Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Lee Eisenberg "Night Train to Mundo Fine", aka "Red Zone Cuba", is one of the numerous movies only known today thanks to "Mystery Science Theater 3000". The incoherent plot has some criminals who participate in the Bay of Pigs invasion. That's supposedly the plot, but only a few minutes of the movie take place in Cuba, after which the characters go on a crime spree in the southwest US. Yeah, try and figure that one out. The person playing Fidel Castro looks as much like him as celery looks like lava. Basically, the movie itself could be a metaphor for how well planned - not to mention how successful - the actual invasion was. As Crow puts it, "I want to hurt this movie but I can never hurt it the way it hurt me." So, if in fact you want to see it, just watch the "MST3K" version, as well as the show's version of that other Coleman Francis fiasco "The Skydivers". How cruel of Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank to make Mike, Servo and Crow watch this.

the_other_kinsey_institute Written, directed by and starring Coleman Francis--it doesn't get any worse than this. This film is literally a step-by-step guide on how NOT to make a film. In my kinder moments, I think that perhaps they were trying to be artistic, but it just doesn't work. No plot, no continuity, no character development, no acting, no framing, no composition. Even the sound is crap but that's okay because no one really says anything approaching relevance or a story.The only thing that really puzzles me is how in the world John Carradine got roped into making an appearance? For that matter, his scene doesn't make a bit of sense to the rest of the movie, so maybe they lied to him and told him the movie was about something else? All in all, I believe Crow T. Robot said it best: 'I want to hurt this film, but I know I can never hurt it as much as it's hurt me.' So true, Crow, so true.

davejohnstephens Through watching MST3K, I have also come to view a lot of really, really bad films. Manos, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians ... they even inspired me to watch Plan 9, which is widely considered the worst movie ever created.But nothing can be compared to when I sat watching the episode featuring the Coleman Francis movie, "Red Zone Cuba". I soon came to understand that this was no ordinary film. I came to know that this was truly the worst movie ever conceived.There is no plot. The dialog is 100 percent incomprehensible and incoherent. The acting is pretty much the worst you can imagine. The editing is equally horrible. The cinematography seems as though they just got a random kid on the street, stuck a cheap camera in his hand and said, "Here, point the camera this way for us." From the moment the characters start talking and interacting, you know you're in for a bumpy ride.The only thing good about the whole movie was the fact that is was so terrible. I don't know if Coleman Francis thought it was funny to waste his money like this, or if he truly thought this would be a good film, but either way, he achieved some kind of all-time low for film-making.But I warn you to watch it only on MST3K. I don't know what might happen to you otherwise, the movie stinks so bad...

ametaphysicalshark Auteur extraordinaire Coleman Francis once again proves that staying away from studio interference and a budget as well as casting one's incompetent self is the only surefire way to create a surrealist, absurdist, and yet somehow ultra-realistic cinema-verite masterpiece of the magnitude of "Red Zone Cuba", also known as "Night Train to Mundo Fine".Coleman Francis uses multiple inventive and original techniques to establish the absurdist atmosphere of this uncompromising noir epic. His use of repetitive imagery evokes the unnecessary nature of the lives being lived by the protagonists as well as the antagonists in Francis' typical ultra-realist and yet abstract sensationalist cinema verite noir universe. John Carradine in particular was an inspired bit of casting- a fine actor whose career was deteriorating- the perfect way to portray a character in the dark, gloomy, relentless world of continuous close-ups that Francis creates.Of course it's fairly obvious that "Red Zone Cuba" was Stanley Kubrick's primary influence for "2001: A Space Odyssey", but the similarity between both films goes even farther. Indeed, "Red Zone Cuba" creates an aesthetic far removed and yet nearly identical to "2001". Kubrick has stated that Coleman Francis succeeded so unbelievably well in "Red Zone Cuba" that no director in the future of cinema should attempt to equal it, resulting in Kubrick's deliberate attempt to create an inferior film. Needless to say, the poorly-paced "2001" succeeds in this aspect.Although released late in Francis' career "Red Zone Cuba" was actually shot in 1961. It is said that critics who viewed the film in 1961 walked out in droves appalled and yet fascinated with Francis' portrayal of Fidel Castro as an American man named Landis in a deliberately fake beard. This absurdist view of Cuban-American relations caused controversy that delayed the film's release by five years.Francis includes many of his trademark stylistic choices in this film as both a writer and director. For example, coffee is the focus of more than one scene, and we all know how brilliantly coffee is used in Francis' films as a motif. Another important aspect of this film is the use of repetitive imagery to enhance the gritty realist absurdism that is Coleman Francis' cinema. The scene where several men climb up a cliff using a rope is remarkable and possibly the greatest sequence in all of cinema.Of course the final line is the greatest of all time: "Griffin ran all the way to hell... with a penny, and a broken cigarette."Narration that is clearly an influence on Terrence Malick and other reputable directors.10/10