In this episode we take a look at a pair of films that center themselves around a single piece of music.
First we have 1992’s The Mambo Kings, directed by Arne Glimcher. It’s a bittersweet film that gives us a look at a pair of Cuban immigrants who briefly achieve success as musicians in the 1950s, due to a song that one of them has written about a lost love. There’s a story to that lost love, however, that he doesn’t discover until several years later. And while both Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas do a fine job, we have to give extra points to the women in this film: Maruschka Detmers, Cathy Moriarty and, in a much smaller role as the lost love and subject of the song, Talisa Soto.
Then we have Tom Hanks’ directorial debut from 1996, That Thing You Do! This film also traces the brief rise and fall of a musical act based on a single song, only this one takes place in the early 1960s, in the shadow of the original Beatlemania. And while Sean and Claude share some of the Beatles allusions with you during the show, there are plenty more for you to find on your own as you watch this film. This is a fun little comedy that you can enjoy right up to the last minute…but maybe stop the playback before that last minute happens. Just trust us on this one; we’ll all be a lot happier.