Quien a visto " El Cantante'

[RPR]

Also, I have'nt seen this anywhere else:

YouTube - Sepelio de Hector Lavoe. Junio de 1993=

[Sonambulo]

The Singer clip you posted immediately shows the difference between a big budget hollywood flick and one that is independently produced. [This is not a value statement just an observation]. I will definitely see the movie before I comment on it, however, this preview, if it is the one that will ultimately be released to the general public, seemed a little confusing and probably relies on the viewer knowing some of lavoes history.

The 2nd video of the procession is partly in that six part youtube video I mentioned earlier. It was obviously an emotional time for all present.

Thanks for posting.

[RICHIECOQUI]

this link about ruben blades lawsuit Blades Settles Suit Vs. Labels, Pub Firms | Retail Trade > Miscellaneous Retail from AllBusiness.com

[Sonambulo]

Good for Ruben Blades- he deserves what he earned. He is a phenomenal talent that has no equal.

[Yujike]

Al principio de octubre se presentan Jennifer Lopez y Mark Anthony en el Casino de los Mohegan en Connecticut. Aunque un poco caros, los boletos se estan vendiendo como pan caliente y se espera sea un gran espectaculo, con la produccion musical de El cantante como el acto principal. Mi esposa y yo vamos, asi que los mantendre informados.

[conciencia]

I actually enjoyed the movie...as I watched it I alse engaged in goose bumps...I recall all the circumstances, rumours and environments....and now It is like a confirmation of the events. The six part 'Your Tube' presentation is very complete and displays missing portion the movie did not exposed.

Recommend the movie...it is very historical and it is part of our lives as puertorricans.

[JaneMas]

Mr. Colon wasn't hired as director or consultant because after viewing the script and correcting chrono errors as well as events that never happened Nuyorican Productions went along and did it their way. Hopefully one day some rich Puerto Rican will have the intelligence to give the world a Puerto Rican story with real drama/art. How about the story of the 65th Puerto Rican Borinqueneers, or La Operacion, the story about the Birth Control Pill and the sterilization of Puerto Rican Women? Meanwhile here's my review on El Cantante:


It should have been called LA ESPOSA

1. Pacheco invents the word Salsa when he sees Willie and Hector together. False! Can someone tell him El Dia de Mi Suerte and many other songs do not include Cuban genres. That it was he who played 100% Cuban music/cover tunes?

2. Masucci names Hector “Lavoe” because “Perez” is too common… amazing, everyone else is Rodriguez, Valdez, Gomez, Gonzalez, Vasquez, ez, ez, ez, but Perez is a welfare name and La Voe means La Voz as if 2 previous singers were never named La Voz. According to Mangual, Hector was named Lavoe by Arturo Franquiz.

3. Everyone knows this Eddie guy, the supposed made up character of 5 different guys into one, who’s suppose to be his best friend was originally Cookie in the script. Cookie swore he would sue if they try to claim he was the one who introduced Hector to heroin in the bathroom scene. I guess the word got to them.

4. Taxi driver recognizes Hector Perez (not Lavoe at this point) as well known singer just as strangers do before he records with Willie Colon.

5. Puchi throws girl (Carmen, his first wife) out of Fania studio during Willie’s recording session (Something Willie would never allow)? WAC said it never ever happened! Hey they got something right....The studio is set up in the right direction with the door being on the right when facing the glass from the recording room.

6. It jumps from Puchi throwing something in Willie’s direction for the ring to the I Do’s then to the not so sure if it’s the Fania All Stars or Willie’s Band (with Pacheco in every performance from the beginning of the movie) performing in San Juan…to a dazed collection of flashbacks intended to inform the audience of what has transpired between whatever beginning point of the story to that moment…. a total misdirection/confusion. It is said the wedding did not take place like that people.

7. Never thought Marc could screw up Willie’s aguinaldos!

8. Victor Manuelle does a great RB accent in a fictitious scene! The man has a great voice. The best part of the movie was listening to VM if only to take my mind off the overdose of Jlo's presence. People Mr. Colon fought tooth and nail for the song from Ruben Blades so Hector could record it. Paula Campbell aka Paula C has the same story as Mr. Colon.

9. The El Cantante recording session started out fine, although they messed with the arrangements a bit on purpose it ended up disappointing with another interrupted drug scene.

10. Flashes of Fania and Willie’s albums must confuse the public as to who Hector played with at any given time after and before the breakup. The film does not prepare the audience well. Except for a couple of FAS flashing ads was it Hector's band? FAS? Was Hector the only FAS singer on stage? In the Buddy Holly Story and La Bamba the films gave stage to all the rock and roll artists travelling with them on the road. Was it too difficult for the Jlo camp to show other talent?

11. Ok they implied there was a possibility of a foursome that night (which to my understanding it's men switching female partners in the open) by Jlo saying “It was normal for us” with the help of her hopping on top of Willie’s girl. All this time "some" people were claiming it implied Willie and Hector had something going on. Boy algunas gente cannot listen well..but then again this movie was confusing.

12. The whole Cheetah scene is allllll wrong…. Marc’s comment never happened or am I wrong? I was one of the first people in that place that night and didn't leave my spot on the corner of the right side of the stage till the end. He’s even singing the other soneros soneo’s in Quitate Tu! Did they avoid seeing the FAS film? That was suppose to be THE FANIA ALL STARS night, everyone was a star that evening. Where are all the rest of the singers? That place was PACKED! By the way for the Puchi fans, Puchi wore brown shirt and hotpants that evening.

13. She says Hector’s fk ups had him sinking deeper as a person? How about hers? Mr. Colon is right about this comment. Not only is it demoralizing, but saying it made him one of us is insulting to every one of us. What a dump stupid line; no wonder that lady wanted a boycott.

14. Funny how her daughter is never shown as if she was a virgin when she met Hector. Let's not get into how the son really died.

15. Aguanille comes during Hector’s SOLO career? The number is not as great as the original Aguanille! People gotta stop playing with the arrangements if it’s intended to imitate life.

16. In the beginning Willie claims he can’t speak Spanish, but later on he’s talking to Hector in Spanish. And Hector did not speak English except for a few phrases.

17. She claims her house burned down but meanwhile they are living in a luxury high rise in Manhattan throughout the movie, raise their son there, and supposedly died there a very young man; meanwhile their son had a son of his own before his death.

18. People there's a difference on being a ***** and being Tough.

19. They met after Hector hooked up with Willie not before.

This movie was not the worst in film history, but it wasn’t good either. I decided this project was a Jlo/Marc wanna make a movie their way at the expense of a legend due to the illogical explanation by supporting critics of her having a financial investment. Sadly those who did not grow up in that era would absorb all of it as fact. Like most critics stated, I too felt if it weren’t for the music there would be no movie. Thanks to the music the naïve public is entertained enough to sit through the whole movie and endure the 6th grade script which had no developing story.... only a series of moments never explaining why. In a script there has to be a main character, but in Jlo's film one is not sure who is the main character. It fails to have important elements in script writing 101:


Dramatic premise – what is the film about.
Dramatic Situation – the dramatic circumstances surrounding the story?
Confrontation - the main character encounters obstacles that keep him from achieving his dramatic need. Dramatic need is what the main character wants to win, gain, get, or achieve during the screenplay.
And finally Resolution.


In El Cantante, the only confrontation is Puchi. Did Marc pull off the Hector character? No. Did we learn who Hector was other than a singing junkie? No. What caused his pain other then Marc saying "I don't like talking about it"? No. Marc came across as someone who had problems getting into character. Jlo on the other hand made Puchi the unofficial main character so she could be in every scene, and the Masucci actor looked a bit and sounded like Dustin Hoffman.

This couple who had the money and the opportunity to make a great movie about Hector Lavoe failed because they were so self absorbed and self promoting at the expense of a man, who with all his faults and personal failures, was a part of a movement, a culture, and musical era alongside one of the most brilliant men in Latin Music…Willie Colon, and that's the truth Ms. Lopez! The story of one cannot be told without the other which is probably why Jlo and the script writers decided to focus on the Puchi character and expand on it. It might be true this movie could spark an interest in the Fania artists, but it’s also true the real story of Hector Lavoe without excluding his drug problems would spark the same interest, if not more, and do more good for the Puerto Rican/Nuyorican people instead of showing the world how we continue to fk up all the opportunities that come our way because it is all they are shown when opportunity knocks. The people do not know about our successes and will not know until someone has the guts to do a story which focuses on success vs failure. May the recent numbers be a lesson to this couple who are now aware failure doesn't always pay at the box office. Watch her Reggaeton project be a total flop. Jlo's not as smart as Salma Hayak when it comes to cultural pride.

I look forward to one day seeing a movie done with the original voice and no fiddling around with the arrangements to claim it yours. Georgie boy must stop copying arrangements and messing around with masterpiece work. It’s time for him to create his own masterpiece........ if he can.