Zoot Suit Comes Home
June 23, 2011
Thirty years ago, filmmaker Luis Valdez proudly told a friend that his play Zoot Suit was going to Broadway. The friend, a native Angelino, responded “Where’s it gonna play? The Million Dollar Theater?”
Valdez related this story last night from the stage of that very theater in downtown Los Angeles. He joined a panel which included the star of the film, Edward James Olmos, to introduce Zoot Suit. The evening was part of the L.A. Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats which for 25 years has presented classic films in the city's numerous historic theaters.
Originally released in 1981, Zoot Suit is based on Valdez play of the same name, and revolves around the notorious Sleepy Lagoon murder trial and resulting Zoot Suit Riots of the early 1940’s.
Valdez revealed that he envisioned a production budget of $20 million for Zoot Suit, but was given slightly over $1 million, an insanely low figure even by mid-twentieth Century standards. As a result, the film was shot at the Aquarius theatre in Hollywood, where Zoot Suit ran before moving to Broadway in New York City. Olmos and Valdez took the opportunity of last nights screening to voice their regrets – not only that the budget wasn’t larger, but that the theater production didn’t tour cities in the west with large Latino populations like San Antonio and Bakersfield before moving to New York City, where the play and the film received scathing reviews (although Olmos was nominated for a Tony Award.). Quoting from Vincent Canby’s NY Times review of 1982, Zoot Suit is “a holy mess of a movie, full of earnest, serious intentions and virtually no achievements.”
But this didn’t seem to matter to the capacity crowd at the Million Dollar Theater. The audience cheered when el Pachuco first appeared in the film, and remained with him every time he strutted out to narrate the action. Olmos el Pachuco provides the emotional and moral center of the film, and is the primary reason for watching.
The presence of the charismatic Olmos and the still righteous and dedicated Valdez provided an immediacy and kind of urgency to the film, which although flawed, has a powerful message for today.
The thirty intervening years have not diminished Valdez’ passion for this message, which he voiced clearly last night: “stop putting Latinos and African Americans in fucking jail.” Nor has the passage of time diminished the powerful, dare I say sexy, role of Olmos in the character of el Pachuco – called, along with Willie Loman and Stanley Kowalski, one of the unforgettable and truly American characters in the history of theater.
Add the appreciative hometown audience to the ornate Million Dollar theater located on Broadway (the site of the actual Zoot Suit riots) and you understand Valdez statemen: “Finally, thirty years later, we make it to Broadway.”