Gracious Montalban

English was, of course, a second language for the Mexican-born Ricardo Montalban (1920-2009) so no demerits for the “it’s” possessive or the misspelled “than”. What mattered was that he meant it.

Excerpt from Pauline Kael’s review of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (‘82):


“[Ricardo] Montalban’s performance doesn’t show a trace of Fantasy Island. It’s all panache; if he isn’t wearing feathers in his hair you see them there anyway. You know how you always want to laugh at the flourishes that punctuate the end of a flamenco dance, and the dancers don’t let you? Montalban does. His bravado is grandly comic.” — Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, 1982