moon over parador ( 1988 ) * * * 1/4 . produced and directed by paul mazursky . written by leon capetanos and mazursky , from a story by charles g . booth . photography , donald mcalpine . editing , stuart pappe . production design , pato guzman . music , maurice jarre . cast : richard dreyfuss , raul julia , sonia braga , jonathan winters , fernando rey , sammy davis , jr . , michael greene , polly holliday , charo , marianne sagebrecht , carlotta gerson ( paul mazursky ) , lorin dreyfuss . a universal release . 105 minutes . pg-13 . perhaps the first movie i remember in which a double takes the place of a bad leader and does good things for his people was the prisoner of zenda . since then there have been many such substitutions on the screen . that's what moon over parador does too . it's not the most original of ideas , but then the film makes no bones about the fact that it keeps dippily dipping into the past , putting old wines into not-so-new bottles . sometimes it even shouts this , sometimes it's a passing mention , sometimes it leaves the recognition entirely up to the public . mop is remarkably low-key , even quiet , given its context . although it's a farce , it does not suffer from the frantic tempo or actors' hysterics and raucousness than can spoil many a comedy , not to mention farces . the plot is blessedly straightforward and unpretentious . an american movie crew has just wrapped up shooting in parador city , the capital of a latin american banana dictatorship ( parador means " inn " in spanish ) . one of the cast is jack noah ( richard dreyfuss ) . his first allegiance is to the new york stage . he is very much the new york thespian . bizarre american retiree jonathan winters talks him into staying around for the carnival . jack looks a great deal like simms , the country's military dictator . he also does a good imitation of him . boozer-wencher simms , has a heart attack in his limousine , where he dies in the arms of roberto strausmann ( raul julia ) , head of the secret police and the regime's grey eminence . strausmann , who is in cahoots with the " 14 families " that oppress the people , fears that too sudden an announcement of the leader's demise could result in chaos and revolution . he makes jack one of those offers one cannot refuse : to impersonate simms . jack is nimble , jack is quick , and before you can say jack robinson , the impostor has made himself up like simms and is fooling everybody . well , almost everyone . the members of simms' household are not taken in , but they too have a stake in keeping up the masquerade . not only playing , but being simms becomes the part of jack's life . he thrives in it , even embellishes it . when sonia braga , as madonna ( sic ) , the late dictator's numero uno mistress , transfers her affections to the impersonator , no work and all play make jack a bright boy . he stays on and on , makes gradual changes in the land , replaces the national anthem's melody ( o tannenbaum ) with that of besa me mucho ; leads " his " people in tv weight-loss exercises ; takes other drastic measures to help the poor before staging cannily his return to new york . ( although the movie is set in parador , new york is very much present , as a framing device and with its theatre as jack's standard by which everything is evaluated . all this is cleverly done , with good insights ) . to expect substance , deep intentions or ideas in this movie is to be looking for something quite different from what mazursky and capetanos had in mind . the filmmakers are interested only in gentle farce , not in three-dimensionality . moon is far closer to the marx brothers' anarchic nonsense ( and woody allen's bananas ) than to frank capra 's constructive comedies . the focal point is not the story , but the one-man show by dreyfuss , and its comical trimmings . dreyfuss is as amazingly good as he has been in the last many years . on the face of it , jack is the picture's most outlandish type , yet in some ways he is the most credible , since he doesn't let you forget that first and last he is an actor submerged in his craft , insecure , avid for pats on the back and reassuring applause . he joins the roster of other movie impersonators , especially people like jack benny and mel brooks who , in the two versions of to be or not to be ham it up because their models are already hams . director mazursky himself is in the movie , as simms' mother , a la charley's aunt . but there's a difference : as soon as dreyfuss assumes the role of simms , he becomes entirely confident , simultaneously laid-back , self-mocking and eager . it's much harder to do than it sounds , or for that matter , than it looks . ask any non-envious professional . mop creates no characters and does not intend to . most of its people remain in the background , save for raul julia who delivers an amusingly mock-sinister performance--but even he is there primarily to propel dreyfuss along . sonia braga is no more than cake-frosting . jonathan winters does some excellent small shticks which deride the u . s . presence in latin america , something that is also implied by the anglo-saxon name of dictator simms . but , again , forget about the political satire : what we have is caricature used for the needs of the story , carrying no weight of its own . it is rich in comic inventions and fresh bits of business . it is also a compendium of in-jokes and in-references to current events and older movies . like the french new wave filmmakers who influenced him enormously , mazursky throws in with abandon a cornucopia of allusions . the very title of the film parodies the 1941 betty grable vehicle moon over miami , a semi-musical with switched identities . there's ironic-nostalgic use of the flashback structure of so many 1940s movies , as moo opens with jack back in new york recounting his parador adventure . the name of paraguay's then-dictator general stroessner becomes straussmann ( raul julia ) , which additionally stresses the germans or nazis in latin america . " round up the usual suspects , " the famous line from casablanca is used . there's a starry-eyed comparison of that movie's finale with moon's . the sets imitate indirectly the technicolor exotic-resort movies of mazursky's youth . and much more . this comedy is so determinedly a fantasy that i doubt it could offend hispanic sensibilities . oddly , the peak of its planned illogicality is not immediately apparent . you may get distracted by the broad shenanigans and forget that dreyfuss-simms speaks spanish-accented english throughout , when , even by the elastic norms of farce , he should be speaking spanish . you can't get more unrealistic than this . there's a very funny morsel where jack , about to board a helicopter , gestures to the reporters in the patented smiling , helpless " i can't hear over this din " way of ronald reagan . the public got this one when the movie came out , but how many new generations will catch on later ? it will be as in many of the other gags , which , back in 1988 , were there for older memories . how many people knew then or know now " besame mucho , " the songs from " the man of la mancha , " the fact that " tannenbaum " is a teutonic song ? paul mazursky , who was 58 when the film was released , may have overestimated the potential complicity of his public . then again , he might have relying on the younger audience's satisfaction with the general outline of the movie , and on the older people's enhanced comprehension . it's a risky strategy which bespeaks more of mazursky as a nostalgic film-buff than as a calculating businessman . at 105 minutes , mop could just be a tad too long for those who don't get immersed in the spirit of its details , which , in their eyes , can make the film falter and some jokes strain a bit in its latter parts . for myyself and other spectators the diffusion is an asset . ( my own small objection is the gratuitous intrusion of sammy davis , jr . whose singing is not exactly a joy ) . yet even unpruned , this is still a splendidly entertaining movie-movie . it is a bright moon . it was shot entirely in brazil . production values are high . maurice jarre's score is agreeable , though some moments sounded to me like a paraphrase of the delerue music in jules and jim . parador looks lovely . between its tourist beauties at poolside and the promiscuous locals it would be a great place for social diseases . " le mauvais gout mene au crime " ( stendhal ) edwin jahiel's movie reviews are at <a href= " http : //www . prairienet . org/ejahiel " >http : //www . prairienet . org/ejahiel</a> 
