''Moon over Parador'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy film directed and produced by Paul Mazursky, who co-wrote the screenplay with Leon Capetanos. The film is based on the short story "Caviar for His Excellency" by Charles G. Booth and is a loose remake of the 1939 film '' The Magnificent Fraud''. It stars Richard Dreyfuss as a little-known actor hired to impersonate a deceased Latin American dictator, with Raul Julia and Sônia Braga in supporting roles.
The film had its world premiere at the
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.Universal Pictures. It received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, despite praise for the performances of the cast. For their performances, Julia and Braga earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
Plot
The film follows the exploits of film actor Jack Noah, who is filming in the small, fictional South American country of Parador when Paradorian President Alfonse Simms, a dictator, invites him and the cast and crew to the film at their palace. Simms seems delighted at Jack's imitation of him.
Suddenly, Alfonse Simms dies of a heart attack. Not wanting to lose his position in power, the president's right-hand man, Roberto Strausmann, forces Jack to take the 'role of a lifetime'—that of the dead president, as the two men look so much alike. Jack accepts, eventually winning over the people and even the dead president's mistress, Madonna (Braga). For over a year, the two bond, and she shows Jack how the people are suffering under the dictatorship, particularly at the iron hand of Roberto (the real power behind the scene and who continues the charade in order to become president himself) against the rebels.
Jack creates a plan where, in the middle of a show featuring Sammy Davis Jr., he (as Simms) is apparently gunned down by an assassin. Before dying, "Simms" accuses Roberto of ordering the assassination, provoking the angry crowd to beat and kick him to death. Inside a van, Jack escapes. Months later, he is telling the story to his friends, who do not believe him. Jack is happy to learn that Madonna led a revolution and is now the democratically elected president of Parador.
Cast
Production
The basic plot of ''Moon over Parador'' came from a B film titled '' The Magnificent Fraud'' (1939), in which Akim Tamiroff played the actor-turned-dictator. The screenplay was written by Paul Mazursky and Leon Capetanos, who had previously collaborated on '' Tempest'' (1982), '' Moscow on the Hudson'' (1984), and '' Down and Out in Beverly Hills'' (1986). Mazursky had also worked with Richard Dreyfuss in the lattermost.
Mazursky and Capetanos invented the fictional country of Parador as the film's setting after traveling through
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
,
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
,
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...
, and
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
and researching "all the Latin American dictatorships" in April 1986. Mazursky said that the country could be "
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
or
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
or whatever you want it to be."Principal photography began on August 17, 1987, and wrapped on October 26, 1987, with a budget of approximately $19–$20 million. The film was shot entirely on location in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
''Moon over Parador'' had its world premiere on the closing day of the 12th
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote, "Though Mr. Mazursky's new ''Moon Over Parador'' has the makings of a clever satire, it never gets beyond the fond, gentle mood of an amusing travelogue." She also noted, "The film's jokes about actors are affectionate, but its
political satire
Political satire is a type of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics. Political satire can also act as a tool for advancing political arguments in conditions where political speech and dissent are banned.
Political satir ...
is notably weak. ��The film's closing turn of events, which has the potential to be quite diabolical, is one of many comic opportunities that Mr. Mazursky, very uncharacteristically, lets slip away."
Hal Hinson of '' The Washington Post'' stated, "''Moon Over Parador'' wants to be a political satire, but it has more to say about Broadway and Hollywood than about totalitarian dictatorships" and "The political situations in the film are too generic, and too facile, to have any resonance. As a result, the film's satire appears toothless and its politics, in general, a fashionable pose. In ''Moon Over Parador'', Mazursky is shrewd about the superficiality of show people without realizing that he has left himself open to the same charge."
Michael Wilmington of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' commented, "Not that ''Moon'' doesn't have lots of incidental pleasures and ripe, loony laughs. The movie is a comedy about actors and politics, a satire in which power and illusion trip prettily over each other's feet."Roger Ebert of the '' Chicago Sun-Times'' gave the film 2 out of 4 stars and noted, "If the Dreyfuss character in ''Moon Over Parador'' had been conceived on a more realistic basis, perhaps Mazursky and Dreyfuss could have had more fun exploring the true insecurities of the profession, instead of the stereotyped ones."
The staff at '' Variety'' wrote, "Mazursky's elaborate farce about the actor as imposter has moments of true hilarity emerging only fitfully from a ponderous production" and "Dreyfuss' panache carries the film most of the way, ably played off Braga's lusty and character."