Zoot Suit is a 1981 filmed version of the Broadway play Zoot Suit. 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 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.
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| Release date: | 1981 |
| Directed by: | Luis Valdez |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 103 Minutes |
| Music by: | Lalo Guerrero |
| Cinematography: | Michael Tronick |
| Screenplay by: | Luis Valdez |
| Adapted from: | Zoot Suit |
| Genre: | Musical |