June 12 movie: Cha Cha Cha Boom. Santa Salsera and I watched this movie because it promised to star Perez Prado. Well here's the problem. Prado apparently spoke no English, so whenever he's on screen and not performing he's this mute figure, just standing around while the other characters discuss his future as if he wasn't even there. And the movie was a B picture at best, so Prado only gets a few musical numbers & the rest go to other acts we'd never heard of, who weren't nearly as good. And being a B movie, the movie part of the movie was really, really bad.
Watching this movie I came to the realization that the editing may be the single worst flaw in a bad movie. I can forgive bad dialogue, bad acting, a stupid plot. It's the editing that makes a bad movie feel so interminable. When you think about it, it's an achievement of sorts to make a movie full of Perez Prado mambos seem to drag on forever.
Which is not even to mention the racist element of a bunch of white record producers lifting Prado out of obscurity -- in the movie he isn't already famous in Cuba, but is discovered working on a sugar plantation! He leads the band which plays at the monthly fiesta for the plantation workers. (How a sugar plantation managed to get a full orchestra on staff is never explained.) The Americans take him back to New York and put him in a concert with their other no-name acts and boom, now Prado is a star.
I think you can tell that I didn't enjoy this movie at all. I think my time would have been better spent listening to a Prado CD. Thie movie reminded me a lot of Bop Girl Goes Calypso, which is not a recommendation. Santa Salsera said the movies Prado made in Mexico were much better. I think even without subtitles they would have to be more engaging than Cha Cha Cha Boom.
Post a comment