Luis Valdez wrote and directed the earnest but messy indie musical drama Zoot Suit, based on his 1978 Broadway play.
Grade: C (*1/2* out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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The film stars Daniel Valdez and Edward James Olmos, both reprising their roles from the stage production.
Like the play, the film features music from Daniel Valdez and Lalo Guerrero, the “father of Chicano music.”
Zoot Suit presents a fictionalized version of the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial, where a group of young Mexican-Americans were charged with murder, resulting in the racially fueled Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles.
The story is set in the barrios of Los Angeles in the early 1940s against the backdrop of the Zoot Suit Riots and World War II.
Henry Reyna (inspired by real-life defendant Hank Leyvas) is a pachuco gangster.
El Pachuco, an idealized Zoot Suiter, functions as narrator throughout the story and serves as Henry’s conscience.
Poorly directed, Zoot Suit tries to combine the conventions of theater with those of cinema, but in the process falls in between, failing to engage as a stage or filmic production. The decision to periodically cut from the film to the stage, showing the live audience reaction, is a misfire.
Cast
Daniel Valdez as Henry Reyna
Edward James Olmos as “El Pachuco”, portrayed as a true zoot suiter with a long black coat and red undershirt.
Rose Portillo as Della
Charles Aidman as George Shearer
Tyne Daly as Alice Bloomfield
John Anderson as Judge F.W. Charles
Credits
Directed, written by Luis Valdez, based on “Zoot Suit,” his 1978 play
Produced by Peter Burrell
Cinematography David Myers
Edited by Jacqueline Cambas
Music by Lalo Guerrero, Daniel Valdez
Production companies: Center Theatre Group, Mark Taper Forum
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date: October 2, 1981
Running time: 103 minutes
Budget $2.7 million
Box office $3.25
