ZOOT SUIT (FILM)

'''Zoot Suit''' is a 1981 filmed version 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."

Contents

Story

Awards

Cast

Trivia

See also

External links

Story

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 wrongfully charged with murder — and the Zoot Suit Riots. In the play, Henry Reyna (inspired by real-life defendant Henry 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.

Awards

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

Cast

The cast of the film (in credits order):

★ 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 Torres ★ Alma Martínez as Lupe ★ Francis X. McCarthy as Press ★ Lupe Ontiveros as Dolores ★ Ed Peck as Lieutenant Edwards ★ Robert Phalen as District Attorney ★ Tony Plana as Rudy ★ Rose Portillo as Della ★ Marco Rodríguez as Smiley/Ismael Torres ★ Kelly Ward as Tommy/Thomas Roberts ★ Helena Andreyko as Blondie ★ Bob Basso as The Bailiff ★ Darlene Bryan as Little Blue ★ Bernadette Colognne as Legs ★ Miguel Delgado as Rufus ★ Roberta Delgado as Tillie ★ Anacani Echeverria as Pachura vocalist ★ Hammam Shafie as Budda ★ Honey Garcia as Chola

★ James Hogan as Shore Patrol ★ Laura Leyva as Elena ★ Sal Lopez as Hobo ★ Luis Manuel as Cholo ★ Kim Miyori as Manchaka ★ Ángela Moya as Bertha ★ Bertha E. Oropeza as Pachura vocalist ★ Jeff Reynolds as P. Cost ★ Juan Ríos as Crow ★ Greg Rosatti as Leatherneck ★ Nancy Salis as Bonita ★ Candice L. Silva as Pachuca vocalist ★ Geno Silva as Galindo ★ Kurtwood Smith as Sergeant Smith ★ Dennis Stewart as Swabbie ★ Duke Stroud as Guard ★ Judy Susman as Sugarfoot ★ Jon Thomas as Ragman ★ Lewis Whitlock as Zooter ★ Antoinette Yuskis as Ceucra ★ Robert Beltran as Lowrider ★ Alma Beltran as Lowrider's Mother ★ Julio Medina as Lowrider's Father ★ Diane Rodriguez as Court stenographer ★ Socorro Valdez as Lowrider's girlfriend

Trivia

★ Despite the film being in color, the original theatrical trailer was in black and white.

See also

★ ''Zoot Suit'', the play

★ Zoot suit

★ Zoot Suit Riots

External links

★ In-depth information about the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial

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