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For a long time, Westerns were indisputably the most popular and widely enjoyed genre of movies that were being made. Throughout the 40s and 50s, the genre rose to immense prominence and birthed some classic Hollywood stars who managed to make their entire careers through this style of filmmaking - from Clint Eastwood to John Wayne, countless actors followed this same path. However, not every Western was an instant classic at this time. There were still many films that didnt quite live up to expectations, or perhaps simply havent aged perfectly, that cant quite be labeled as perfect.

Related 10 Best Westerns That Are Over 3 Hours Long

The Western genre lends itself to epic narratives, with great films over three hours long like Dances with Wolves making a case for longer Westerns.

Many of the best Westerns ever made are those that manage to blend the inherent scope and scale of the genre with more grounded,...

Charles Bronson, star of action movies, westerns, and war films during the late 20th century, was synonymous with "tough" on and off-screen. Bronson's television and film appearances included numerous spaghetti Westerns, including Red Sun. Released in 1972, Red Sun was directed by Terrence Young and starred Ursula Andress (also in Dr. No), Alain Delon, and Toshir Mifune alongside Bronson. It was based on a true story from the American frontier.

When the Japanese ambassador is robbed en route to meet with the US president, bandit Link Stuart (played by Bronson) is double-crossed by his gang. Link ultimately teams up with samurai bodyguard Kuroda (Mifune) to retrieve the ceremonial sword the rest of the gang has made off with. Considered one of the earliest examples of Asian martial arts movies uniting with Western cowboy adventures, Red Sun offers action, drama, and a bit of levity. It is an underrated movie that showcases...

Shooting a feature film in Cuba comes with a unique set of challenges that make the usual logistical hurdles of filmmaking seem like nothing. Still, those who have had the opportunity to shoot in the socialist country say they wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. As the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba comes to an end, film production in the country is expected to ramp up.

While Hollywood studio productions like “Fast 8” and “Transformers: The Last Knight” claimed to be “making history” earlier this year by being the first American films to shoot in Havana in half a century, two American directors had already shot independent films in Cuba on the heels of the relaxed travel restrictions by the United States government: Bob Yari’s “Papa Hemingway in Cuba” and Ben Chace’s “Sin Alas” (“Without Wings”).

Read More: ‘Sin Alas’ – First American Film Shot in Cuba...

The fact-inspired film Papa: Hemingway In Cuba is a prime example of why a good director matters. As some sage once said, “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”

The film is first American film shot in Cuba since Castro’s 1959 revolution, and there is so degree of thrill in seeing Hemingway’s home and the actual locations he frequented. In fact, the story takes place in 1959, with true-story basis loaded with dramatic potential. Sadly, producer-turned -director Bob Yari fails to put to good use to those elements, along with a strong cast. Only the most determined Hemingway devotees will get much out of Yari’s dull, pedestrian film.

Giovanni Ribisi plays young newspaperman Ed Myers (a stand-in for the real journalist Denne Bart Petitclerc, on whose memoir of his friendship with Hemingway the story is based). Ed writes a fan letter of sorts to his idol Hemingway, whom...

At the beginning of Papa: Hemingway in Cuba, Ed Meyers (a lackluster Giovanni Ribisi), a thirty-something journalist with the Miami Globe in 1959, claims that Ernest “Papa” Hemingway (Adrian Sparks), saved his life. He says the author helped him become a writer and provided him with hope during an orphaned childhood. After Ed was fired for misspelling “maybe,” he stayed up nights during his probationary period copying each of Ernest’s short stories. “I learned grammar, dialogue,” essentially everything, he tells him and his wife, Mary (Joely Richardson), on a beach on Havana, Cuba, where the Hemingways live. This is after he makes contact with Ernest which starts a strange kind of friendship between the two – Ed’s thank you letter to Ernest was actually mailed by his girlfriend and colleague, Debbie Hunt (an underused Minka Kelly), because he was too scared to send it.

Ed says, “I needed to tell...

The first Hollywood film to be shot in Cuba since Castro isn’t close but no cigar – the Ernest Hemingway biopic is an oceangoing embarrassment

Papa: Hemingway in Cuba holds the distinction of being the first Hollywood production to shoot on the island nation since 1959. But other film-makers looking to leave their mark need not fret, as there’s still an opportunity to make the first American film shot there since Fidel Castro came to power that isn’t a complete, mortifying embarrassment.

Papa is another biopic-through-the-lens of a young acolyte, similar to the recent debacle Nina, though this time its screenplay was written by the witness himself. Giovanni Ribisi is Ed Myers (name changed from the late Denne Bart Petitclerc), a newspaperman in Miami in the late 1950s. Abandoned by his father at a young age, as we’re told through lugubrious narration, he turned to the books of...

The first Hollywood film to be shot in Cuba since Castro isn’t close but no cigar – the Ernest Hemingway biopic is an oceangoing embarrassment

Papa: Hemingway in Cuba holds the distinction of being the first Hollywood production to shoot on the island nation since 1959. But other film-makers looking to leave their mark need not fret, as there’s still an opportunity to make the first American film shot there since Fidel Castro came to power that isn’t a complete, mortifying embarrassment.

Papa is another biopic-through-the-lens of a young acolyte, similar to the recent debacle Nina, though this time its screenplay was written by the witness himself. Giovanni Ribisi is Ed Myers (name changed from the late Denne Bart Petitclerc), a newspaperman in Miami in the late 1950s. Abandoned by his father at a young age, as we’re told through lugubrious narration, he turned to the books of...

“In order to write about life, you must first live it.” – Ernest Hemingway

The first Hollywood film to shoot on location in Cuba since the 1959 revolution, Papa:Hemingway in Cuba is the true-life story of a young journalist who finds a father figure in legendary author Ernest Hemingway. Their relationship began in the late 1950’s when Ed Myers, then a junior reporter at The Miami Herald, wrote a fan letter to his idol. Myers thought he was being pranked when the larger than life Hemingway phoned the newsroom a week later, inviting him to Havana.

”Good letter, kid,” the famous voice growled. ”You like to fish?“

Hidden away at his private estate with his wife Mary, the elusive author mentors Myers in fishing, drinking, and finding his voice while the Cuban Revolution boils up around them. In this turbulent landscape, observing an icon in his twilight years, Myers discovers his strength...

The legendary Ernest Hemingway was on-hand, as a journalist, covering many of the 20th century's biggest events: World War I, World War II, and the Spanish Civil War. He was also present in Havana for the Cuban Revolution.

The new biopic "Papa: Hemingway in Cuba" traces some of his time there, with a particular focus on his friendship with Denne Bart Petitclerc (Giovanni Ribisi). In this exclusive sneak peek, Hemingway (Adrian Sparks), known affectionately as Papa, apologizes for rambling to his new acquaintance.

"You're among friends here," Petitclerc assures him.

And then Hemingway asks him to choose a number between one and 10. When Petitclerc picks the number six, Hemingway starts scratching away with a pen and paper. The results prove that the famous writer never needed an excess of words to get a point across.

"Papa: Hemingway in Cuba" opens in theaters April 29th.Want more stuff like this? Like us on Facebook.

Ernest Hemingway was one of the most important writers of the 20th Century. His brief writing style in his novels “A Farewell to Arms,” “The Sun Also Rises,” and “The Old Man and the Sea” changed literature forever.

Wamg has your passes to the advance screening of the Yari Film Group’s Papa: Hemingway In Cuba.

Directed by the Producer of the Academy Awarding Winner “Crash” and “The Illusionist”, “Papa: Hemingway In Cuba” is a true story about the relationship between Miami journalist Denne Bart Petitclerc (Giovanni Ribisi) and legendary writer Ernest Hemingway (Adrian Sparks).

Set during the Cuban revolution, the film co-stars Joely Richardson and Minka Kelly with a cameo by Hemingway’s granddaughter, Mariel Hemingway. Papa: Hemingway In Cuba was shot on location in Havana and inside Hemingway’s estate, Finca Vigia.

It is the first Hollywood film to be shot in Cuba since 1959.

The upcoming drama opens...

The trade embargo between Cuba and the United States, imposed in 1960, has long prevented American films from being produced on the island, so it’s very fitting that the first Hollywood project to shoot there in more than 50 years is a story that is not only very Cuban, but also very American. Based on the experiences of journalist Denne Bart Petitclerc, who wrote the screenplay before his death in 2006, Papa Hemingway In Cuba explores the author’s friendship with an ambitious young writer during his final years, as he struggled with depression and alcoholism.

The film opens in 1956, as Miami Globe reporter Eddie Myers (Giovanni Ribisi) tries to craft a letter to his lifelong idol. Each attempt gets pitched into the wastebasket, but Eddie’s curious co-worker and girlfriend Debbie (Minka Kelly) fishes one out to see what has him so troubled. She’s so moved by the message that...

Ernest Hemingway was one of the most important writers of the 20th Century. His brief writing style in his novels “A Farewell to Arms,” “The Sun Also Rises,” and “The Old Man and the Sea” changed literature forever.

Join Ernest Hemingway in Cuba with the new poster and trailer from Yari Film Group’s Papa: Hemingway In Cuba.

Starring Giovanni Ribisi, Adrian Sparks, Joely Richardson and Minka Kelly, the upcoming drama opens in theaters April 29.

Directed by the Producer of the Academy Awarding Winner “Crash” and “The Illusionist”, “Papa: Hemingway In Cuba” is a true story about the relationship between Miami journalist Denne Bart Petitclerc (Giovanni Ribisi) and legendary writer Ernest Hemingway (Adrian Sparks).

Set during the Cuban revolution, the film co-stars Joely Richardson and Minka Kelly with a cameo by Hemingway’s granddaughter, Mariel Hemingway. “Papa: Hemingway In Cuba” was shot on location in Havana and inside Hemingway’s estate,...

Ernest Hemingway was the great proselytizer of a good daiquiri and that small island off the coast of Florida. "You look just like the Old Man and the Sea," shouts one particularly gung-ho tourist to the author in the first trailer for Papa: Hemingway in Cuba. The Bob Yari-directed film centers on a Miami Globe journalist Denne Petitclerc, played by Giovanni Ribisi, an avid Hemingway fan who gets an invite from the author (Adrian Sparks) to go on a fishing trip. The film takes place in 1959, when Hemingway is on his fourth major and Fidel Castro's guerillas

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Read More: Key West Film Festival Announces Brett Ratner Scholarship, Indiewire's Eric Kohn to Curate Critics Focus The Key West Film Festival has just announced that the Ernest Hemingway biopic "Papa" will screen as the Centerpiece film at the upcoming festival, followed by a Gala event at the historic Hemingway house.  Directed by Bob Yari ("The Illusionist"), "Papa" depicts the relationship between journalist Denne Bart Petitclerc, played by Giovanni Ribisi ("Selma"), and legendary writer Ernest Hemingway, played by Adrian Sparks, during the author's residence in Cuba. Set during the Cuban Revolution, the film managed to nab an authentic backdrop, being granted special permission by the U.S. Treasury Department to shoot on location in Havana. This unprecedented access, which allowed filming inside Hemingway's old estate, Finca Vigia, marks "Papa" as the first Hollywood film to be shot in Cuba since 1959. The film co-stars...

An upcoming biopic about Ernest Hemingway's time in Havana just wrapped up production on location in Cuba, making it the first Hollywood film to shoot in the country since the 1959 revolution, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Check Out the Upcoming Summer Movies that Make 2014 The Season of 'Fierce'

Papa tells the story of journalist Denne Bart Petitclerc's friendship with Hemingway, and is based on an autobiographical script by Petitclerc. The film was directed by Bob Yari, and stars Giovanni Ribisi as a young Petitclerc and Adrian Sparks as Hemingway.