Plot
In the early 1950s, Cuban brothers and musicians Cesar (Armand Assante) and Nestor Castillo (Antonio Banderas) flee from Havana, Cuba after getting into a violent dispute with the mobster owners of a club where they performed. Eventually ending up in New York City, 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 Cesar.
Nestor, in the meantime, remains oblivious to other women while continually composing his ode to his lost Cuban love, Maria (Talisa Soto). 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 schoolteacher. 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 and Dolores's home, Arnaz generously invites the struggling Castillos to sing and act on an episode of his smash sitcom series, I Love Lucy.
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. Cesar, meantime, suppresses his true feelings, that a woman like Dolores would actually be perfect for him. Cesar eventually reveals to Nestor that Maria left him for a Cuban mobster in exchange for cancelling a contract hit against Nestor.
There are tragic consequences one snowy night when the Castillo brothers' car veers off the road and into a tree. Cesar, in the back seat of the vehicle, is barely hurt, but Nestor, having driven the car, is killed. The life of Cesar, shattered, is never the same. To honor his brother's memory, Cesar opens his own small club, which is well received. Dolores pays him a visit and asks him to sing Nestor's song for her.
Read more about this topic: The Mambo Kings
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