The Mambo Kings

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Me and my little brother here...

...we're going to New York now.

We're going to make an orchestra.

Biggest songwriter in Cuba

sitting right there, Nestor Castillo.

We're going to call it

"Kings of the Mambo" ...

...something like that.

You know, we could use a pretty girl

like you to pose for the album cover.

If you'd be interested.

We're gonna set

New York on fire, baby.

That's for you, lady.

Thanks.

- So are you famous?

- All over Cuba.

Hey, brother, listen to this.

"The D.D. v anderbilt

Practical Secret of Success."

- Success.

- Success.

- Success.

- Success.

The hell with it.

"Whether you're rich or poor...

...Chinaman, Indian

or from the planet Mars...

...this book can change your life."

Something tells me...

...I'm gonna be sorry

I ever got him that book.

His English ain't so good.

I think Cuban accents are sexy.

You think so?

Let's go! Come on!

Forget Maria, kid!

Because the best-Iooking girls

in New York...

...are waiting for you right now!

Move over, come on!

Get your paper here!

Schweitzer wins Nobel Peace Prize!

Pablo?

Cesar!

Give me a big hug!

Put him down.

Sure, New York

is just waiting for you!

I've been waiting for you, baby!

Blanca, look at that.

Mama embroidered that.

Come on, get the hell out of here.

Come on, eh?

- What happened?

- Nothing. I cut myself shaving.

- You were lucky you were not killed.

- Will you stop? Please?

Hey, Cesar, what happened?

The man who owned the club

where we played...

...wanted to own us too.

They got into a fight.

And that's why we came.

- To make a new career.

- Make a new career.

Nobody owns

Cesar and Nestor Castillo.

You write the music,

I worry about the business...

...and we're all gonna get rich,

happy and famous in America.

Would you get out of here

with this stupid thing? Stupid kid.

- Where should we make our debut?

- Now, wait a minute...

Come on,

what's the most classy joint in town?

We just got here.

The shrimp that sleeps gets carried

away by a cocktail. Let's not be stupid.

You haven't changed.

Just off the boat, and you think

you'll land a gig downtown.

Ten thousand Latin guys in Jersey...

...playing rent parties,

and he's gonna play the Palladium?

Is that where a gentleman like

Desi Arnaz would play?

The one and only!

Blanca and me were there...

...dance a little bit every weekend.

- That's it. That's it.

- Let's go!

- What?

Please, you think I came to New York

to sit with my feet in hot water?

We're going to the Palladium.

Get up. Come on.

Nando, let's go!

Oh, how beautiful!

Hi, Russ. I love these... Oh.

Who's the big millionaire over here?

Fernando Perez and his wife, Ismelda.

Biggest manager in the business.

He can take you to the top

of el mundo mambo...

...but he'll own your soul.

That's Carlo Ricci next to him.

He owns half the clubs in town.

I love it.

Who is that?

Miguel Montoya,

best arranger in the city.

With him, is his mother, Evalina.

She owns Club Babalu in Harlem.

- Babalu.

- I heard they got shot at once.

But their Yoruba spirits

turned their bullets back.

Santeros.

- Who's the kid next to her?

- Their godson, Frankie Suarez.

Hello.

Two of everything

in this country, huh?

My kind of place.

Come on, there's one for you

and one for me. Come on!

Creep!

Hey! Get away from her!

I got this. I got this covered.

Please. Thank you.

I got it! I got it.

I got this covered. Now, please.

You know, you are a knockout, baby.

I'm just gonna sit here

and buy everything you got to sell.

Thanks, hon, but I think they'll wreck

that nice baritone voice of yours.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God!

If she cooks like she walks,

brother, I am gonna lick her plate!

Stay away from her!

Hey, Tito!

Tito! Remember me?

Let me play!

- Tito!

- Come on, come on.

- Thank you.

- Go ahead, come on, come on.

- Yeah, yeah!

- Thank you.

Look at that!

He's my brother! He's my brother!

- My cousin.

- His cousin! He's my brother!

Where did everybody go?

Come on, guys, inside!

Let's go. Come on!

It was his fate.

- Son of a b*tch had it coming.

- Son of a b*tch ruined my number.

Maybe our chances of a job here

with Tito Puente.

- That's a shame.

- T's going on tour tomorrow, anyway.

Go down to the union and join up.

Everybody can join the union, man.

You need a tunesmith to play

more than a rent party in this town.

I'm Frankie Suarez.

- You play an instrument?

- Los bongos.

If you play like you dance,

let's get together.

Remember, tomorrow is work.

We gotta be up with the birdies.

You didn't get much sleep on the bus.

There's enough time to sleep

when I'm dead.

- Good night.

- Cesar Castillo.

I am so enchanted to have met you,

I can't tell you.

Lanna Lake.

Honey, you're the cat's meow

on-stage!

I know that. Thank you.

You know, my brother and I

are making our own orchestra.

We could use a pretty girl like you

to pose for the album cover.

Modeling is my chosen profession,

honey.

Anyway, all this modeling ever got me

was a Miss Teenage America Pageant...

...and a spread in Seventeen magazine.

A spread, huh?

In Seventeen magazine.

- I was tickled pink.

- Pink.

Then I left Sandusky

and I moved right to New York.

But, honey...

...what the judges liked,

the magazine didn't.

I was just a little too broad

in the beam.

Lucky for us, I'm not a magazine.

I played a few choruses,

but I never made the Rockettes.

I couldn't take all the creeps

making passes at me in the clubs.

So when I landed this job

with the bouncers to protect me...

...I thanked my lucky stars.

In Cuba, a girl like you

would need an army to protect you.

You shouldn't complain so much.

I bet you say that to all the girls.

You're my first American beauty.

Really?

And I'm the Statue of Liberty.

You know, you're so beautiful, Lanna.

You're not so bad yourself.

Statue of Liberty, huh?

That's beautiful. Say that again.

Te quiero, baby.

And I "te quiero" you too, baby.

I love this country.

I thought you believed in me.

In our love.

I was wrong.

Since you married Luis...

... there is nothing left for me in Cuba.

And so I've gone to America

with Cesar.

A new country.

New life.

Without you.

But someday you'll hear my song:

"Beautiful Maria of My Soul."

And then, you will know

that you are my destiny...

... as I am yours.

Don't worry. It's gonna happen

for us here, kid.

I can feel it.

In the name of the Mambo

and the Rumba and the Cha-cha-cha.

Would you get to work?

You crazy?

Aren't you the msico loco

that got up at the Palladium?

This is the guy.

Tell me, how do you cross

your sticks like that?

That was some show

you put on last night, man.

- You saw my solo?

- Solo?

You almost did that solo

on your ass!

- But Tito liked you.

- They were at the Palladium.

Anyway, I'm Pito. This is Willie.

Are you fellas musicians?

Who isn't?

- Let's show them how we warm up.

- Watch, man.

I play timbales, he plays the bass.

This is not the Palladium, guys.

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