MBunge Well, this is an odd duck of a motion picture. Writer/director Luis Valdez appears to have adapted his play for the screen by not technically adapting it at all. For the most part, Zoot Suit is like training a camera on a stage play, complete with live theater sets and choreography. Occasionally, he takes another step back and has the movie viewer see an audience watching an actual play, but there's never any much aim to that. There are some songs here but not enough to truly make this a musical. The story is simplistic and halting, filled with two-dimensional characters and one-dimensional dialog that's peppered with enough slang and Spanish so that you've really got to pay attention to follow what's going on. It's also preachy and more preoccupied with being socially conscious than entertaining.The point of this film is to give people a look at what it was like to be Latino in 1940s Los Angeles. It does that by following Henry Reyna (Daniel Valdez), a young gang leader as he and his friends are prosecuted for a murder they didn't commit. Henry and his friends, though, aren't the sort of gang bangers you see today. They were "zoot suiters", wrapping themselves up in high-waisted pants, long jackets, big brim hats, long chain loops that hand down their sides and switchblades in their back pockets. Trailing after Henry through all his experiences is El Pachuco (Edward James Olmos), who is some poorly thought out mix of imaginary friend, alter ego and narrator of the play.I could go into Henry's trial, his virginal girlfriend, the union organizer who spearheads his appeal and other stuff, but that's not really what Zoot Suit is about. It's about the racism faced by Latinos in 1940s America as they tried to claim their piece of the American Dream and how they sometimes internalized that prejudice. The tale of Henry Reyna is just a pretext for a lot of shorthand pontificating about that, but this movie is neither smart nor serious enough to say anything interesting on those subjects, especially not with Edward James Olmos strutting through the film like a bad guy from the 1960s Batman TV show.It's weird construction aside, Zoot Suit isn't terribly performed. However, it's overwhelming sense of unreality is alienating and there's not enough fun here to counteract that. If you watch it, you'll understand what writer/director Valdez is trying to say and wonder why he chose such a strange way of expressing it.

kermi_17 this movie was a great look at Chicano culture in the 40's.. i feel that it relevant now as well... i think it's more moving if you are Chicano and have grown up in that culture...it might be hard to feel towards the characters if you have not experienced the type of racism that Chicanos go through..i myself have and maybe i am biased and see this movie very inspirational...but what can i do about it, i'm brown. i recommend this movie even if your are not Latino.. you can see what people of other races went through...experiences that were not put in the history books by white America...see what was done to Chicanos of that time.

amithystblade Zoot Suit seriously is the WORST MOVIE EVER!!!! Don't dare attempt to watch it. Seriously! It was dreadful. The only positive element was how the movie portrayed the treatment of young Mexican/Latino/Chicano Americans in LA back when World War II was going on. Prejudice is defiantly made known in this movie. Beyond that, everything was terribly done. All the characters were extremely flat, and even if they did have some elements of being round, they were far from being well developed. They had a lot going for them, but I believe the director did not go far enough… or went in a completely wrong direction. I, at first, thought it was going to be a satire. It was nothing like I was expecting. I was expecting comedy, and instead I found myself watching a movie/play, which I have nothing against. In fact, I love the those kinds of films (i.e. Moulin Rouge, Chicago, Singing in the Rain, Guys and Dolls, etc.) I am all for movies that are mockeries… but this one was not one of those films. It was a bad movie. The storyline was good. The set was great. I believe the actors and the director though needed assistance. It could have been so much more. However, comparing it to Mexican soap operas… I suppose it was better… but really it could have been so much more. I was very disappointed. I am interested in seeing the Broadway version however. I really would like to see the play at it's absolute best. It has potential. It just has not been used yet.

lsussman2004 This film is a work of art. Of the finest quality. I first saw it at the Sunset Theater in downtown Los Angeles over 20 years ago. I was impressed with it then. Now that I have my own copy, I continue to be impressed by the quality of the performances, the screen writing, the sets, the music and dancing, and the feeling. I gave it a "10" which puts me in the same category as the "under 18 age females", OK, I guess I don't mind being in a group with some under 18 age females, sounds pretty good, eh, ese? Kudos for Luis Valdez, Daniel Valdez, Edward James Olmos, Tyne Daly and muchos otros. Great work, can't say enough good things about it.