Back when I was still contributing to Metroblogging LA I had an idea for a series on films based in LA where Latinos were the main characters. I made a long list and drafted posts. I even reached out to El Chavo! so we could tag team on posts for Metroblogging LA. He was down, but I never followed up. A year after my initial idea, I’m finally getting around to the movies. Enjoy. Oh yeah, and feel free to add another movie to the list.
Born in East L.A. (1987)
Director: Cheech Marin
Starring: Cheech Marin, Paul Rodriguez, Kamala Lopez-Dawson, Daniel Stern and Lupe Ontiveros
Neighborhood: East LA
Based on a true story: No. However, deportations of undocumented workers are a common occurrence in/around Los Angeles. During the Great Depression and then again in the 1950s, the US launched mass deportations of immigrant and US-born Chicanos. Present day, we have the story of mentally disabled Pedro Guzman who was wrongfully deported by ICE and was lost in Tijuana for three months (LA Weekly story on Guzman). So, it isn’t too far of a stretch to imagine that Rudy, a US-born Chicano, who barely knew Spanish could be mistaken as an undocumented worker and deported.
Edward James Olmos connection: Not directly. But there are several actors including Paul Rodriguez and Lupe Ontiveros who have worked on projects with Eddie Olmos such as American Family and Mi Familia.
Main themes: immigration, undocumented immigration, assimilation and reconnecting with one’s roots.
Memorable quotes:
Immigration officer: Where were you born?
Rudy: What?
Immigration officer: Read my lips, El Paco. Where were you born?
Rudy: I was born in East L.A., man.
Immigration officer: Sure, sure. If you were born in East L.A., then who’s the president of the United States?
Rudy: I-I don’t know, that guy, that guy who was on T.V., the guy in the cowboy hat… he used to be on “Death Valley Days”… uh, John Wayne!
Immigration officer: Get him out of here.
Rudy: The president of the United States is Ronald “dickhead” Reagan!
Feel free to add more quotes. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie!
Lupe Ontiveros is one of the best character actresses in the business. I love watching her in films… she deserves much more acclaim outside of the indie-film circuit. Plus, she’s the abuela in one of my favorite cartoons, Maya & Miguel. Yes, I watch cartoons–I watch that cartoon.
“I like your pants. Why don’t you take off your pants?”
followed by
“Behind me Satan, behind me!”
It would have been a good series, but alas, it wasn’t to be. My first one was going to be Blood In, Blood Out (Bound by Honor) as that movie is one of my favorites. Totally ridiculous and hilarious. Check out this clip to see a clip of cinematic beauty!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ozl9gTBZnI
I’m with Supa Dupa, for years my friends and I would say “I like your pants. Why don’t you take of your pants?”
The other one is “dixso bunny.”
i really like born in east l.a. once i read that Roberto Rodriguez, sindicated columnist (column of the americas) when he was fighting his case against the l.a. police (he had been severly injured by cops for taking their picture while beating up some other guy) the lawyer asked at his request, if the jurors had seen born in east l.a., which made people laugh and think of the humanity of chicanos in l.a. (although it does seem odd to me, cuz cheech looks like a cartoon).
Memorable quote (and how can this one go to the wayside?!): “Waaass sap-pen-ing?”
“Born in East LA” was one of those films I grew up with. My dad grew up in Lincoln Heights, my mother in San Gabriel, and I in OC, and neither he nor my mother nor my siblings and I grew up anything close to bilingual, so the scenes where Rudy is struggling to find the correct words in Spanish always resonated with me, even as a kid.
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I’ll never forget the scene where Paul Rodriguez thinks the image of Jesus is speaking to him and puts a veladora in front of it.
Is Quinceanera part of this series?
Supa Dupa already beat me to the infamous “i like your pants” quote. I’d love to see what other films made your list. Did the it’s so bad it’s good ‘Mi Vida Loca’ make it?? I recently including it on my Top 10 list of movies that are so bad they are good.