Copacabana

Sweet Heaven!

A 1985 Made for TV Movie musical based on Barry Manilow's 1978 smash hit song "Copacabana". Stars Barry Manilow as Barry Manilow... er, as Tony Starr, Annette O'Toole as Lola Lamar and Joseph Bologna as Rico Castelli.

Tropes used in Copacabana include:

• Adorkable: Tony is this trope in spades.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Tony. His mother's maiden name is Stern, but there are no references to his religion and when he and Lola marry at the end, they have a Catholic wedding.
• The Big Bad: Rico.
• Busby Berkeley Number: Several of them.
• Chorus Girls
• Dawson Casting: Manilow and O'Toole playing fresh-faced kids in their early twenties when they were actually in their forties and thirties respectively.
• Disappeared Dad: Tony's dad walked out on him and his mom when Tony was a kid. See: Reality Subtext below.
• Damsel in Distress: Lola in Havana.
• Doomed by Canon: Tony, obviously.
• Downer Ending
• The Eighties: The opening and closing scenes take place in The Eighties.
• Eighties Hair: Nice haircut, Barry. I thought this movie was supposed to be set in The Forties!
• Everybody Smokes: Of course they do; it's The Forties.
  • Though Manilow was/is a smoker in Real Life, this is bizarrely averted by Tony Starr.
• Fictional Counterpart: The radio game show Sing That Song seems an awful lot like Name That Tune.
• Foregone Conclusion: Anyone who's heard the song "Copacabana" knows that things aren't going to end well for Tony and Lola.
• The Forties: The bulk of the movie takes place in 1948.
• Game Show: Tony and Lola first meet as competitors on the radio game show Sing That Song.
• Gun Struggle: A three-way example between Tony, Lola, and Rico. Ends with Tony getting shot accidentally by Lola.
• How We Got Here: The movie begins with Lola drinking at a bar in The Eighties. The rest of the movie is a Whole-Episode Flashback illustrating How She Got There.
• I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: See: Gun Struggle above.
• Idiot Ball: Lola carries it all the way to Havana with her!
• The Ingenue: Lola.
• Love Dodecahedron: Tony loves Lola, Rico loves Lola, Lola loves Tony, and so does Pam.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Tony gets one of these moments.
• Meaningful Name: Tony Starr. Subverted in that he chose it himself.
• Meet Cute: Tony and Lola's rather awkward encounter in the hallway after their game show appearance.
• Mugged for Disguise: How Tony charges onto the scene during the "El Bravo" number to rescue Lola.
• The Musical Musical
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Rico tells Lola that the giant diamond ring he's given her is known as The Star of The Caribbean, but everyone else calls it The Kiss Of Death, because of what happened to the last girl Rico gave it to...
• Nice Hat: Tony's hat in the "El Bravo" sequence.
• Oh Crap: When Dennis Reilly, a random guy at the bar tells Tony, "I'm your father."
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Conchita Rivera, a couple of times.
• Pair the Spares: Sam Grooper and Conchita seem to be heading in this direction at Tony and Lola's wedding.
• Reality Subtext: The whole Disappeared Dad subplot sounds an awful lot like Manilow's own life. His father abandoned him and his mother when Manilow was two years old. The movie's storyline perhaps takes it into Wish Fulfillment territory, making parts of it a bit uncomfortable to watch.
• Shout-Out: "Lola, sweeter than a cherry cola!"
• Show Within a Show: The various musical numbers, especially "El Bravo".
• Time Compression Montage: Tony and Lola's competition on Sing That Song.
• Traveling At the Speed of Plot: It's amazing how quickly people can make travel arrangements to foreign countries back in 1948!
• Twist Ending: Anyone who's heard the song knows that Tony gets shot, but in the movie, it turns out that it was Lola and not Rico who shot him. See: Gun Struggle above.
• White Shirt of Death: Tony.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Tony and Lola have Earned Their Happy Ending, when suddenly Rico shows up with a gun.