Moon over Parador

Synopsis: Feature film. The narrative is told in flashback. Jack Noah (Dreyfuss) is a fairly successful stage and film actor on a location shoot in the English-speaking Parador. He’s given an offer he can’t refuse by police chief Straussman (Julia) to impersonate the just-deceased dictator. Dreyfuss reluctantly adopts the role, but soon takes on the new persona in earnest after being coached by the dictator’s sexy mistress Madonna (Braga). The ruse comes to a climax when Noah starts instituting reforms inimical to Straussman’s and other powerful interests. Lanier (op cit) notes that in the opening sequence Noah is auditioning for a role in Richard III at the New York Shakespeare Festival, declaring that he wants to play ‘the king’ - ‘the role of Richard III is thematically ironic: Richard pretends to be benevolent in order to become a dictator; as Simms, Noah eventually pretends to be a dictator in order to be benevolent’.
Language: English
Country: United States
Medium: Film
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1988
Duration: 96 mins

Director

Paul Mazursky

Producer

Paul Mazursky

Cinematographer

Donald M. McAlpine

Screenplay

Leon Capetanos; Paul Mazursky

Music

Maurice Jarre

Art Direction

Marcos Flaksman

Cast

Production type: Fiction Films
Plays: Richard III
Keywords: Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Auditions; New York Shakespeare Festival

Notes: Available on DVD region 1 only (3/2007).
Reviews: Lanier, Douglas ‘Film Spin-Offs and Citations’ in Burt, Richard (ed). Shakespeares After Shakespeares: an Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006. (p. 255, entry 1049).

Ebert, Roger. Chicago Sun-Times (September 9 1988).

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British Universities Film & Video Council