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Zoot Suit More at IMDbPro »
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| Index | 17 reviews in total |
13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
The Best Kind of Music, 18 February 2005
Author:
arlmovies (arlmovies@yahoo.com) from California
First off, Luis Valdez is a genius, he managed to take a real life
story, and make it into a musical, not only was its the best kind of
musical, with great acting and symbolism, but with meaning to the
Chicano race.
This film is about Chicanos and their history during the 1940's, and
even though it's about the gang, the actual Zoot Suit and the ending
are all very symbolic, and this movie should be credited for all the
creativity and work put into this brilliant masterpiece.
The songs were good, but what I really enjoyed was the acting, James
Omos is talent behind measurement, yet he receives no credit for such a
role. He doesn't play the role, he is the Zoot Suit. All around the
acting from everyone was excellent, I wouldn't change a thing about the
film.
10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
A unique film experience, 24 June 2002
Author:
Agent10 from Tucson, AZ
What a strange and surreal experience this film presents. While this is supposed to be a movie, it comes off as more of a high budget play, complete with random crowd scenes and odd looking stage sets. While most films try to present the real, this film encompasses the opposite side of the spectrum, presenting a world that is completely reconstructed within a small plot of space. Entertaining and unusual, this is one of those films a person should watch for the pure visual appeal of film.
10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Outstanding focus on an overlooked and important culture., 30 May 2002
Author:
mjmarkic (markicmj@pacbell.net) from San Francisco
Having seen the original stage production at the Mark Taper Forum &
Aquarius
Theatres, in Los Angeles. I was quite blown away by both the production
and
performances. This was one of my all time favorite stage
productions.
An attempt to mount the play in New York was a disappointing failure. I
guess the "snobs" of the New York Theatre world, at that time weren't
appreciative of something they just didn't get.
When I hear about the film being in production, I awaited it's release
with
anticipation. It's impossible to replace the presence of live performance
with film. This filmed version was a truly impressive attempt to relay the
success of the "live" production. I have long had my own copy of this film
on Laser Disc and wish it was on DVD.
If you haven't seen the film and are ready for something different with
some
cultural insight, rent it on VHS, the only format currently available.
10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
An intense, moving musical drama about overcoming prejudice, 4 October 2001
Author:
gaynor.wild from nashville, tn
This is one of the best statements, made musically, about anti-Mexican-American prejudice ever made. It is set in Los Angeles, during World War 2, when young 'chicanos' or 'pachucos' used the unique style of the zoot suit to set themselves off, and establish a florid machismo. Some of the plot is based on an actual incident. The movie is made as if showing a staged 'play,' in front of an 'audience,' in order to make particular statements about the way things appear to be. Edward James Olmos is the spirit of Pachuco, haunting Henry Reyna, the central character. We are brought to feel intensely both the striving for self-expression of the chicano youth, and the intense prejudice (based, as always, on ignorance) of the larger anglo society against them. Those of us who are anglos also come to identify with the anglos in the story who genuinely care for them and for justice. Four stars, especially for anyone from the southwest who is not a bigot.
8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Perfectly produced film version of stage play., 30 January 2005
Author:
lsussman2004 from United States
This film is a work of art. Of the finest quality. I first saw it at the Sunset Theater in downtown Los Angeles over 20 years ago. I was impressed with it then. Now that I have my own copy, I continue to be impressed by the quality of the performances, the screen writing, the sets, the music and dancing, and the feeling. I gave it a "10" which puts me in the same category as the "under 18 age females", OK, I guess I don't mind being in a group with some under 18 age females, sounds pretty good, eh, ese? Kudos for Luis Valdez, Daniel Valdez, Edward James Olmos, Tyne Daly and muchos otros. Great work, can't say enough good things about it.
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
"Zoot Suit. All it is for you guys is another way to say Mexican .", 17 June 2007
Author:
TrevorAclea from London, England
Zoot Suit takes a highly stylised approach to racism in the 40s, in
particular the infamous 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder trial that saw a
group of Zoot Suited 'Chicanos' railroaded for a murder in one of the
most outrageously unfair trials in American history. But rather than go
for a grim courtroom drama, Luis Valdez' film uses it as the basis for
a musical fantasy about racism and machismo dominated by Edward James
Olmos' El Pachuco, a fantasy figure acting as both Greek Chorus and
instigator, with attitude and bad advice to spare. The director's
brother Daniel Valdez does double-duty as self-destructive leading man
and composer of many the songs, and does a good job of both (sadly the
soundtrack only made it to LP). There are some liberties with the truth
– names have been changed and the 22 accused are whittled down to a
fictionalised four for dramatic convenience – although the most surreal
and unbelievable aspects of the trial are sadly accurate: the
defendants weren't allowed clean clothes or haircuts to ensure that
they looked more 'criminal,' had to stand whenever their name was
mentioned and the prosecution really did produce a witness from the LA
Sheriff's Office who gave testimony that Mexicans were predisposed to
commit murder because of their 'Aztec heritage' of human sacrifice.
There's no attempt to hide that this is unashamedly a filmed play and
there are problems with the approach: the sporadic cutaways to the
theatre audience are more distraction than anything else and by filming
on the original theatre sets the film occasionally hits problems with
the cinematography – the vivid colours are excellent, but the tendency
to lose focus on anyone not standing centre-stage (something that
happens to Charles Aidman in particular) is irritatingly sloppy. Also,
it has to be said, Olmos' performance makes no concessions to the more
intimate nature of film and at times comes across as stilted and too
mannered for the big screen. Yet despite the niggles, it works more
often than not. Not for all tastes, certainly, but this 'Chicano
Chicago' certainly deserves to be better known.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
The point of this escapes me, 19 May 2011
Author:
MBunge from Waterloo, Iowa
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Well, this is an odd duck of a motion picture. Writer/director Luis
Valdez appears to have adapted his play for the screen by not
technically adapting it at all. For the most part, Zoot Suit is like
training a camera on a stage play, complete with live theater sets and
choreography. Occasionally, he takes another step back and has the
movie viewer see an audience watching an actual play, but there's never
any much aim to that. There are some songs here but not enough to truly
make this a musical. The story is simplistic and halting, filled with
two-dimensional characters and one-dimensional dialog that's peppered
with enough slang and Spanish so that you've really got to pay
attention to follow what's going on. It's also preachy and more
preoccupied with being socially conscious than entertaining.
The point of this film is to give people a look at what it was like to
be Latino in 1940s Los Angeles. It does that by following Henry Reyna
(Daniel Valdez), a young gang leader as he and his friends are
prosecuted for a murder they didn't commit. Henry and his friends,
though, aren't the sort of gang bangers you see today. They were "zoot
suiters", wrapping themselves up in high-waisted pants, long jackets,
big brim hats, long chain loops that hand down their sides and
switchblades in their back pockets. Trailing after Henry through all
his experiences is El Pachuco (Edward James Olmos), who is some poorly
thought out mix of imaginary friend, alter ego and narrator of the
play.
I could go into Henry's trial, his virginal girlfriend, the union
organizer who spearheads his appeal and other stuff, but that's not
really what Zoot Suit is about. It's about the racism faced by Latinos
in 1940s America as they tried to claim their piece of the American
Dream and how they sometimes internalized that prejudice. The tale of
Henry Reyna is just a pretext for a lot of shorthand pontificating
about that, but this movie is neither smart nor serious enough to say
anything interesting on those subjects, especially not with Edward
James Olmos strutting through the film like a bad guy from the 1960s
Batman TV show.
It's weird construction aside, Zoot Suit isn't terribly performed.
However, it's overwhelming sense of unreality is alienating and there's
not enough fun here to counteract that. If you watch it, you'll
understand what writer/director Valdez is trying to say and wonder why
he chose such a strange way of expressing it.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
East LA's "Angels With Dirty Faces", 19 April 2011
Author:
rajah524-3 from United States
While I am willing to agree with the one reviewer here who takes Luis
to task for staging a somewhat lopsided revision of history, I'm
surprised at the 6.4 rating for this very artfully laid out rundown of
the Sleepy Lagoon screwiness in wartime LA. My father was in fact one
of the sheriff's deputies involved. His version was understandably
authoritarian and legalistic. But all that aside...
This is the best examination I've ever seen or even heard of regarding
the psyche of the Mexican-American gang bangers on the east side of
that dry wash that separated the fix-is-in boys downtown from the
second- and third-generation campesinos of mid-century SoCal. I went to
Woodrow Wilson Junior & High School in El Sereno. There is nothing in
Eddie James's =stunning= (to me, anyway) real-ization of "El Pachuco"
that is off the mark. Nada. He had the peculiar, paranoid-delusional,
narcissistic-machismo, defense mechanism menudo of the vato loco
=down=, ese.
And anyone who understands even a =little= of what it really means to
be =Hispanically= antisocial in hyper-starched khakis & Sir Guys =or=
peg pants & porkpies -- and =dig= it -- ought to be fascinated. (Go see
the outfits some of the guys in El Chicano, Tierra and Thee Midnighters
are sporting to this day.)
Lalo Guerrero's "Marijuana Boogie" and the rest of the "bop" lend
further flavor to this nifty little play-turned-film. Watch it
=carefully=. Valdez's script is subtle. This is sophisticated trabajo.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Rated R ?, 2 July 2007
Author:
tarmarlar from United States
Simply stated, a great stage play, on film, complete with audience, on film. Olmos is very good,yes,yes. Tyne Daly? Interesting casting choice, not a bad one; it was 1981 after all. Yet I keep asking myself (and of course those darlings at the MPAA) "WHY IS THIS FILM RATED R?" WHY!!!!??? (really, why?) Spanish swearing? 2 naked male actors in fetal positions? A reference to W.R. Hearst? Come on! Make sure to see THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED for the skinny on the MPAA. But seriously folks, WHY is it rated R? LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD is rated PG 13 because they only say F&&K twice- three times makes it R - Jeez, go figure! I saw nothing blew up in this film, I did see some under pants on the female dancers but those were tap pants and not close up....
3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
inspirational movie, 12 September 2005
Author:
kermi_17 from United States
this movie was a great look at Chicano culture in the 40's.. i feel that it relevant now as well... i think it's more moving if you are Chicano and have grown up in that culture...it might be hard to feel towards the characters if you have not experienced the type of racism that Chicanos go through..i myself have and maybe i am biased and see this movie very inspirational...but what can i do about it, i'm brown. i recommend this movie even if your are not Latino.. you can see what people of other races went through...experiences that were not put in the history books by white America...see what was done to Chicanos of that time.
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