Desi Arnaz Movies
A musican, singer, songwriter, actor and television producer, Arnaz came to the US from Cuba when he was sixteen and became a professional bandleader of popular Latin music. He married actress Lucille Ball in 1940 and, in 1951, costarred with her in their long-running and successful television series, I Love Lucy, in which he played the charming but long-suffering husband/straightman, Ricky Ricardo, a successful nightclub owner and entertainer. Arnaz insisted that the series be photographed on 35mm film at a time when syndicated reruns were a thing of the future and a TV show was lucky to even be preserved as a 16mm kinescope. He hired top Hollywood cinematographer Karl Freund for the job and supervised the entire making of the series through his and Ball's company, Desilu Productions. Arnaz appeared in several films with and without Ball up until 1960 when they were divorced and she bought out his interest in Desilu. In 1982 he came out of retirement to play a corrupt mayor and father to Raul Julia in the film, The Escape Artist. He died of lung cancer in 1986. ~ Bruce Lawton, Rovi
- 2005
- Add Broadway's Lost Treasures, Vol. 3 to Queue Add Broadway's Lost Treasures, Vol. 3 to top of Queue
Experience the performances that made Broadway history in this release that compiles twenty-three unforgettable musical performances from the Tony Award broadcast archives. Featuring such stars as Harvey Fierstein, Robert Goulet, and Carol Channing in performances from Show Boat, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Kiss Me Kate, My Fair Lady and many more, this release brings the magic of the stage directly into your living room. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
In addition to highlighting some of Lucille Ball's funniest TV moments, Lucy's Lost Episodes includes various commercial endorsements and appearances, as well as providing information on her contribution to charities. The actress herself was very much involved with making a difference in the lives of those afflicted with cerebral palsy and debilitating heart conditions. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- 1997
Though many fans will always fondly recall Judy Garland's wonderful portrayal of young Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Garland herself was apparently most proud of the role she played in A Star Is Born. In this film, which opened in 1954, Garland portrayed an actress who sees her career blossom as her husband's declines. This video features clips from the film's glamorous premiere held on September 29, 1954, at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre. Viewers will see a vast array of other stars arriving at this event that foreshadowed Garland's Academy Award nomination for this role. An added segment features Garland and Ken Murray, who was well-known for his "Hollywood Home Movies." ~ Elizabeth Smith, Rovi
Lucy Arnaz, daughter of comedy duo Desi and Lucie Arnaz, hosts this intimate retrospective of her legendary parents' lives. Featuring never-before-seen color family movies, as well as a variety of interviews with family, friends, and business associates, this documentary sheds a sometimes painful light on the joyous ups and bitter downs enjoyed and suffered by this couple. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- 1991
Here's a slew of songs taken from the popular I Love Lucy series. Included here are: "Babalu Rap" (Produced by "Weird" Al Yankovic), and Lucy's theme song, the "Friendship" duet, "Cuban Pete," "Straw Hat Song," "Cheek to Cheek," "Babalu," "California Here I Come," "We're Having a Baby." ~ Rovi
- 1990
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. ~ Rovi
- 1990
Lucille Ball is honored in this program which features many of her television and film appearances. ~ Rovi
- 1987
This program includes a parade of jingles and authentic advertisements for cigarettes - all from the carefree days when smoking still seemed to be fun and glamorous (before sobering medical information made abstaining from smoking both a prudent lifestyle choice and an inflammatory social cause). Also included are nostalgic clips from TV shows and movies that made the stars look very cool, romantic, tough, and elegant while smoking. Testimonials by John Wayne, Steve McQueen, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, James Garner, and Fred Flintstone are included (some of whom were cancer victims). ~ Alice Duncan, Rovi
The Escape Artist represents the laudable directorial debut of cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. Griffin O'Neal, the real-life son of Ryan O'Neal, plays Danny Masters, the offspring of a famed magician. Determined to match his dad's accomplishment, Danny runs into nothing but trouble. His biggest mistake is picking the pocket of the son of a corrupt town mayor. When not running from adults, the boy is being exploited by them. A critic's favorite, Escape Artist has slowly built up a cult following over the years, thanks largely to its eclectic supporting cast, including Raul Julia, Desi Arnaz Jr., Joan Hackett, Teri Garr, Jackie Coogan, Huntz Hall and M. Emmet Walsh. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Griffin O'Neal, Raul Julia, (more)
- 1978
Desi Arnaz and Janis Paige respectively guest-star as a philandering Cuban photographer and his long-suffering wife. When the photographer makes a play for Alice (Linda Lavin), his wife jumps to the erroneous conclusion that our heroine is the latest "other woman." It falls to Alice to act as counselor between the tempestuous couple. (Factoid: Alice was at this time produced by Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll, who had previously spent several lucrative years in the employ of Desi Arnaz as head writers of I Love Lucy). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1976
This 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Desi Arnaz, who also serves as musical guest with his son, Desi Arnaz Jr. ~ Skyler Miller, Rovi
- Starring:
- Desi Arnaz, Desi Arnaz, Jr., (more)
- 1962
In hopes of breathing life into the series' dormant ratings, ABC moved The Untouchables from the Thursday to Tuesday evening, removing the threat of NBC ratings-grabbing Sing Along with Mitch and counterprogramming the now four-year-old crime drama opposite the presumably "soft" competion of The Dick Powell Show and The Jack Benny Program. Alas, both of the competing programs held tightly to their timeslots, and The Untouchables was cancelled. In the months before the inevitable axing, the series' producers tried to hypo the show by encouraging star Robert Stack to lighten up his portrayal of flinty-eyed 1930s treasury agent Elliott Ness and make the character more human and vulnerable. There are also a handful of attempts to generate audience interest by offering potential Untouchables spinoffs. One of these, "Elegy", was planned as the pilot for a series starring Barbara Stanwyck as Lt. Aggie Stewart of the Bureau of Missing Persons. Two others, "Bird in the Hand" and "Jake Dance", were designed as trial balloons for a weekly show featuring Dane Clark as Dr. Victor Garr of the US Public Health Service. And finally, Scott Brady was headlined in "The Floyd Gibbons Story", an effort to transform colorful one-eyed journalist and globetrotter Gibbons into a viable TV-series leading man. More interesting than these failed pilots are the guest appearances by a number of stars in the making during The Untouchables' fourth and final season. The episode "Snowball" featured not only Robert Redford but also Star Trek's future "Chekov" Walter Koenig; Robert Duvall was given ample screen footage in "Blues for a Gone Goose"; and though Lee Marvin is officially the guest star in "A Fist of Five", it was hard to ignore the up-and-coming James Caan in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1961
Earning its highest-ever ratings during its second season, The Untouchables rapidly spiralled downhill during Season Three, ending up only 41st out of the 50 top shows. No, treasury agent Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) and his team had not finally been gunned down by the minions of gang boss Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon), nor had the series' producers been laid low by the complaints of special-interest groups who objected to the series' violence and preponderance of Italian villains. What was killing The Untouchables was its Thursday-night competition on NBC, the comparatively innocuous and benign musical series Sing Along with Mitch! Even so, the episodes this season were well up to par, with a wealth of prominent guest actors: Peter Falk, Telly Savalas, Lee Marvin, Martin Landau, Dyan Cannon, Patricia Neal, Martin Balsam and Cloris Leachman. Also seen during Season Three in comparatively minor roles were two actors on the cusp of stardom: Leonard Nimoy and Ed Asner. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1960
Perhaps inevitably, the more popular the ABC crime drama The Untouchables became, the louder the series' detractors complained. Reaching its ratings peak as America's eighth-most-watched program during its second season, the series, which elaborated in the most violent fashion imaginable on the career of treasury agent Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) as he and his team of "Untouchables" challenged the criminal element of Depression-era Chicago, was besieged by a flock of clean-up-TV advocates, church and school groups, and especially the Italian Anti-Defamation League, which condemned the series for its preponderance of Italian villains. Executive producer Desi Arnaz argued that many of the real-life gangsters were indeed Italian, whereupon their critics counter-argued that the scriptwriters tended to use Italian-sounding names even for the series' fictional bad guys. Everyone from the Longshoreman's Union (which threatened not to deliver the sponsors' product) to singer Frank Sinatra converged upon Arnaz, and there were even rumors that The Mob had put out a contract on the beleagured producer (reportedly, the higher-ups figured that killing Desi wouldn't be worth the trouble). Finally, the producers agreed that, beginning with the series' third season, none of the fictional gangsters would be Italian, and that the genuine Italian miscreants would be counterbalanced with honest, upright and incorruptible Italian-American supporting characters--notably Nick Georgiade in the recurring role of "Untouchable" Enrico Rossi. Highlights of Season Two include Elizabeth Montgomery's bravura, Emmy-nominated portrayal of a duplicitous gun moll in the opening episode, "The Rusty Heller Story"; "Jack 'Legs' Diamond", with future Law&Order star Steven Hill in the title role and Robert Carricart as Lucky Luciano; "Augie 'The Banker" Ciamino" with Keenan Wynn, who ironically had played straight-arrow "Untouchable" Joe Fuselli in the series' two-hour pilot; and "Mr. Moon", which garnered a great deal of critical attention due the starring performance by 23-year-old Victor Buono. And as had happened with the first season "The Unhired Assassin", the second season of The Untouchables is distinguished by another elaborate two-part episode, "The Big Train", which brings Neville Brand back as Ness' number one nemesis Al Capone--and which got the producers into trouble (again!) by suggesting that the incarcerated Capone had been given preferential treatment in the Atlanta Pentitentiary. Also in the tradition of "The Unhired Assassin", "The Big Train" was later released theatrically as Alcatraz Express. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1959
Introduced as a highly successful two-party dramatization on the CBS anthology Desilu Playhouse, The Untouchables officially began its four-season ABC run in the fall of 1959, with Robert Stack returning as grim-visaged 1930s treasury agent Elliot Ness and Neville Brand making token appearances as his nemesis Al Capone ("Big Al" would virtually disappear from the series proper after the Capone estate threatened to sue producer Desi Arnaz for unfairly profiting on the Capone name). The premiere episode, "The Empty Chair", depicts the power struggle to control all illegal activities in Chicago after Capone's arrest for income-tax evasion in 1931. Nehemiah Persoff is the series' first guest star, cast as real-life hoodlum Jake Gusik, while Bruce Gordon is established as Capone's heir apparent Frank Nitti, who would get his own episode, "The Frank Nitti Story" (what else?) a few weeks later. Other genuine lawbreakers depicted during Season One include Ma Barker, played by Claire Trevor in an episode that incurred the wrath of the FBI for suggesting that Ness was largely responsible for Barker's downfall; George "Bugs" Moran, enacted by Lloyd Nolan; Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, portrayed by Clu Gulager; Dutch Schultz, impersonated by Lawrence Dobkin; and Wally Legenza, cold-blooded leader of the vicious Tri-State Gang, played by William Bendix. The highlight of the season is the two-part "Unhired Assassin", reenacted the unsuccessful attempt by a fanatic named Zangara (Joe Mantell) to assassinate president-elect Franklin Roosevelt; Robert Middleton played Zangara's ultimate victim, Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, in this extended episode, which was later released theatrically as Guns of Zangara. Though The Untouchables never got any higher than 43rd in the ratings during its first season, the series was nonetheless very popular with fans and not so popular with advocates of non-violent television, who would of course become more vocal as the series became more successful in subsequent seasons. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
When Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz beat the odds against TV stars succeeding on the big screen in The Long, Long Trailer (1954), MGM contracted America's favorite couple for a second theatrical feature. Forever Darling casts Desi as Lorenzo Xavier Vega, a brilliant scientist and Lucy as Susan, his neglected wife. Wishing out loud that her husband would pay attention to her, Susan is surprised to find her Guardian Angel standing in her living room. Even more surprising is the fact that said angel is an exact double for Susan's favorite movie star, James Mason. Following the angel's advice, Susan tags along when Lorenzo takes a trip in the woods to test out a revolutionary new insecticide. Hoping that the trip will constitute a second honeymoon, poor Susan is in for a major disappointment; as for Lorenzo, he must suffer his wife's well-intentioned "assistance," which of course is no help at all. After a number of I Love Lucy-style comic situations, the couple is on the verge of divorce, but the angelic Mason straightens things out. Forever Darling tanked at the box office, but at least Desi Arnaz cultivated a hit song by recording the title tune. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
Several changes occurred in the I Love Lucy format during the series' sixth and final season on the air. For one thing, little Richard Keith, a talented six-year-old drummer, was cast in the role of Little Ricky, the son of Cuban bandleader Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) and his wacky wife Lucy (Lucille Ball) (the character had previously been played by uncredited infants). For another, Ricky had quit his job at New York's Tropicana Club and opened his own nitery, the Club Babalu. With more money coming into the Ricardo household, Lucy and Ricky decide to leave New York City and move into an attractively appointed ranch house in suburban Connecticut. Not surprisingly, the Ricardos' longtime friends Fred and Ethel Mertz (William Frawley and Vivian Vance) likewise make the big move to the 'burbs. The change of locale also permits the introduction of two new characters, the Ricardos' next-door neighbors Ralph and Betty Ramsey (Frank Nelson, Mary Jane Croft). Despite the scenery shifting, I Love Lucy still delivers laughs in its classic, time-tested manner with Lucy hatching zany schemes and getting her family and friends knotted up in a variety of ridiculous situations. One episode, "Lucy Raises Chickens," features the longest sustained audience laughter in the series' history -- proof positive that the bloom was definitely not off the rose for this venerable property. Other highlights of I Love Lucy's final season (at least in its half-hour format) include guest appearance by Bob Hope, Orson Welles, and George Reeves (in his familiar guise as "Superman"); a Christmas episode comprised of clips from earlier seasons, which for many years was removed from the series' syndication package and did not resurface publicly until 1989; and the last I Love Lucy installment, "The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue," in which Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz' real-life son Desi Arnaz Jr. makes his TV acting debut. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
I Love Lucy boasted a new sponsor (General Foods, taking over from Philip Morris Cigarettes), a new director, and new addition to its writing staff for its fifth season on the air. Otherwise, it's the same old zany redhead Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) making life hilariously chaotic for her Cuban bandleader husband, Ricky (Desi Arnaz), and the Ricardos' best friends, Ethel and Fred Mertz (Vivian Vance, William Frawley). In a continuation of a story arc from Season Four, the Ricardos and the Mertzes are still visiting Hollywood at the outset of Season Five, allowing Lucy a memorable meeting with superstar John Wayne. Later in the season, the four principals head to Europe, joining Ricky's band on a tour of the continent. This premise leads to one of the series' most famous episodes, "Lucy's Italian Movie", wherein our heroine auditions for an Italian neo-realist film by showing off her skill at crushing grapes with her feet. The European jaunt is also highlighted by a mini-musical set in Scotland, and an unforgettable encounter with veteran screen heartthrob Charles Boyer. Although I Love Lucy was still CBS' most popular sitcom, its overall ratings slipped to second place during its fifth season, just behind the game show The $64,000 Question. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
At the height of their TV fame, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were contracted by MGM to make two theatrical films. The first of these, The Long, Long Trailer, stars Lucy and Desi as an upwardly mobile couple who decide to buy a trailer so they can live together while his job takes him around the country. Thanks to their naivete in such matters, they end up with a huge, bulky RV that costs five times what they planned. Their "seeing America" trip turns out to be a slapstick disaster, topped by Lucy's foolish decision to hide a heavy rock collection in the trailer; as Desi tries to maneuver a treacherous mountain road, the weighted-down home-on-wheels nearly loses its balance and almost tumbles off a cliff. The story is told in flashback, as Desi 'splains the breakup of his marriage to a motel court manager. Happily, Lucy shows up, goes "Waaaaah" a little, and all is forgiven. Despite the fact that audiences were getting Ball and Arnaz for free each week on television, The Long, Long Trailer was a big hit at the box-office. The film was adapted by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich from a novel by Clinton Twiss, with uncredited assistance from the I Love Lucy writing staff. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
Even though I Love Lucy was still America's top-rated series as it entered its fourth season, the producers -- including Desi Arnaz, who also starred as Cuban bandleader Ricky Ricardo -- decided it was time to freshen up the format a bit with a change of scenery. Thus, Ricky, his zany wife Lucy (Lucille Ball) and their friends Ethel and Fred Mertz (Vivian Vance, William Frawley) leave their familiar Manhattan environs and head Westward to Hollywood, where Ricky is slated to star in a musical movie version of Don Juan. With this in mind, it is only logical that I Love Lucy would for the first time in its existence traffic heavily in celebrity guest stars during its fourth season. Among the Hollywood notables making hilarious guest appearances are William Holden (who struggles manfully to keep a straight face as Lucy sets her false nose afire), Van Johnson, Richard Widmark, Cornel Wilde, and Hedda Hopper. The uncontested high point of this "big star" syndrome is Lucy's unforgettable encounter with the great Harpo Marx, recreating the classic "mirror scene" from the Marx Brothers' 1933 movie Duck Soup. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
Though it was hard to top the "pregnancy" throughline that permeated the second season of I Love Lucy, the series maintained its ranking as America's favorite TV program throughout its third year on the air. Back for more fun and laughter were Lucille Ball as wacky housewife Lucy Ricardo, Desi Arnaz as her long-suffering Cuban bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo, and Vivian Vance and William Frawley as Ethel and Fred Mertz, the Ricardos' best friends. New to the series (though never given billing) were twin infants Michael and Joseph Meyer as the Ricardos' baby son, Ricky Jr., aka "Little Ricky." Highlights of season three include the episode in which Lucy bets Ricky and the Mertzes that she can't go 24 hours without telling a fib, the foredoomed efforts by Lucy and Ethel to open a dress shop, the Ricardos' and Mertzes' plan to purchase a diner, and the chaotic results when Lucy and Ricky subject themselves to a joint magazine interview. Prominent among the supporting players this season is Doris Singleton in her first appearance as Lucy's garrulous friend, Caroline Appleby. Also, I Love Lucy tentatively dips its toes into the guest-star pool during season three with golf-pro Jimmy Demaret and singer-comedian Tennessee Ernie Ford making memorable appearances. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
America's third most popular TV show during its first season, I Love Lucy skyrocketed to number one during Season Two -- no small thanks to the fact that the real-life pregnancy of Lucille Ball was brilliantly written into the script (though such was TV censorship at the time that the would "pregnant" could never be spoken). On January 19, 1953, Lucy Ricardo was wheeled into the delivery room -- the same night that the actress who played her gave birth to her son Desi Jr. "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" was not only the most-watched TV episode up to that time, but the news of the "double birth" was of sufficient import to knock coverage of President Eisenhower's first inauguration off the front pages of newspapers all over the country! Even without the legendary "Lucy is expecting" story arc and climax, Season Three of I Love Lucy deserves special mention in the record books for yielding one of the series' all-time best and funniest episodes: "ob Switching," in which Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance) end up working the conveyor belt at a candy factory -- with marvelously messy results. In addition to regulars Ball, Vance, Desi Arnaz (as Ricky Ricardo), and William Frawley (as Fred Mertz), the third season of I Love Lucy featured a stellar collection of top character actors including Charles Lane, Hans Conried, and Elizabeth Patterson in her first appearance as the Ricardos' fussy neighbor, Mrs. Trumble. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
By the time the first 35 episodes of I Love Lucy had been shown on CBS' Monday night lineup, virtually everybody in America loved zany redhead Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball), her Cuban bandleader husband Ricky (Desi Arnaz) and their landlords and best friends, Fred and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance, William Frawley). The series admirably set up most of the standard situations that would endear it to the viewing public within its first two months on the air. In the debut episode "The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub," Lucy pulls off her first "disguise scene" to fool Ricky; in "Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her" (the first episode filmed, but not the first one shown), our heroine takes a minor misunderstanding to hitherto unscaled farcical heights; and in "The Diet," Lucy makes the first of innumerable attempts to break into show business. Other memorable first-season episodes include: "The Audition," which was actually a remake of the original 1950 I Love Lucy pilot, treating fans to the actual nightclub act in which Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz appeared prior to their TV debut; "The Séance" would be memorable but for the classic line "Ethel to Tillie...Ethel to Tillie..."; "Lucy Fakes Illlness" is highlighted by Lucy's dead-on imitation of Tallulah Bankhead; and "Pioneer Women" features the outrageous "fast-rising bread" gag. Best of all, not to mention one of the most famous individual half-hour episodes in TV history, is "Lucy Does a TV Commercial," in which an increasingly besotted Lucy tries to extol the praises of that miracle concoction "Vitameatavegamin." ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
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