Good 70s Lester
Richard Lester did some remarkable wortk in the 70s, all of it worth looking at. CUBA is probably the least of his efforts in that decade, but still an enchanting film, largely for its photography and its creation of a decadent Cuba teetering on the brink. The fast and fantastic Cuba depicted in the film is more the Cuba of American fantasy and reckless abandon than the real historical Cuba of the Batista era. No one has ever shot rum, cigars, and sleazy nightclubs so lushly. Plot and especially dialogue are below par for Lester, but the film makes a wonderful guilty pleasure.