Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado (2020) on Netflix

Name: Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2020-07-08
Duration: 96 min
Rating: 7.3
Cast: Walter Mercado, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Raul de Molina, Eugenio Derbez, Nydia Caro

NR20201h 36mDocumentary

Walter Mercado grows up among Puerto Rico's sugar cane fields, plays piano, and acts in telenovelas. An impromptu astrology segment on television turns him into a cape-wearing astrologer.

Netflix4.3/5
IMDb7.3/103,625 votes
Rotten Tomatoes100%

Trailer

Plot summary

Born in Puerto Rico in the 1930s, Walter Mercado spends his childhood in a rural area among sugar cane plantations, staying home with his mother while his brother Henry works with their father. He plays piano and reads, and in the 1950s he studies at the University of Puerto Rico, dancing and acting in theater before roles in telenovelas. A producer, Elín Ortiz, asks for an impromptu astrology segment on a television show, and the appearance becomes Walter's break as an astrologer. He goes on to his own television show and fame in Puerto Rico, then an international audience after Bill Bakula becomes his manager. He performs in elaborate capes and flamboyant colors, and faces homophobia over his androgynous image as many question his sexuality.

Cast

Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado (2020)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

Walter Mercado signed a contract giving away the rights to his name, likeness, image and media to his manager Bill Bakula's company, and spent six years in a legal battle to win them back.
After winning back the rights to his own name, Walter Mercado suffered a heart attack from the stress of the legal battle and made his last television appearance on October 3, 2006.
One week before the opening of a HistoryMiami Museum exhibition honoring his fifty-year career, Walter Mercado fell out of bed and then slipped in his bathroom, fracturing a rib and part of his spine.
After Lin-Manuel Miranda posted a photo of himself with Walter Mercado during Hamilton's Puerto Rico premiere in January 2019, many long-time fans were surprised to learn Mercado was still alive.
Walter Mercado's fame became a cult following among millennials, spawning memes, pop art, clothing and drinks bearing his name or image.