The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit
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| The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit | |
|---|---|
| Image:Wonderfulicecreamx318.jpg Movie poster and Box Art |
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| Directed by | Stuart Gordon |
| Produced by | Roy E. Disney Stuart Gordon Laura J. Medina |
| Written by | Ray Bradbury |
| Starring | Clifton Collins Jr.(credited as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez) Joe Mantegna Esai Morales Gregory Sierra Edward James Olmos |
| Music by | Mader |
| Distributed by | Touchstone Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 23, 1998 |
| Running time | 77 mins. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit is a 1998 film set in East Los Angeles directed by Stuart Gordon, written by Ray Bradbury and starring Edward James Olmos, Joe Mantegna, Esai Morales, Clifton Collins Jr. (credited as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez), and Gregory Sierra. Despite some well-known actors and the writing credit of Bradbury, the film was released direct-to-video by Touchstone Pictures.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
The opening titles are done completely in sand animation. The story starts off with Jose Martinez (Clifton Collins Jr.), being young and poor man living in East Los Angeles who is in love with the girl next door. He sets out to go say hi when he encounters a strange man eyeing him. He runs down the street and throws his wallet with his last $20 to escape. When cornered in the alley he is given back his money where the man measures his body frame. This man is Gomez (Joe Mantegna) who introduces himself and then wisk Martinez to a run-down bar. There he meets two other similarly sized Latinos, Dominguez (Esai Morales), a wandering guitar player, and Villanazul (Gregory Sierra), a burgeoning philosopher and speaker for the people.
After barely letting the dust settle, Gomez shows them that they all have the same measurements, height, and weight. It is at that moment that Gomez shares his vision. The most beautiful, exquisite ice cream summer suit is for sale at the downtown suit emporium. It is one of a kind and costs only $100. Alone, none of them have enough to purchase the suit, but by combining their money, they may be able to own the one of a kind suit together. Each of the four has only $20, leaving them with $80 - just $20 short. They need just one more person to complete their dream. In their haste, they choose to go along with the bum outside, Vamenos (Edward James Olmos), who has the last $20 dollars they need, and is surprisingly the same size as the rest of them.
Thus sets out the story of what happens when five different men, all with different skills, but all the same size, share a suit that seems to have been made just for them, creating a sense of magic for each who wears it and at the same time, making their dreams come alive.
[edit] Story and film history
The story's life and inspiration comes from Ray Bradbury's 1957 Saturday Evening Post short story, "The Magic White Suit." Later, the short would be renamed to the much more familiar, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, and later was turned into a short play, published in The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit and Other Plays (ISBN 0-552-67297-1), a 1972 collection of three plays by Ray Bradbury: The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, The Veldt, and To the Chicago Abyss. All are adaptations from short stories of the same names.
The story had gone on to see numerous incarnations as a television drama, a stage musical, and play. The first screen adaptation of The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit was a television version broadcast in 1958. An LA production of the play featured the debut of actor F. Murray Abraham .
The 1998 version of the film was originally shown at that year's Sundance Film Festival. Ray Bradbury wrote the screenplay. He has called that film version "the best film I've ever made."[1] The film is director Stuart Gordon's first departure from science fiction and horror genres. He had previously directed a stage adaptation of The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit.
[edit] Principal cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Clifton Collins Jr. (credited as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez) | Martinez |
| Joe Mantegna | Gomez |
| Esai Morales | Dominguez |
| Gregory Sierra | Villanazul |
| Edward James Olmos | Vamenos |
| Sid Caesar | Sid Zellman |
| Claudia Wells | Leo Zellman |
| Mercedes Ortega | Celia Obregon |
| Liz Torres | Ruby Escadrillo |
| Mike Moroff | Toro |
| Lisa Vidal | Ramona |
[edit] Awards
Nomination:
- Annie Awards - 1998; Nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Interstitial, Promotional Production or Title Sequence"
- Fantasporto - 1998; Nominated for "International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film"
Winner:
- Fantafestival - 1998; Won for "Best Direction" Stuart Gordon
[edit] References
- ^ Bradbury, Ray (2004). Conversations With Ray Bradbury. University Press of Mississippi,p 186. ISBN 1-57806-641-7.
[edit] External links
