Our Man in Havana

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Our Man in Havana  (1959)

If television was invented for Ernie Kovacs, he had a harder time finding his voice in movies which, right from his first role alongside Jack Lemmon in Operation Mad Ball (1957), typecast him, oddly, as uptight foils for the comic lead. The formula recurs in Carol Reed’s Our Man in Havana, with Kovacs playing a brutal Cuban military officer to Alec Guinness’ befuddled vacuum salesman recruited to be a cold war spy. Kovacs, however, brings unexpected nuance to the role, blending charm with menace, suggesting a range that Hollywood never quite figured out.

DCP, b/w, 111 min. Director: Carol Reed. Screenwriter: Graham Greene. Cast: Alec Guinness, Maureen O'Hara, Ernie Kovacs.