"Zoot Suit" is a 1981 filmed version of the Broadway play "Zoot Suit Riots". 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."
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.
"Zoot Suit" es un version filmada de la obra teatral de Broadway "Zoot Suit Riots". Ambas, la obra y el filme, fueron escritas y dirigidas por Luis Valdez. Filme estelarizado por Edward James Olmos y Daniel Valdez, miembros del cast de Broadway tambien aprecieron en el filme. La pelicula tiene la musica de Daniel Valdez y Lalo Guerrero, padre de la musica chicana. Impresionantes actuaciones.