User:RobertOlivares4th/Zoot Suit (film)

Plot[edit]
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.

The film starts out with singing and dancing at the party, Henry gets arrested for murder a day before he leaves for the Navy at sleepy lagoon, he then starts to get interrogated and beat up in the chair by the guards.

The film transitions to before everything happened back in his room where El Pachuco is standing next to his dresser and hands him a switchblade to put in his pocket after Henry gets dressed into a zoot suit. Henry’s my mom has a bad feeling about him dressing in the zoot suit and has a foreshadowing moment by her wishing that he went back to jail instead of going to the war for the Navy.

August 8th, 1942

Henry and his group of friends were put into a jail cell after being convicted with the murder at the sleepy lagoon, George Shearer comes to the jail cell where the boys are located to try and help them handle the murder case. Jose Castro, Ismael Torres, Thomas Roberts were the friends that were convicted with Henry. El Pachuco and Henry disagree with the lawyer situation because El Pachuco believes that Henry shouldn't accept help from a white man

In the film it flashbacks to the night of the dance where they are dancing and Rudy who is Henry's brother is drunk and tries to start a fight with Rafas but Henry breaks them up and goes back to dancing but then Rafas tries to mess with Delores, so Henry and Rafas are fighting with their switchblades out. El Pachuco begin talking to Henry and his head and tells Henry that the right decision is to not kill him after he has put on the floor with a switchblade to his neck.

The next scene fast forwards to them in the courtroom and begins with George letting the judge know that it has been two months since the boys have had a haircut or any clean clothes to make them look representable. the first person that goes up for the trial is Sergeant Frank Galindo Who is from the Los Angeles Police Department, he got called to the scene where he found Jose Sanchez his body at the sleepy lagoon

Dolores comes up who is the next defendant and begins to explain her side of the story where she says that after the party her and Henry drove off to the sleepy lagoon lake and noticed that it was empty. They got out the car to enjoy the view and heard music at a party going on across the way. A car pulls up behind them who is accompanied by Rafas and his friends Threatening Henry and Delores and start smashing the car and fighting Henry.

When Henry woke up, he went to town and got his friends but by the time they got back to where Rafas jumped him they were gone so they heard the music and headed to the party at the ranch, but they got attacked when Henry and his friends were mistaken for Rafas group. Delores saw El Pachuco eating someone on the ground. George’s objections kept getting denied in court by the judge and at the end of Delores testimony she was sent to custody of Ventura state School for Girls.

The boys were found guilty in the first- and second-degree murder case of sleepy lagoon, Alice Bloomfield writes to them in jail saying that they will clear their name. Bloomfield shows up to Jail and talks to Henry privately and says that he wants to drop out of the case, and she argues back with him, but they make up and Henry is back in the case, but Henry flirts with Bloomfield and she asked him to write an article and he says only if they write privately together.

Bloomfield revisits Henry and tells him how Delores is doing at Ventura but Henry is mad at Bloomfield because she didn't write back to his love letters and that she responds with by saying that she doesn't want to lose her job after the case is over. Henry then kisses her and walks out on her. Henry gets put into solitary for 90 days for bad behavior and during this time in jail and solitary Henry is battling his inner thoughts with El Pachuco which starts to drive him crazy.

Delores visits the Jill to see how Henry is doing and let him know that she is out of the Ventura girls’ school and got off four months for good behavior.

November 8th, 1944, Henry and the boys are released from the case

Cast[edit] with character overview

 * Daniel Valdez as Henry Reyna
 * - Henry Reyna a main character in the plot of this film, he is 21 years old ad apart of the Los Angeles's Chicano community. Henry wears the Zoot suits which are high waisted and tightly cuffed trousers and a long coat and shirt under. Having a few encounters with the police is directly from that he is racially profiled for being a young Chicano man in a zoot suit. During the film he is arrested by Lieutenant Edwards because of being suspected of murdering Jose Williams who died at the Sleepy Lagoon.
 * Edward James Olmos as "El Pachuco"
 * - El Pachuco is the narrator and in Henry's mind that he battles to make decisions. He is portrayed as a true zoot suiter with a long black coat and red undershirt.
 * Rose Portillo as Della
 * - Delores is Henrys girlfriend and is younger than Henry.
 * Charles Aidman as George Shearer
 * - George is Henry's lawyer in the murder case, he tries to make things right by defending his name
 * Tyne Daly as Alice Bloomfield
 * - Alice is a sidekick to George and a newspaper writer, helps push out the agenda that Henry and his friends were mistaken.
 * 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