Rubén Blades Movies

In this frothy romantic comedy set in a small Texas town, a never-married high school principal starts a scandal when she falls in love with the handsome school janitor. Unfortunately, he is Mexican and she Anglo. The local community frowns on such relationships and ultimately, their new love seems doomed. This film was made especially for cable television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Danny Glover and Ruben Blades costar in this made-for-cable death row thriller. Blades plays a condemned prisoner, while Glover plays his psychiatrist. The prisoner's behavior is so violent and erratic that he may be too sick to execute. Glover is brought in to calm Blades down--and if he does so, he will certify that Blades is ready for execution. Dead Man Out first aired over HBO on March 11, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This program features musical performances by 14 artists such as Albita and Luis Enrique. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

This animated musical retells Dickens's Oliver Twist amongst animals in New York City, with Oliver as an innocent kitten who joins a gang of law-breaking dogs. When Oliver is adopted by a wealthy young woman, the gang's evil human owner hatches a kidnapping scheme to tap into the girl's fortune. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Columbian refugees enter Venezuela illegally hoping for a better life in this tragic drama. The group encounters political and economic problems as they try to adjust to life in a new land. A love triangle and a drug deal that result in death are included in the film debut for director Marilda Vera. Ruben Blades provides an effective musical score. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This program is part of the Rabbit Ears series that seeks to share the different beliefs of people from all over the world with children. During this episode, kids will learn all about young Joseph who was betrayed by his brothers. It's an important story that talks about forgiveness and the way that good people can often prevail against evil. The music is provided by Strunz and Farah. ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide

In the second tape of the three-tape documentary Roots of Rhythm, host Harry Belafonte leads the viewer on a tour of the blossoming of Latin music in the Cuban and Caribbean cultures. Featuring performances by some of the best known Latin performers including Tito Puente, Desi Arnaz, and Ruben Blades, this volume sets the stage for the explosion of Latin flavored music into the world of popular culture. ~ Sean Hurley, All Movie Guide

Afro-Cuban music throughout the world is profiled in this video tracing its path from African and Spain into the Caribbean, the United States and onto the rest of the world. ~ All Movie Guide

Born in New York in the '60s, salsa is a hip grooving fusion of jazz, pop, and traditional Latin melodies. Filmed in 1979, this video offers a documentation of the scene as it existed then, featuring performances by such stars as Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, and Celia Cruz. Besides being a performance video, this tape is a documentary about the roots of this exciting brand of dance music, transporting viewers back to Puerto Rico to investigate salsa's birth in the rituals of Santeria, a fusion of Animism and Catholicism. ~ Rob Ferrier, All Movie Guide

This documentary on human rights abuses in Guatemala is narrated by Rigoberta Menchú, winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace prize for her courageous struggle against the military regime in her country. Menchú is a Native American and in this documentary, it is explained that three of her family members were killed during the long fight against the repressive government. One segment of the film shows the bodies left in the wake of a government massacre of civilians. Menchú maintains that as long as the U.S. continues to support the Guatemalan government with military or economic aid, the lives of civilians will continue to be the cost of that support. Two fictional segments in the film illustrate U.S. concerns about business and corporate interests, rather than with human rights. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Hong Kong emigrant Wayne Wang directed and co-wrote (with Paul Theroux, Jean-Claude Carriere and Larry Gross) this story set in "the Pearl of the Orient" as the British government prepared to hand over the city to China in 1997. John (Jeremy Irons) is an English journalist who has lived in the city for some time; while in some ways he still feels like an outsider, he's come to think of Hong Kong as a home and has close friends there. John is also in love with Vivian (Gong Li), a one-time prostitute who now runs a bar owned by her fiancé, Chang (Michael Hui). John is struggling with the realization that he can never have Vivian as his own, when he learns that he has leukemia; the British are to give the reigns of power back to the Chinese in six months, but John's doctors tell him he isn't likely to live long enough to see it happen. He quits his job and begins wandering the streets, recording his observations of the city on videotape when he meets Jean (Maggie Cheung), a young woman who makes her way selling whatever she can scavenge, and who hides a secret behind the scarves that obscure her face. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The sometimes rocky relationship between art and politics in America in the 1930s -- as well as the gulf between the wealthy and the struggling -- sets the stage for Tim Robbins' ambitious comedy-drama Cradle Will Rock. Pulling together a variety of threads from actual events, Robbins examines the lives and ambitions of a variety of creative mavericks and figures of power. Orson Welles (Angus Macfadyen) and John Houseman (Cary Elwes) are working with Marc Bliztstein (Hank Azaria) to stage the latter's leftist musical "The Cradle Will Rock" for the WPA-funded Federal Theater Project. After Congress cuts funding for the embattled Federal Theater over the perceived leftist slant of their presentations, the project is canceled on the day of its premier. Welles and his cast respond by marching 21 blocks from the theater where the show was to open to another venue where, in deference to Actors Equity regulations, they perform the entire show from the audience. A member of Welles' cast, Aldo Silvano (John Turturro), is a dedicated actor from Italy who is trying to resolve his attitudes about his family, who loyally support Mussolini, to Silvano's disgust. Meanwhile, El Duce's former mistress, Margherita Sarfatti (Susan Sarandon), is consorting with industrial tycoon Gray Mathers (Philip Baker Hall) -- whose wife, Contesse LaGrange (Vanessa Redgrave) is a friend and supporter of Welles' project. Elsewhere, Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) has hired expatriot Mexican artist Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to create a mural for his projected Rockefeller Center, but the two are soon locking horns over their different views on art, politics and the work at hand. And a ventriloquist fallen on hard times, Tommy Crickshaw (Bill Murray), finds himself trying to teach both comedy and speaking without lip movements to a pair of would-be performers at a WPA-backed vaudeville house. William Randolph Hearst (John Carpenter), Marion Davies (Gretchen Mol), Frida Kahlo (Corina Katt), and Olive Stanton (Emily Watson) are also woven into the tapestry of this historical epic, which premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide