BEFORE: Well, my cold fought back today, so I've moved on to the DayQuil, Hall's cough drops and chewable vitamin C tablets. Let's give a birthday SHOUT-out to the late Raul Julia (last seen in "Presumed Innocent"), born March 9, 1940. I guess I'm allowing posthumous birthdays, since I celebrated both Elvis Presley's and James Dean's. Linking from last night's film, Gene Wilder was in "The World's Greatest Lover" with Danny Devito, and he was in "Tin Men" with Richard Dreyfuss (last seen in "Nuts").
THE PLOT: A little-known actor is working on location in the country of Parador at the time the dictator dies. The dictator's right hand man makes him an offer he cannot refuse.. to play the dictator.
AFTER: This was unintentional good timing - the film opens in a fictional Latin American country at the time of Carnivale - also known as Mardi Gras in some countries, which happened to be yesterday. The word carnival, of course, is closely related to the Spanish word for meat - "carne" - since for some it's the last chance to eat meat before Lent. Hence "Mardi Gras", or "Fat Tuesday", same thing.
Essentially, this is a riff on "The Prince and the Pauper", a Mark Twain story that assumes the possibility that two people from different social backgrounds can look almost exactly alike, and switch places. Here it's a New York actor who (with the help of make-up and a wig) can do a fair impression of a Latin-American dictator - which actually turns into a fairly original twist to the "doppelganger" scenario. (see also: "Dave", and Chaplin's "The Great Dictator")
And we learn all about the strange habits of the now-deceased dictator, as the actor steps into the role - his mannerisms, his favorite beverage, his favorite mistress, etc. For the actor, it's the chance of a lifetime, to inhabit a role so completely that he fools an entire country, even the world, even people who knew the dictator personally.
But then the film takes another twist - once he succeeds in the role, how can he possibly get out of it? Leaving would throw the country into chaos, but he's anxious to get back to his acting career. To its credit, the film solves the dilemma in a rather neat way.
I knew something was up with the dictator's mother, but I couldn't quite figure it out - turns out she was played by the film's director, Paul Mazursky.
Also starring Sonia Braga (last seen in "The Rookie"), Fernando Rey (last seen in "French Connection II") with cameos from Jonathan Winters (last seen in "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle"), Sammy Davis Jr., Charo (those last three seem right out of an episode of "Love Boat"...), Dana Delany, Polly Holliday (last seen in "Mrs. Doubtfire"), Ed Asner, Dick Cavett and Dann Florek.
RATING: 6 out of 10 sides of beef
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