This is the film which marked Antonio Banderas' English language debut (having previously appeared in five Pedro Almodovar movies), so laying the foundations for his subsequent Hollywood career.
It's a film in which he not only displays his obvious acting talent, but also the musical skills which were to later in emerge in the likes of Evita and Desperado (he actually learned how to play the trumpet for his role in this movie).

The two of them play the Castillo brothers, musicians living in 1950s Cuba who move to America during the height of the Mambo craze to seek fame and fortune, vowing to "set New York on fire" with their irresistible music and suitcase full of songs.
Working as meat packers during the day, it's not long before they impress all the right people and through a combination of talent, determination and sheer good luck, the pulsating sights and sounds of their newly-assembled band, The Mambo Kings, are soon driving club audiences wild all over the city.
But inevitably tensions start to bubble to the surface and tempers, as well as passions, start to boil over. Much of this stems from the polar opposite ambitions of the two brothers. Assante, the sexy, macho, hot-blooded Cesar, wants it all, the fame, the fortune, the women and the acclaim. But all Banderas' brooding, sensitive Nestor craves is the chance to open his own club where he can sing his love songs.
And herein lies the movie's core emotional wallop. Back in Cuba, Nestor left behind his one true love, Maria (Talisa Soto). Even though she married another man (a knife-wielding gangster), he's never got over her. Cesar, however, knows the truth. She married him to save Nestor's life, the same reason she told the two brothers to flee Cuba.
In many ways, the music in the film acts as a mirror to Nestor's emotions. Early on, the excitement of arriving in America is accompanied by vibrant, effervescent nightclub scenes, all throbbing rhythms and swooning, passionate dancers.
As the story progresses and the band's dates dry up after Assante offends an influential mobster, Banderas becomes increasingly disillusioned, his marriage to Dolores (a girl he meets at a bus stop) failing to erase the memory of Maria from his mind. Indeed, he spends much of the film writing a song for her, Beautiful Maria of My Soul (which was Oscar-nominated in 1992 for Best Song), a balero which reflects Nestor's increasingly haunted existence.
Things start to look up when Desi Arnaz Sr (played by Desi Arnaz Jr) hears them and invites them to appear on the prestigious I Love Lucy show (a chance for Glimcher to indulge in some fancy editing with real-life show footage), but the different American dreams the two brothers both desperately want somehow manages to evade them.
Too easily dismissed as a sort of Fabulous Baker Boys with bongos, The Mambo Kings is bursting with big performances, great set-pieces (Assante performing on stage with Tito Puente is a stand-out) and stunning period detail, not to mention the outrageously impressive soundtrack.
Based on the Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (the book spans three decades, the film concentrates on the years 1952-55), there is so much to recommend here. If the frenzied music (almost a character in itself) and the performances don't grab you, then there's always screenwriter Cynthia Cidre's fizzing script, which offers up numerous gems, such as Assante's comment when he first sees brassy nightclub cigarette girl Cathy Moriarty: "If she cooks as well as she walks, brother, I'm gonna lick her plate."
Glowing with opulence and simmering with sensuality (notably when Cesar first meets and dances with Dolores), the movie may leave some plot strands unresolved, but that's a minor quibble because this is marvellous stuff. It's a prime example of how to make a winning musical drama which not only thrills the senses but also makes you want to rush out and buy the soundtrack.

David Lichtneker