Zoot Suit and Other Plays by Luis Valdez

Valdez also gives the character control over the film’s structure. In the film, Valdez further enhances the characters Mythological status by strongly framing him in either the foreground or background, always assuming the Chicano pose. His three-soled shoes with metal taps click-clack as HE proudly, slovenly defiantly makes his way downstage. HE is transformedinto the very image of the pachuco myth, from his pork-pie hat to the tip of his four-foot watch chain. Valdez establishes the character as a mythical representation of the Mexican-American Pachuco culture during his introduction. He represents the main character Henry Reyna’s (Daniel Valdez) alter ego, and also serves as a narrator and guide to the action.

The character of El Pachuco epitomizes the stylized nature of the play. Valdez establishes the film’s tone by combining breaking the fourth wall with staying in the world of the movie. Our pachuco realities will only make sense if you grasp our stylizations” (Valdez). “The play you are about to see is a construct of fact and fantasy. Even though he is talking to the audience in the theatre, his message is simultaneously intended for the viewer watching the film. When El Pachuco (Edward James Olmos) gives his opening speech to introduce the play, his direct address is delivered to the audience in the movie.

Setting the film in a theatre lends justification to the more abstract and unrealistic elements of the play. One of Valdez’s most interesting choices is his decision to present the action as a stage performance. By not overly deviating from the style of the source material, Valdez keeps the themes found in the original play while enhancing them for the screen. For in letting the symbolism, fantasy, and myth dominate, Zoot Suit becomes what can only be described as an uncanny recreation of the Chicano experience in the 1940s as seen by Henry Reyna and orchestrated by El Pachuco” (Barrios). “The decision to not make a realistic docudrama of the original Sleepy Lagoon Incident proves to be the film’s saving grace. Rather than redrafting the story as a realistic account of the real life Sleepy Lagoon trial and the zoot suit riots, Valdez chooses to stay true to the original play’s theatrical elements.

This forced him to find simple and effective solutions to make the heavily stylized play work on film. In addition to these financial and time constraints, the heavily stylized presentation and structure of his play did not easily lend itself to a traditional film treatment.

While he had creative freedom, he was forced to produce the movie on a minuscule thirteen day schedule with a one million dollar budget (Rodriguez). When Luis Valdez directed an adaptation of his own play, Zoot Suit (1981), he faced a number of obstacles.

Zoot Suit and Other Plays by Luis Valdez