''Cuba Crossing'', also known as ''Assignment: Kill Castro'', ''Kill Castro'', and ''Sweet Dirty Tony'', is a 1980 German/American
international co-production
A co-production is a joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint vent ...
action film
The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
directed by
Chuck Workman and distributed by
Troma Entertainment
Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production company, production and film distributor, distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz (producer), Michael Herz in 1974. They are the longest running independent film ...
. It was produced by Wolfgang Bellenbaum and
Jack White
John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...
and stars
Stuart Whitman
Stuart Maxwell Whitman (February 1, 1928 – March 16, 2020) was an American actor, known for his lengthy career in film and television. Whitman was born in San Francisco and raised in New York until the age of 12, when his family relocated to ...
,
Robert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor and political activist, whose career in film, television and theater spanned nearly six decades and who was best known for his role as secret agent Nap ...
,
Woody Strode
Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode (July 25, 1914 – December 31, 1994) was an American athlete, actor, and author. He was a decathlon, decathlete and American football, football star who was one of the first Black American players in the National ...
,
Albert Salmi,
Sybil Danning,
Michael Gazzo, and White's then wife Marie-Louise Gassen.
Plot
Hud is an American who survived the
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...
and has sworn revenge against
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
. Many years later, he gets his chance when he is engaged by Mr Rossellini, who blames Castro for his losses when his gambling enterprises and he had to leave Cuba, and the mysterious Mr. Bell, who finances Hud for a mission to Cuba. Hud plans to bring a father-and-son pair of sharpshooters to kill Castro when he stays at a hotel on the
Isla de Pinos. Through Rossellini, Hud hires bar owner and ship's captain Tony to bring his men ashore, but the enterprise is fraught with betrayal.
Cast
*
Stuart Whitman
Stuart Maxwell Whitman (February 1, 1928 – March 16, 2020) was an American actor, known for his lengthy career in film and television. Whitman was born in San Francisco and raised in New York until the age of 12, when his family relocated to ...
as Tony
*
Robert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor and political activist, whose career in film, television and theater spanned nearly six decades and who was best known for his role as secret agent Nap ...
as Hud
*
Woody Strode
Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode (July 25, 1914 – December 31, 1994) was an American athlete, actor, and author. He was a decathlon, decathlete and American football, football star who was one of the first Black American players in the National ...
as Titi
*
Albert Salmi as Delgato
*
Michael Gazzo as Rossellini
* Marie-Louise Gassen as Maria
*
Edward Bell as Michael
*
Raymond St. Jacques as Mr. Bell
*
Sybil Danning as Veronica
*
Caren Kaye as Tracy
*
Monti Rock the III as Man At Bar
* Bert Williams as 1st Marksman
* Sharon Thomas as Fred
Production
''Cuba Crossing'' was filmed in
Key West, Florida
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Islan ...
.
Release
''Cuba Crossing'' was released February 23, 1980 in theatres in
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
. The film was released on
VHS
VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s.
Ma ...
on April 15, 1980. ''Cuba Crossing'' was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
March 1, 2005, initially and recently on February 5, 2016.
References
Sources
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External links
* {{IMDb title, id=0080580, title=Cuba Crossing
1980 films
American political thriller films
American independent films
West German films
Troma Entertainment films
1980 action thriller films
Films set in Florida
Films shot in Florida
Cold War films
Films set in Cuba
Films with screenplays by Robin Swicord
English-language German films
1980s English-language films
1980s American films
English-language action thriller films