Some writer and independent producer got the bright idea that with the revolution in Cuba pulling out one regime and putting in another was great timing for a political thriller on the subject. What they don't have is a story, basically just expressing an opinion without allowing the dust to settle. It's a formulaic political thriller with over the action narration by Cameron Mitchell, going to Havana to search for his friend, and finding dangers, not really by the Castro regime, but the supporters of the previous regime under Batista. Mitchell runs into old flame Alison Hayes, his friend's wife, and suspects her of being involved in the disappearances.
This is basically a rather violent TV drama that got a release simply out of the exploitation of a real international crisis, with busty Hayes a rather clichéd femme fatale, maybe not fifty feet here, but seemingly telling a lot of tall tales. Certain details, such as bomb fuses identified on the crates in English (and allegedly supposed to be chocolate), and a villain who seems more out of an anti-Nazi film than a anti-communist film. The cheapness of the film and its political agenda are obvious, even to me who knew very little about pre-Castro era Cuba. I'd get more truth and information from watching old newsreels than this Z grade nonsense that has no real Cuban feel to it at all, let alone anything of a Latin culture. Then, as you begin to think it's over (about 50 minutes into the film), a twist comes out of the blue that takes it over the top, and even with an action packed finale, the whole movie ends up a ridiculous carbon copy of the type of propaganda film that was popular at the bottom of the bill during World War II.
This is basically a rather violent TV drama that got a release simply out of the exploitation of a real international crisis, with busty Hayes a rather clichéd femme fatale, maybe not fifty feet here, but seemingly telling a lot of tall tales. Certain details, such as bomb fuses identified on the crates in English (and allegedly supposed to be chocolate), and a villain who seems more out of an anti-Nazi film than a anti-communist film. The cheapness of the film and its political agenda are obvious, even to me who knew very little about pre-Castro era Cuba. I'd get more truth and information from watching old newsreels than this Z grade nonsense that has no real Cuban feel to it at all, let alone anything of a Latin culture. Then, as you begin to think it's over (about 50 minutes into the film), a twist comes out of the blue that takes it over the top, and even with an action packed finale, the whole movie ends up a ridiculous carbon copy of the type of propaganda film that was popular at the bottom of the bill during World War II.