Main Cast: Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, Faye Dunaway, Géraldine Pailhas, Bob Dishy
Release Year: 1995
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
A psychiatrist treats a most unusual patient, only to find that the doctor is the one who gains the most from their sessions in this philosophical romantic comedy. A young man in a mask and cape (played by Johnny Depp) is standing atop a billboard, threatening to jump. When the potential suicide is finally talked down, he's brought to a psychiatric facility where after one doctor washes his hands of the case, he's placed under the supervision of Dr. Jack Mickler (Marlon Brando), an aging psychiatrist soon to retire. The patient informs Mickler that he is actually the great lover Don Juan, who has seduced over 1,500 women, but has fallen into a deep depression after being unable to win the hand of the woman of his dreams. Mickler has ten days to work with "Don Juan," after which he will either be released on medication or committed to a long-term stay in a mental hospital. As Mickler talks with the young man, who speaks rapturously of the art of love, the doctor finds that his philosophies are helping to kick start his failing relationship with his wife (Faye Dunaway), and he slowly becomes convinced that his patient might really be Don Juan after all. Don Juan DeMarco's theme song, "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman," became a major hit for singer and songwriter Bryan Adams; after working with Marlon Brando on this film, Johnny Depp cast the legendary actor in a key supporting role in his directorial debut, The Brave. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
When dealing with psychological disorders in film, it's a fine line indeed between whimsical and preposterous. Think how absurd a film like Rain Man (1988) could have been in less capable hands (think too hard on it and you'll probably end up with something that looks a whole lot like 1999's double-serving of cinematic cheese, Molly and The Other Sister). Screenwriter and sometime-director Jeremy Leven has a particular problem with recognizing the border between the engagingly offbeat and the fatuous, as his scripts for Creator (1985) and The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) clearly demonstrate, seesawing wildly as they do from one tone to another, frustrating in their sheer first-draftness. Leven's directorial debut Don Juan DeMarco (1995) is not enough of an exception, but the comedy-drama admirably generates enough charm to make a convincing argument that the writer/director should get behind the camera for more of his own scripts. Many of the film's plot developments are as patently balmy as its central character, but leads Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando seem to be having such a good time that one would have to be a major sourpuss to care. Pacing, music, Depp's vanity, the oddball flirtations between Brando and Faye Dunaway (as his perplexed but delighted wife), and especially the writer/director's central assertion that nothing is more flat-out nuts than love, all combine to make an entertaining diversion aimed squarely at the non-cynic. Leven's film is told with such peppery gusto that it ends up being the artistic equivalent of the family black sheep: a bit of a pill, a tax upon one's intellectual patience at times, but ultimately too truthful and too much jovial fun to dislike. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Rachel Ticotin - Dona Inez; Carmen Argenziano - Don Alfonzo; Jo Champa - Sultana Gulbeyaz; Al Corley - Woman's Date; Nada Despotovich - Nurse Gloria; Marita Geraghty - Woman in Restaurant; Ken Gutstein - Doctor; Teresa Hughes - Grandmother DeMarco; Gilbert Lewis - Judge Ryland; Tom "Tiny" Lister, Jr. - Rocco Compton; Franc Luz - Don Antonio; Tom Mardirosian - Baba, the Eunuch; Patricia Mauceri - Dona Querida; Sanjay - Auctioneer; Esther Scott - Nurse Alvira; Talisa Soto - Dona Julia; Richard Sarafian - Detective Sy Tobias; Santiago Garcia - Mariachi Band #4; Nick LaTour - Nicholas, the Doorman; Sara Mansfield - Harem Girl
Credit
Jeff Knipp - Art Director, Lynn Kressel - Casting, Robert Newmyer - Co-producer, Brian Reilly - Co-producer, Jeffrey Silver - Co-producer, Kirsten Everberg - Costume Designer, Jerry Ballew - First Assistant Director, Jeremy Leven - Director, Antony Gibbs - Editor, Michael De Luca - Executive Producer, Ruth Vitale - Executive Producer, Michael Kamen - Composer (Music Score), Robert John Lange - Composer (Music Score), Bryan Adams - Songwriter, Ron Berkeley - Makeup, Sharon Seymour - Production Designer, Ralf Bode - Cinematographer, Francis Ford Coppola - Producer, Fred Fuchs - Producer, Patrick Palmer - Producer, Maggie Martin - Set Designer, Jeremy Leven - Screenwriter, Tom Perry - Re-Recording Mixer
Don Juan DeMarco is a 1995 film starring Johnny Depp as John R. DeMarco, a man who believes himself to be Don Juan, the greatest lover in the world. Clad in a cape and domino mask, DeMarco undergoes psychiatric treatment with Marlon Brando's character, Dr. Jack Mickler, to cure him of his apparent delusion. But the psychiatric sessions have an unexpected effect on the psychiatric staff, some of whom find themselves inspired by DeMarco's delusion; the most profoundly affected is Dr. Mickler himself, who rekindles the romance in his complacent marriage.
The movie is based on two different sources; the modern-day story is based on director/screenwriter Jeremy Leven's short story Don Juan DeMarco and the Centerfold (the movie's original title before the studio changed it shortly before release), while the flashbacks depicting DeMarco's back-story are based on the more familiar legend of Don Juan, especially as told by Lord Byron in his version of the legend.
The film and soundtrack feature the original Bryan Adams song "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?"; the lyrics incorporate quotes from Depp's character, and the melody is used as a musical motif throughout the film. In addition, the song itself is performed three times, once by a mariachi band serenading the characters (in Spanish), once by Jose Hernandez and Nydia, as background music (again in Spanish), and once by Bryan Adams during the closing credits.
The film had an estimated budget of $25,000,000, grossing just $22,200,000 in the U.S. With a total $66,200,000 gross worldwide, it was then considered a hit for New Line Cinema.
Trivia
The late Tejano music superstar Selena made a brief cameo as a Mariachi singer just a month before she died.
