Home SP Blog SP Forum Join Now Login

Switch Categories

SwitchPlanet

Switchbuc Calculator

FAQs

Calle 54

Availability

Currently not available

Theatrical Release

November 30, 1999

DVD Release

January 1, 2000

Studio

Miramax Home Entertainment

Rated

G (General Audience)

Directors

Fernando Trueba

Actors

Arturo O'Farrill, Rolando Guerrero, Joe Gonzales (IV), Jim Seeley (II), Matt Hilgenberg

Switchers Rate This:

Currently selling for $6.28 NEW at Amazon.com

Formats

  • Anamorphic
  • Closed-captioned
  • Color
  • DVD-Video
  • Widescreen
  • NTSC

Additional Information

In Calle 54, Madrid-based filmmaker Fernando Trueba explores the wide and wonderful world of Latin jazz: a hybrid genre that fuses the clave, samba, flamenco, merengue, and other rhythms from Africa, the Iberian peninsula, and the Americas. The film's Spanish title takes its name from Sony Music Studios located on 54th Street in Manhattan, where a who's who of musicians were filmed and recorded. They range from Brazilian bombshell keyboardist Eliane Elias and enigmatic Argentine tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri, to the fiery rumba group Puntilla y Nueva Generacion. The music and musicians of Cuba and Puerto Rico dominate this documentary, and the most touching scene is the emotional father-and-son reunion of Cuban pianists Bebo and Chucho Valdés, who were separated by Fidel Castro's revolution. Sadly, the film features the last onscreen appearances by the late composer-arranger Chico O'Farrill and the legendary timbales master Tito Puente. Simply put, Calle 54 is a documentary that dances. --Eugene Holley Jr. - Amazon.com

A behind the scenes glimpse into the lives of Grammy Award winner Tito Puente and some of the greatest Latin musicians of our times! Experience the passion of Latin Jazz. It is a musical journey that captures the heart and soul of an entire culture. It is an innovative tapestry of sound and imagery, styles and rhythms-from samba to pambiche to flamenco. - Description

_