby Duran (Lena Olin) has lost all she ever knew
Olin plays the wife of a Cuban revolutionary, Raul Julia
Bobby has nothing to lose or to protect
And in a super-natural and strange way Jack reaches her
And so, as Cuba crumbles Jack is drawn in Bobby's world of the revolutionaries and, in one crucial moment he sees himself he must choose between the greatest card game of his life and the woman he loves
There's a kind of exotic combination between Redford and Olin's characters
Between Redford's very American, blond, golden look and Olin's dark, intense Swedish expression
Sydney Pollack's "Havana" is a love story that takes place during the week of Christmas, 1958 which was the last week Batista was in power before Castro came in
It was the last week of this kind of a circus that Havana was
An attractive city full of gambling, of burlesque, of every kind of hedonistic pleasure possible
lastliberal
I just never get tired of seeing the jubilant masses in Havana on January 1st, 1959, as the rats go scurrying to their boats and planes to escape the results of their support and participation in a cruel regime. It doesn't matter whether I am watching The Godfather or Soy Cubba or Havana, the exhilaration is the same.Robert Redford and director Sydney Pollack join together in what is billed as Casblanca in the Caribbean. Redford is great as usual and may be a worthy successor to Bogart. The dialog in the film was also good, as was the score - beautiful music! Of course, I was excited to see Lena Olin (the Ingrid Bergman character). As a big fan of Auturo Perez-Reverte, I enjoyed seeing her in The Ninth Gate and am glad she is here in her first American film. She was magnificent.Raul Julia played her husband. He always adds to any film he appears in.
AD
