# Havana (1990 film)
**Havana** is a 1990 American romantic drama directed by [Sydney Pollack](https://www.edgepedia.org/sydney-pollack), starring [Robert Redford](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-redford) as a professional gambler in 1958 Cuba who falls in love with the wife of a revolutionary in the final days of the [Batista regime](https://www.edgepedia.org/batista-regime). It was the seventh collaboration between Pollack and Redford, written by Judith Rascoe and David Rayfiel, and photographed by Owen Roizman.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58539-HAVANA) • [2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/havana)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Sydney Pollack; screenplay by Judith Rascoe and David Rayfiel[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58539-HAVANA) |
| Producers / studio | Sydney Pollack and Richard A. Roth for Universal Pictures, Mirage Enterprises, and Grimes Production[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58539-HAVANA) |
| Lead cast | Robert Redford (Jack Weil), Lena Olin (Bobby Duran), Alan Arkin, Raul Julia (uncredited), Tomas Milian[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/havana) |
| Setting | Havana, Cuba, in 1958, on the eve of the Cuban Revolution[4](https://kinolorber.com/film/havana) |
| Release / rating | December 1990 theatrical release; rated R; runtime reported between 140 and 145 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58539-HAVANA) • [5](https://watch.afi.com/movie/havana) |
| Recognition | Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score (Dave Grusin)[4](https://kinolorber.com/film/havana) |
| Reception | 28% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (25 reviews); U.S. gross of $8.8 million[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/havana) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and setting
The film is set in Havana in 1958, a city portrayed as a pleasure-seeker's paradise on the verge of revolution, with American gangsters and corrupt politicians enjoying what the Time Out review calls a last taste of unrestrained capitalism.[4](https://kinolorber.com/film/havana) • [2](https://www.timeout.com/movies/havana) Jack Weil (Redford) is a high-rolling poker player who has come to Cuba to organize one big game, expecting high rollers to bet wildly as the Cuban government collapses around them.[4](https://kinolorber.com/film/havana)
On a boat from the U.S. mainland, Jack agrees to help Bobby Duran ([Lena Olin](https://www.edgepedia.org/lena-olin)) smuggle contraband through a checkpoint by trading vehicles with her; the cargo turns out to be radio transmitters for the rebels rather than jewelry.[5](https://watch.afi.com/movie/havana) Bobby is the European wife of Arturo Duran ([Raul Julia](https://www.edgepedia.org/raul-julia)), a wealthy Cuban communist who believes his class and status will protect him from the ruling party. When that assumption proves false and Arturo is arrested and apparently killed by the police, Jack is drawn to the widowed Bobby and, against his apolitical instincts, risks his comfortable lifestyle and his poker game to help her and her cause.[5](https://watch.afi.com/movie/havana) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/havana)
[Alan Arkin](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-arkin) plays Joe Volpi, a casino operator and old friend whom Jack tries to persuade to set up the high-stakes game; the casino is actually owned by the gangster [Meyer Lansky](https://www.edgepedia.org/meyer-lansky), played in a small part by the director [Mark Rydell](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-rydell).[6](https://www.deseret.com/1990/12/17/20087725/film-review-havana/) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/havana) The supporting cast also includes Tomas Milian, Richard Farnsworth, Dennis Farina, and Tony Plana.[4](https://kinolorber.com/film/havana)
## Production
According to studio production notes held in the [Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences) library, the U.S. government would not allow Pollack to film in Cuba. After considering [San Juan, Puerto Rico](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-juan-puerto-rico), and cities in [Costa Rica](https://www.edgepedia.org/costa-rica), Colombia, Mexico, and Spain, he settled on Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic, which offered certain architectural similarities to Havana.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58539-HAVANA) Pollack confirmed the prohibition in a January 1991 interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, saying the U.S. government had forbidden him from shooting the film in Cuba.[7](https://elpais.com/diario/1991/01/30/cultura/665190002_850215.html)
The film reunited Pollack with Redford and with co-screenwriter David Rayfiel, the star and co-writer of *The Way We Were*; Rayfiel had worked on Pollack pictures from *Castle Keep* (1969) to the 1995 remake of *[Sabrina](https://www.edgepedia.org/sabrina-1995-film)*.[5](https://watch.afi.com/movie/havana) The score was composed by [Dave Grusin](https://www.edgepedia.org/dave-grusin), and the film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score.[4](https://kinolorber.com/film/havana) Production design was by Terence Marsh, editing by Fredric and William Steinkamp, and costume design by Bernie Pollack.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58539-HAVANA) • [5](https://watch.afi.com/movie/havana)
## Reception
The film was a commercial and critical disappointment. Rotten Tomatoes records a 28% Tomatometer from 25 reviews and a 58% audience score, with a critics' consensus describing it as handsomely produced but dramatically inert, using its convincing recreation of pre-revolution Cuba as a disconnected backdrop to a turgid romance.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/havana) Its U.S. box office gross was $8.8 million.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/havana) In Spain, where it opened on February 4, 1991, it sold 780,474 tickets and grossed 1,853,590.45 euros.[8](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=57952)
**Casablanca comparisons.** Reviewers repeatedly measured the film against *Casablanca*, and those comparisons, along with audience indifference, are credited with turning it into a box-office disaster.[9](https://www.mcavinchey.org/film/havana) The Deseret News called it an uncredited reworking of the Bogart-Bergman romance by way of *[The Cincinnati Kid](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-cincinnati-kid)*, noting that the script draws so strongly on *Casablanca* that the final confrontation between Redford and Arkin nearly invites the famous friendship line.[6](https://www.deseret.com/1990/12/17/20087725/film-review-havana/) Richard Schickel wrote in Time that "they may call this movie Havana. But in our hearts we know it is Casablanca," while acknowledging that Pollack's reconstruction of the Cuban capital in the waning days of 1958 persuasively recaptured the doomy delirium of the film that inspired it.[10](https://time.com/archive/6716715/cinema-heres-looking-at-you-muchacha/) A Spanish-language retrospective in IPS Cuba read the film as a work of film noir language, contrasting its treatment of the city with earlier productions such as *Weekend in Havana* by emphasizing the card game and the anti-regime activities rather than tropicalized stereotypes.[11](https://www.ipscuba.net/espacios/la-habana-negra-de-havana/)
## Legacy
The film is remembered chiefly as a late entry in Pollack and Redford's run of collaborations and as a large-scale ($45 million-plus, by Variety's account) attempt to revive the romantic melodrama against the backdrop of the [Cuban Revolution](https://www.edgepedia.org/cuban-revolution).[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/havana) Le Monde's 2025 obituary of Redford described *Havana* as an attempt to revive a sentimental-romantic vein the filmmaker admired.[12](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/obituaries/article/2025/09/16/robert-redford-legend-of-american-cinema-dies-at-89_6745453_15.html) No Hollywood film was shot in Cuba itself until *Papa: Hemingway in Cuba* in the mid-2010s, the first since the Cuban Revolution.[13](https://time.com/4289216/giovanni-ribisi-hemingway-cuba-movie/)
## References
1. [Havana (1990), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58539-HAVANA)
2. [Havana 1990, Time Out film review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/havana)
3. [Havana, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/havana)
4. [Havana, Kino Lorber Theatrical](https://kinolorber.com/film/havana)
5. [Havana, American Film Institute (watch)](https://watch.afi.com/movie/havana)
6. [Film review: Havana, Deseret News (December 17, 1990)](https://www.deseret.com/1990/12/17/20087725/film-review-havana/)
7. ["El Gobierno de EE UU me prohibió rodar 'Habana' en Cuba", El País (January 30, 1991)](https://elpais.com/diario/1991/01/30/cultura/665190002_850215.html)
8. [Datos de Pelicula, Catálogo ICAA, expediente 57952](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=57952)
9. [Havana, Dan McAvinchey film notes](https://www.mcavinchey.org/film/havana)
10. [Cinema: Here's Looking at You, Muchacha, Time (December 17, 1990)](https://time.com/archive/6716715/cinema-heres-looking-at-you-muchacha/)
11. [La Habana negra de Havana, IPS Cuba (August 30, 2013)](https://www.ipscuba.net/espacios/la-habana-negra-de-havana/)
12. [Robert Redford, legend of American cinema, dies at 89, Le Monde (September 16, 2025)](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/obituaries/article/2025/09/16/robert-redford-legend-of-american-cinema-dies-at-89_6745453_15.html)
13. [Giovanni Ribisi Hangs With Hemingway in First Hollywood Film Shot in Cuba Since 1959, Time](https://time.com/4289216/giovanni-ribisi-hemingway-cuba-movie/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1990s › Drama films early 1990s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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