El padrino (2004)

In the streets of East Los Angeles, Manny is a formidable drug dealer. Impressed by his extravagant lifestyle and prowess, his young son, Kilo, yearns to follow in his footsteps. Kilo ... See full summary »

Director:

Damian Chapa

Writers:

Troy Barker (screenplay), Troy Barker (story)

Stars:

Damian Chapa, Sal Lopez, Emilio Rivera

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Damian Chapa	...	Kilo
Sal Lopez	...	Loco
Emilio Rivera	...	Rudy
Jennifer Tilly	...	Sebeva
Faye Dunaway	...	Atty. Gen. Navarro
Ismael 'East' Carlo	...	Manny
Joanna Pacula	...	Jessica Lancaster
Robert Wagner	...	Paul Fisch
Gary Busey	...	Lars
Stacy Keach	...	Gov. Lancaster
Brad Dourif	...	Cyrus
Ralf Moeller	...	Special Agent Kurt Meyers
Melora Hardin	...	Jane
Rachel Hunter	...	Newscaster
Kathleen Quinlan	...	Judge Scorsi

Storyline

In the streets of East Los Angeles, Manny is a formidable drug dealer. Impressed by his extravagant lifestyle and prowess, his young son, Kilo, yearns to follow in his footsteps. Kilo resolves to learn how to prosper in the drug world, and his new life as a dealer begins. Starting off small, dealing to the high school and college market, Kilo discovers the drug business to be very profitable. With a little help from the well-connected and seductive daughter of a Colombian gangster, he becomes a drug kingpin with a nationwide monopoly on drug running. While conquering the drug world, Kilo falls in love with a local Latina who quickly becomes pregnant. Shortly thereafter, Kilo is involved in a drug deal with a wired frat boy that goes bad, and he is imprisoned. His exciting and stylish life as a drug lord seems to have come to a halt. But prison life does not stop Kilo from running his operation. He enlists the support of other prisoners including Crips, Bloods, and a very powerful ...

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Plot Keywords:

drugs | prison | gangster | drug dealer | lowrider | 

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Taglines:

The only color on the street is green

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive strong violence and language, drug content and sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

Emilio Rivera would go on to play the "El Padrino" in the Sons of Anarchy spinoff "Mayans M.C."

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Goofs

During the party scene at Kilo's house, music is being played. This is supposed to be the late 1970s but instead of using music from that era, modern techno music is heard.

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Quotes

Sebeva: I may be a whore, but I'm a loyal bitch.

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Connections

Followed by El Padrino II: Border Intrusion (2011)

User Reviews

Spectacularly Crap!

I'm not sure when I last saw a film as spectacularly crap as "El Padrino". I'm also not sure when I last laughed so hard or had so much fun. It's for exactly these reasons that I'm giving this film 10/10. "El Padrino" is bad film-making of the highest order and truly belongs in the crap hall of fame. Damian Chapa - I salute you! It's hard to pinpoint exactly why this film transcends its own pomposity to become a hugely entertaining, so-bad-it's-good masterpiece. But I think most of the credit lies with the casting of Jennifer Tilly as Sebeva. Jennifer Tilly is one of my favourite actresses. This woman has it all: looks, talent and obviously a fantastic sense of humour. That's the only reason I can think of why a classy lady of Asian heritage (one of Jennifer's parents is Chinese) in her 40s would choose the role of a young, drug-running Columbian prostitute.

The character of Sebeva really has to be seen to be believed. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I first saw Jennifer dolled up like a Latina drag queen on crack but Sebeva's wardrobe is nothing in comparison to her appalling dialogue and Jennifer's tremendous over-acting. Just when I thought it couldn't possible get any better, Sebeva would say something like "I may be a whore, but I'm a loyal bitch" or roll around on a table in, what I assume is meant to be, an erotic manner. I also defy anyone with even the slightest knowledge of the Spanish language not to fall on the floor laughing when Sebeva comments en Espagnol, complete with Jennifer Tilly's breathy, American accent.

Apart from Sebeva, this film has a couple of interesting action sequences and a completely ludicrous serial killer subplot to pad out the rather dull father/son drug dealer scenario. After working over the drug cartels with this epic, it seems Damian Chapa's next opus will tackle the IRA. I, for one, can hardly wait!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 September 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

El padrino: The Latin Godfather

Filming Locations:

East Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,750,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

El Padrino LLC, Heartless Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1