Richard Nester's 'Cuba' is set in the 1950's just in the Civil war against Batista's government...
Sean Connery stars as a free British counter-terrorist whom Batista's associates hope will help them beat Castro's revolutionaries...
Connery quickly figures out, almost as soon as he landed in the exotic and dangerous island, that the revolution will succeed and replace one elite with another... He gets much more interest in following an old sweetheart, and when the two see each other, memories of his first love affair come flooding back...
Connery begins to remember when he was once deeply and ridiculously in love with her... The 'woman in red' that passed before his eyes in Havana's airport terminal was the most exotic, breath-stopping creature he had ever known... Now she is Alexandra Pulido (Brooke Adams), a highly ambitious woman who runs a cigar factory while her husband flirts with other women...
Chris Sarandon is the profligate son of one of Cuba's wealthiest men, and the charming playboy in the romantic triangle who knows everything about Havana, 'every casino, every table, and every bed in it!'
Martin Balsam is the general in the corrupt Batista regime, who intends to ask Castro to 'get rid of the Communists.'
Hector Elizondo is the junior officer who realizes late in life why few were sorry about the fall of Batista...
Jack Weston is the fat American businessman impressed by the cigar factory...
Lonette McKee is the ardent lover who rejects all the ways of behavior in Cuba...
Danny De la Paz is the very bad brother with a handgun license...
Alejandro Rey is a money-grubbing menace who puts his personal ambition over public safety...
Denholm Elliott is the soldier of fortune who buys an old airplane so quickly...
Walter Gotell is the unfeeling father who is quite separate from the businesses run by his daughter in law...
In 'Cuba', Richard Lester reveals a likable if none too demanding talent for adventure and love... His film lacks the detailed exposition of the many twists and turns of Michael Curtiz's 'Casablanca.' There is no club so well organized in his movie, no open arena of conspiracy, counterspies, secret plans, black market transactions, no true democrat with women, and no traditional woman enclosed by two rivals...
