Assassination Tango

Assassination Tango is a 2002 American crime thriller film written, produced, directed by, and starring Robert Duvall. Other actors include Rubén Blades, Kathy Baker and Duvall's Argentine wife, Luciana Pedraza.[1] Francis Ford Coppola was one of the executive producers.

Assassination Tango
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Duvall
Produced byRob Carliner
Robert Duvall
Screenplay byRobert Duvall
StarringRobert Duvall
Rubén Blades
Kathy Baker
Luciana Pedraza
Music byLuis Enríquez Bacalov
CinematographyFélix Monti
Edited byStephen Mack
Production
company
Distributed byMGM Distribution Co.
Release date
  • September 11, 2002 (2002-09-11) (Toronto International Film Festival)
  • March 28, 2003 (2003-03-28)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Spanish

The film centers on the life of a hitman who travels to Argentina for a job, as well as his discovery of Argentine tango and his relationship with a woman living there. The film is considered a "labour of love" of Duvall, a self-confessed tango addict.[2] Most of the film was shot in Buenos Aires,[3] and some scenes at the beginning and end of the story were filmed in Coney Island, Brooklyn.

Plot synopsis

Anderson (Duvall) is a successful American hitman whose employer sends him to do a job in Argentina. His contacts inform him that his target is a former general who took part in Argentina's last military dictatorship. Following a phone call with one of the co-conspirators, Anderson learns that his job is delayed due to his target sustaining an injury in a riding accident. Angry and frustrated that he is stuck in Argentina until the target is recovered from his accident, he walks the street and hears music behind a red curtain. He finds that behind the curtain is a beautiful woman gracefully dancing the tango with a man. He is immediately entranced by the dancing and wants to learn more about it, which leads to his meeting with Manuela, a local tango dancer and instructor, and the woman he first saw behind the red curtain.

Things are not as easy as they seem. Although Anderson has immersed himself in the world of Manuela and dancing tango, he continues to prepare for and plan to assassinate the general. A paranoid Anderson simultaneously rents a room in two different hotels. From the safety but close proximity of one hotel room, he witnesses police converge on the other hotel. Anderson will fulfill his obligation to do the job despite the obvious reality that there is a leak. Although Anderson initially plans on shooting the general from the rooftops, he ends up pretending to deliver flowers while the general is in his backyard and shoots him point-blank in the heart. The police investigate, bringing in the prostitute Anderson slept with, but she has no information on him. Meanwhile, Anderson desperately tries to get a hold of his co-conspirators so that he can leave Argentina. Unknown to Anderson, his Argentinian co-conspirator Miguel (Rueben Blades) has been arrested by Buenos Aires police. Miguel is harshly interrogated, but can breathe a sigh of relief when his conspirator within the Argentinian federal authorities shows up. Anderson, thinking that he's been abandoned and is stuck in Argentina plus will be found out for the general's murder, hides out in his room until he realizes that the joy he had with the tango was fleeting. He suddenly remembers that he left the special boots he bought for his daughter, in the other rental room and risks his life to retrieve them. He decides to try to go back home before he gets killed in Argentina.

Meanwhile, Manuela goes about her life with what appears to be her toddler daughter.

Although Anderson is almost stopped at the Argentinian airport, he eventually makes it out of Argentina safely. On the airplane back to the U.S., Anderson dreams about dancing the tango with Manuela. He makes it home to his family, showing them a few steps of the tango he learned, but right before he goes in the house he scans the area - just in case.

Cast

The character of Jo-Jo is a small supporting role played by Frank Cassavetes (no relation to the late director John Cassavetes).

Reception

The film received a mixed reception, and currently has a 48% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Many critics criticized its slow pace and saw the film as nothing but personal self-indulgence from Duvall.[4][5] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle called the film "vanity project" and said that it's "hard to see what Duvall thinks is so interesting about the hit man, aside from the fact that he's playing him".[5] Michael Luongo of Frommer's stated that the film was slow-paced, but "highlights his [Duvall's] obsession with Argentina and the tango, letting the city [Buenos Aires] serve as the backdrop".[1] Roger Ebert awarded the film three stars out four and although he said that the film is "not quite successful", he considered it a "fascinating effort".[6] However, he said that Assassination Tango is "not entirely about crime or dance, and that will be a problem for some audiences, although the little girl skipping in the playground scene really steals the show".[7] Amy K. Kaminsky said that the film was "utterly personal", in that the "violence of the junta seems to be overshadowed by individual desire". She stated that the film masked "U.S. involvement in setting up dictatorships, teaching torture techniques, and underwriting state violence".[8]

References
  1. Luongo, Michael (5 July 2011). Frommer's Buenos Aires. John Wiley & Sons. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-118-11548-0.
  2. Paz, Alberto; Hart, Valorie (2008). Gotta Tango. Human Kinetics. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-7360-5630-4.
  3. Bernhardson, Wayne (11 January 2011). Moon Buenos Aires. Avalon Travel. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-59880-884-1.
  4. "Malos aires". Sacramento News Review. 17 April 2003. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  5. "Duvall's gravity weighs on 'Tango' / Actor's vanity project falls as flat as his ponytail". San Francisco Chronicle. 4 April 2003. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  6. Ebert, Roger (1 November 2005). Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2006. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-7407-5538-5.
  7. Ebert, Roger (1 November 2004). Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2005. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 34.
  8. Kaminsky, Amy K. (2008). Argentina: Stories for a Nation. University of Minnesota Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-8166-4948-8.
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