Popi ***½ (1969, Alan Arkin, Rita Moreno, Reuben Figueroa) – Classic Movie Review 10,146

The 1969 film Popi is a touching, lovingly made, offbeat comedy about Abraham, a Puerto Rican father (Alan Arkin), a single parent with two boys. He is worried about his life with his sexy girlfriend Lupe (Rita Moreno) and his sons’ future. 

Director Arthur Hiller’s 1969 film Popi is a touching, lovingly made, offbeat comedy about Abraham, a Puerto Rican father (Alan Arkin), a single parent with two boys. He is worried about his life with his sexy girlfriend Lupe (Rita Moreno) and what future his sons Luis and Junior (Reuben Figueroa, Miguel Alejandro) will have as they grow up in the run-down streets of Spanish Harlem in New York.

So Abraham devises a wacky scheme to send them to a nicer place for a chance at a better life, washed ashore as Cuban immigrants and adopted by rich Anglos.

Arkin’s pyrotechnics are highly impressive. It is the magnetism of his performance that holds the film together, though it has a very good original screenplay.

Arkin was a 1970 Golden Globe nominee as Best Actor – Drama. Tina Pine and Lester Pine were nominees for the 1970 Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen for Writers Guild of America Award (Screen).

Also in the cast are John Harkins, Joan Tompkins, Anthony Holland, Amy Freeman, Louis Zorich, Antonia Rey, Barbara Dana, and Arnold Soboloff.

Barbara Dana, who plays the receptionist in the hospital, was Alan Arkin’s then wife. They were married from 16 June 1964 to 2 November 1999 (divorced, one child).

Two of Arkin’s movies, Popi (1969) and Freebie and the Bean (1974), were later adapted into TV series both starring Hector Elizondo in Arkin’s screen roles.

Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Little Miss Sunshine (2006).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,146

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