Girl from Havana (1940) Poster

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6/10
What Was Her Name Anyway?
boblipton15 June 2019
Dennis O'Keefe and Victor Jory are a couple of oilmen working a field somewhere south of the border. O'Keefe sets off a charge to start the well he's in charge of flowing; it starts Jory's well, which earns him a big bonus. While they're in town celebrating, singer Claire Carleton spots the bankroll and gets her hands on it, but she returns O'Keefe watch.

However, when O'Keefe gets in a brawl, one of his pals gets killed. O'Keefe's fired and blacklisted. He takes a job running guns.

This Republic picture starts out like one of those two-oilman-and-a-shady-lady movies that was a staple of the movies, but it soon bites its own tail and starts heading off in different directions. Director Lew Landers doesn't break much new ground, but working off a good script by Malcolm Boylan and Karl Brown, he gets some nice performances out of his leads and supports, including Jay Novello and Steffi Dunn.
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3/10
Practically plotless.
planktonrules16 September 2023
"Girl from Havana" is a B-movie starring Dennis O'Keefe and Victor Jory (Woody and Tex) as friends who work as oil drillers somewhere in Latin America. Throughout the film, Woody gets into a lot of trouble...shooting someone, running guns and pretty much nearly getting himself killed at every turn. Along the way for the ride is Claire Carleton as Havana.

In so many ways, the film seemed plotless and the two male leads (especially Woody) just blundered from one problem to another. It's supposed to be funny, I think. All I know is that I thought everyone in the film was a jerk and the story had less depth than a Popeye cartoon.
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3/10
If she's Cuban, then I'm Fidel Castro.
mark.waltz1 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Two Americans in Havana (Dennis O'Keefe and Gordon Jones), hunting for an oil strike in Cuba, find their goose cooked when they get hoodwinked by the blonde, non-Spanish accented Claire Carleton, who may sing Spanish songs but the only Spanish trait she has is a stereotypical hot temper. All of a sudden comes along Steffi Duna, the obviously real girl from somewhere by way of Budapest), and these two guys are in more trouble, especially when she tells one of them that she likes him. They are surround by some rather shady men (Víctor Jory and Bradley Page) who are obviously out to fleece O'Keefe and Jones, but that good old American know-how has the luck on the American's side. Not only preposterous casting but an absurd and unbelievable story. A few songs are interspersed but add nothing to this low budget programmer's absurdity.
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