Popi (1969)

Today one does not hear very much about the movie Popi (1969), but upon its release it received mostly positive reviews and it did moderately well at the box office. It was also nominated for various awards, from the Golden Globes to the WGA. It also happens to be significant in the history of Latinos in American film.

Popi (1969) centres on Abraham Rodriguez (Alan Arkin), a Puerto Rican living in Brooklyn, New York. He is the father of two sons, who both refer to him as "Popi." He wants to marry his girlfriend Lupe (Rita Moreno), but hasn't the money to do so. What is worse, his neighbourhood is increasingly being affected by gang violence. Popi then hatches a scheme to get a better life for his sons. 

Popi (1969) was written by Lester and Tina Pine, both of who had earlier written for television. It was directed by Arthur Hiller, who had already directed such films as The Wheeler Dealers (1963), The Americanization of Emily (1964), and Penelope (1966). Alan Arkin had initially rejected the part of Popi, whereupon producer Herbert B. Leonard offered it to Marcello Mastroianni, who turned it down, but he rejected the idea of playing a Puerto Rican. The script was then reworked and once more offer to Alan Arkin, who this time accepted the role of Abraham "Popi" Rodriguez. As to Popi's sons, around 5000 boys auditioned for the roles. Many of the boys who tried out for the role came from both Spanish Harlem (in which Popi was set) and  the 11th & Second Avenue Boys Club in East Harlem.

Filming began on Popi (1969) on April 21, 1968. It was shot on location in New York. Among the locations used in the film were 91 Central Park West, the apartment building where Popi worked as a handyman and the New York Hilton Midtown, where Popi worked as a busboy. Part of the film was also shot in Miami, Florida, where the latter part of the movie takes place.

Popi premiered in New York City on May 27, 1969. Popi (1969) premiered in New York City on May 27, 1969. For the most part it received positive reviews with a few critics who did not care for the film very much. Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun-Times was among the critics who gave Popi (1969) a good review, although he did have some problems with the movie. He felt with Popi's scheme in the second half of the movie that it was where the film "...bogs down."  He went onto write, "The first half, set in New York, is rich and warm, filled with the flavor of city life. The second half, involving the Florida plan, functions only on the level of TV situation comedy." While Roger Ebert liked Popi (1969), the critic at Variety did not, commenting, "Arkin is given too much free rein for his very personal style, and is sometimes guilty of working a scene, meant to be poignant or even dramatic, for a laugh, which he usually gets. The undecided mood of the film works against it for any lasting impression on the viewer." Vincent Canby in The New York Times outright hated Popi (1968). He referred to it as "insidious" and even claimed it played poverty for laughs. Regardless of what critics thought of Popi (1968), it did fairly well at the box office, where it made $2 million in North America.

Today viewers (including myself0 would object to Alan Arkin being cast as a Puerto Rican. Apparently, neither Herbert B. Leonard nor Arthur Hiller considered any Latinos for the role of Popi. Even in the Sixties it was not unusual for actors of other ethnicities to play Latino characters. Except for Rita Moreno, the Sharks and other Puerto Rican characters were all played by whites in West Side Story (1961). Egyptian Omar Sharif played Che Guevara in the movie Che! released the same year as Popi (1969). Brownface was still very much a fact of life in Hollywood in the late Sixties. It is perhaps fortunate that Rita Moreno, who is Puerto Rican, played Lupe in the film.

While Alan Arkin was miscast as Popi, his performance in the role is a bit more complicated. Alan Arkin's performance as Popi is nuanced and does possess emotional depth. It is not one-dimensional at all. At the same time, there are times where Alan Arkin's accent seems a bit too exaggerated and there is a stark contrast between Mr. Arkin and Rita Moreno and the young actors who played Popi's sons. The emphasis on slapstick, prominent in the latter half of the film, has also been criticised in later years. Regardless, Alan Arkin's portrayal of Popi was much more sensitive and much more humanistic than other Latino characters played by non-Latno actors.

The success of Popi (1969) would lead to a short-lived sitcom of the same name that aired during the 1975-1976. In the TV show Popi, Popi was played by an actual Puerto Rican, Héctor Elizondo. The show received positive reviews from critics, but it failed in the ratings. Scheduled against Laverne & Shirley on ABC and Movin' On on NBC, it was cancelled after 10 episodes.

While most people today would object to Alan Arkin being cast as a Puerto Rican, Popi (1969) is still somewhat historic with regards to Latino characters in American films. In 1969, there were not very many movies centred on Latino characters. When Latino characters did appear in movies of the era, they were often blatant stereotypes. Popi (1969), for what flaws it may have, presented a Puerto Rican father with some sympathy and even some dignity.