Zoot Suit (film)

Zoot Suit is a 1981 film adaptation of the Broadway play Zoot Suit. Both the play and film were written and directed by Luis Valdez. The film stars Daniel Valdez, Edward James Olmos — both reprising their roles from the stage production —, and Tyne Daly. Many members of the cast of the Broadway production also appeared in the film. Like the play, the film features music from Daniel Valdez and Lalo Guerrero, the "father of Chicano music."

Plot

In Zoot Suit, Luis Valdez weaves a story involving the real-life events of the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial — when a group of young Mexican-Americans were charged with murder — and the Zoot Suit Riots. In the play, Henry Reyna (inspired by real-life defendant Hank Leyvas) is a pachuco gangster and his gang, who were unfairly prosecuted, are thrown in jail for a murder they did not commit. The play is set in the barrios of Los Angeles in the early 1940s against the backdrop of the Zoot Suit Riots and World War II. As in the play, Edward James Olmos portrays El Pachuco, an idealized Zoot Suiter, who functions as narrator throughout the story and serves as Henry's conscience.

Cast

• Daniel Valdez as Henry Reyna
• Edward James Olmos as El Pachuco
• Charles Aidman as George Shearer
• Tyne Daly as Alice Bloomfield
• John Anderson as Judge F.W. Charles
• Abel Franco as Enrique
• Mike Gomez as Joey/Jose Castro
• Alma Martínez as Lupe
• Francis X. McCarthy as Press
• Lupe Ontiveros as Dolores
• Marco Rodríguez as Smiley/Ismael Torres
• Kelly Ward as Tommy/Thomas Roberts
• Kurtwood Smith as Sergeant Smith
• Dennis Stewart as Swabbie

Awards

The film was nominated for the 1982 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (won by Arthur).

See also

• Zoot Suit, the play
• Zoot suit
• Zoot Suit Riots

References

External links

• Zoot Suit at the Internet Movie Database
• Zoot Suit at AllMovie
• Zoot Suit at Box Office Mojo
• Zoot Suit at Rotten Tomatoes
• In-depth information about the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial