Joseph P. Ulibas Walk Proud (1979) is about the life of teenage Emilio Mendez who is of mixed heritage (ethnic Mexican and Caucasian) and struggles with his loyalty to his gang when the lovely Sarah Lassiter (Sarah Holcomb) enters his life. With no future in being a street gang member, learning the truth about his heritage and the love of Sarah brings Emilio to a crossroads to where his life is going. Being harassed by the police, rival gangs and his cohort Cesar (Pepe Serna) questioning his loyalty will lead Emilio to a fateful decision that he must make walking proud.I was impressed by the movie because it's been knocked for have Robby Benson playing a Chicano. Once you learn about his true background, the story makes sense and is realistic because I have meet people like his character Emilio. Co- stars Trinidad Silva, Ji-Tu Cumbaka, Gary Cervantes and Panchito Gomez help Benson carry the movie and the underrated acting they provide make this movie a winner. Watch for character actor Brad Sullivan who has a small part as Jerry Kelsey, Emilio's estranged father.

pezer-1 I always loved Robby Benson when I was a kid. So when I saw a title in the TV guide line up, that I had never heard of, I set out to give it a shot. But watching this movie Robby couldn't keep up the "gangsta" strut throughout. I guess I just look for inconsistencies. The movie itself wasn't all that bad. Typical 70's Robby stuff. Trinidad Silva (Hill Street Blue's fame) of course has his Chicano gangster character down pat. I happened to come across this movie in the movie guide for an Encore channel. I thought I would give it a go. All-in-all not a bad movie, if you can get past the typical "hokey" 70's gang stereotypes. Think Shaft or Foxy Brown. But, if you like Robby, I think you will like the movie.

jwpappas This is the infamous riot inducing Chicano gang flick. Two theatres in LA were nearly levelled by outraged Hispanic patrons who took offense at this minstrel show. The ultra-vanilla Robbie Benson dons brown contacts, dark makeup & seems to be channelling the Frito Bandito as a Latin gang member (?!). He then trashes his friends & heritage when he hooks up with a nice white girl. WALK PROUD has all the racial sensitivity of BIRTH OF A NATION & while it is absolutley (unintentionally) hilarious, it is still depressing to consider that as late as 1979 there were still people in Hollywood this clueless & unintentionally rascist. Luckily the impact of the box office failure of this soggy tamale was that we were spared many more awful Robbie Benson performances. Benson did have one more ethnic slur of a performance though. In 1981 he lumbered though the unwatchable THE CHOSEN where he played a Hassidic Jew in a film that advanced anti-semitism more than David Duke ever could.

ldkoke Robby Benson and a cast of others star in this love/action type story. When Benson gets involved with a girl in school he starts to try and distance himself from his friends. This is a hard to find movie. I don't think I've ever seen it on tv. But if you ever come across it you should give it a look!