Cuba

Described by Lester as “a political film in which no one speaks about politics and a love story in which no one speaks about love,” Cuba harkens back to classic Hollywood with a Casablanca-esque display of star power and restraint. In 1959, as Castro’s revolution ferments, Sean Connery is a British mercenary hired by the Batista government to suppress the guerrillas in the Sierra Maestra. In Havana he encounters old flame Brooke Adams (Days of Heaven), now married to underhanded plantation owner Chris Sarandon (Dog Day Afternoon). Spain doubles for Cuba for this archetypal story, which is injected with Lester’s typically eccentric flourishes and rides on Connery’s charisma and an expert cast of character actors—including Jack Weston, star of Lester’s The Ritz, as a shady businessman named Gutman.