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Zoot Suit is a 1981 drama musical film 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."

Zoot Suit
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Luis Valdez
Written by	Luis Valdez
Based on	Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez
Produced by	Peter Burrell
Starring	Daniel Valdez Edward James Olmos
Cinematography	David Myers
Edited by	Jacqueline Cambas
Music by	Lalo Guerrero Daniel Valdez
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	October 2, 1981 (1981-10-02)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2.7 million[1]
Box office	$3,256,082[2]

In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3]

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 — resulting in the racially fueled Zoot Suit Riots throughout Los Angeles. 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"
• Rose Portillo as Della
• Charles Aidman as George Shearer
• Tyne Daly as Alice Bloomfield
• John Anderson as Judge F.W. Charles
• Abel Franco as Enrique
• Bernadette Colognne as "Legs"
• Mike Gomez as Jose "Joey" Castro
• Alma Martínez as Lupe
• Francis X. McCarthy as Press
• Lupe Ontiveros as Dolores Reyna, Henry's mother
• Marco Rodríguez as Ismael "Smiley" Torres
• Kelly Ward as Tommy Roberts
• Kurtwood Smith as Sergeant Smith
• Dennis Stewart as Swabbie
• Robert Beltran as Lowrider
• Tony Plana as Rudy Reyna, Henry's brother

Reception

The film earned some controversy for being staged as a combination of play and movie; most of it was shot in normal cinematic fashion, but some scenes featured audience members watching the show, with the actors occasionally performing among them—a decision that Leonard Maltin in his Movie Guide called "a major distraction."^{[citation needed]}

On Rotten Tomatoes Zoot Suit has an approval rating of 55% based on reviews from 11 critics.[4]

Awards

The film was nominated for the 1982 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (won by Arthur). Luis Valdez won the 1983 Critics Award at the Festival du Film Policier de Cognac for Zoot Suit in Cognac, France.[5]

See also

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

References

External links

• Zoot Suit at IMDb
• Zoot Suit at the TCM Movie Database
• Zoot Suit at Letterboxd
• Zoot Suit at AllMovie
• Zoot Suit at Box Office Mojo
• In-depth information about the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial

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