Rubén Blades Movies

Following Serpico (1973) and Prince of the City (1981), veteran urban crime film director Sidney Lumet completed a thematic trilogy about New York City police corruption with this noir drama. When New York City cop Mike Brennan (Nick Nolte) shoots an unarmed Hispanic drug dealer in cold blood, he quickly plants a gun on his victim and manufactures some eyewitness testimony. D.A. Kevin Quinn (Patrick O'Neal) calls in his assistant district attorney, Al Reilly (Timothy Hutton), to conduct a perfunctory investigation of the incident, but Brennan's obvious guilt during a question and answer session makes Reilly dig deeper. The crusading lawyer is soon uncovering a web of corruption that reaches from Brennan into Quinn's office. At the same time, Reilly learns that his ex-girlfriend Nancy Bosch (Jenny Lumet, the director's daughter), is now dating his chief witness, Puerto Rican drug dealer Bobby Texador (Armand Assante). Q&A (1990) was based on the novel by Edwin Torres, a New York State Supreme Court judge whose two other novels were later adapted into the film Carlito's Way (1993). Lumet would again return to the subject of New York's corrupt criminal justice system with Night Falls on Manhattan (1997). ~ Karl Williams, 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 this first tape of the three-tape documentary Roots of Rhythm, host Harry Belafonte traces the roots of the musical form that has come to be called Latin music. From its origins in Africa and Spain, Belafonte details the evolution of the rhythms that would eventually be carried across the sea on slave ships. Featuring archival clips of early Latin superstars, the video sets the historical stage for a thorough exploration of this passion-filled musical form. ~ Sean Hurley, All Movie Guide

In this final volume of the three-tape documentary Roots of Rhythm, host Harry Belafonte chronicles the rise to fame and fortune of Latin-influenced performers. As in the first two volumes, Roots of Rhythm, Vol. 3: To the Top of the Charts features the performances of some of the leading lights in the field of Latin music including Dizzy Gillespie, King Sunny Ade, the Miami Sound Machine, and many more. ~ Sean Hurley, All Movie Guide

Native Panamanian singer, actor, politician, and lawyer (with a Harvard degree in International Law) Ruben Blades performs, talks, and travels around in this documentary on his triumphant return to Panama City. Alternating between interviews with Blades and segments from his music (with his band Seis del Solar and singer Linda Ronstadt) that illustrate his positions on the values of traditional Latin culture, director Robert Mugge has fashioned an entertaining and illuminating documentary. (Blades ran for president of Panama in 1994 and came in second.) ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This violent crime drama has its dramatic roots in old spaghetti westerns. It is set in a small southwestern town on the US-Mexican border. The ordeal begins as a lone Frenchman hitchhikes. He is boorish, misogynistic actor Denis Brabant who was dumped there by his lover after he informed her of his wife's pregnancy. Meanwhile, all-around good guy Zac Cross is on a phone trying to convince his lover, Beth, to return to him. Denis asks for a ride. Zac, who is low on cash decides to take him in provided he pay his way. They load up Zac's convertible and set off. Soon they end up entangled with Astor, a drug dealer, and the non English-speaking Mexican girl Nadia, who hit the travelers up for a ride across the border. Along the way, they encounter a variety of self-serving characters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

James Redford, the son of actor and filmmaker Robert Redford, made his directorial debut with this independent coming-of-age drama set in the 1950s. After his parents are killed in the wreck of a light plane, young Eddie Haley (Max Madore) is left in the care of his uncle Frank (Stanley Tucci), an emotionally removed man who was once a major in the air force. When Frank decides to take an extended leave of his ranch in Arizona, Eddie is left behind with caretaker Ernesto (Rubén Blades) and his wife, Margaret (Dana Delany), a schoolteacher. Ernesto and Margaret are caring and capable surrogate parents to Eddie, but the boy has grown into a troubled and hot-headed teenager (now played by Ryan Merriman) by the time Frank comes back. As both Ernesto and Frank try to put Eddie back on the right track, the young man struggles with his decisions about his future, his love for his classmate Francesca (Paula Garcés), and some unanswered questions about the death of his parents. Spin was adapted from a novel by Donald Everett Axinn. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Brian Gibson's made-for-cable biography of the famed singer Josephine Baker stars Lynn Whitfield as the black American who found stardom and scandal as the toast of the Paris night-life during the 1920s and '30s. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Diane Keaton, Carol Kane and Kathryn Grody are the title "siblings," three unrelated women who perform as a lounge trio and struggle to come up with the money to buy their own club. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

It's advisable to know from the beginning of The Milagro Beanfield War that "milagro" is the Spanish word for "miracle". The scene is a rundown Hispanic community in New Mexico, bordering a posh housing development. In full control of the local water rights, the powers-that-be are secure in the belief that they'll be able to expand their development without resistance from the locals. No one can foresee that impoverished farmer Chick Vennera, during a burst of frustrated rage, will accidentally open a heretofore hidden sluice, thereby providing free water for his beanfield. At first, the locals are against Vennera's "insurrection", reasoning that the new housing development will provide jobs. But with the help of John Heard, a burned-out 60s activist who now runs the community newspaper, Vennera becomes the hero of the hour, the spiritual leader of an ever-growing "no development" movement. The evil land developers send their minions to intimidate or coerce Vennera; each time, however, he is seemingly protected from harm by Divine intervention. When Vennera is forced to shoot a trespasser on his land, it looks as though his luck has run out. Chased into the hills by private detective Christopher Walken, Vennera is once more rescued in the nick of time by what appears to be a miracle. And there are more wonders to behold before fadeout time! Whimsical yes, but thanks to its hand-picked ensemble cast (including Sonia Braga, Ruben Blades, James Gammon, Daniel Stern, Freddy Fender, M. Emmett Walsh and Melanie Griffith) the film remains totally credible throughout. Adapted by John Nichols and David Ward from Nichols' own novel, Milagro Beanfield War may be the most likeable "liberal-tract" film of the 1980s. Robert Redford's appropriately Capraesque direction is matched by Dave Grusin's vibrant Oscar-winning musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Two Jakes is the much-delayed and rather convoluted sequel to the 1975 classic Chinatown. Released in 1990 after an abortive stab at shooting that began in the mid-'80s, the film was the subject of a creative feud between its principals, star Jack Nicholson, producer Robert Evans, and screenwriter Robert Towne. Private eye Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is a middle-aged war hero, paunchy, snobbish about his golf game, and about to marry a lovely and much younger woman. Then a fleeting reference to a woman he once loved that he heard on a wire recording plunges him into a past he has tried to escape. It comes while he was spying on a philandering wife (Meg Tilly) and her paramour in her motel room for her husband, Jake Berman (Harvey Keitel). Then Berman shocks Gittes when he shoots his wife's lover. Gittes is doubly stunned when he learns that Berman was partners with the dead man in a subdivision that may contain huge oil deposits. So now Gittes wonders, was it justifiable homicide or murder? The answer lies in the wife (Madeleine Stowe) of the dead man, her shady oil baron friend (Richard Farnsworth), and in the past he has tried to avoid. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide