American Me
Encyclopedia
American Me is a 1992 biographical
crime
drama film
produced and directed by Edward James Olmos
, his first film as a director, and written by Floyd Mutrux
and Desmond Nakano
. Olmos also stars as the film's protagonist
, Montoya Santana. Executive producers included record producer Lou Adler
, screenwriter Mutrux, and Irwin Young It depicts a fictionalized account of the founding and rise to power of the Mexican Mafia
in the California
prison system
from the 1950s into the 1980s.
gang life in Los Angeles
. It focuses on Montoya Santana (Panchito Gomez), a teen who, with his friends, J.D. (Steve Wilcox) and Mundo (Richard Coca), form their own gang. They soon find themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time and are soon arrested for a break-in.
Santana soon murders a fellow inmate (Eric Close
) - who had raped him - at juvenile hall and has his sentence extended into prison after he turns 18 (now played by Edward James Olmos
). In prison, he becomes the leader of a powerful gang, both inside and outside the prison. He is finally released; once out, he tries to relate his life experiences to the society that has changed a lot since he left. The gang he formed in prison and now still leads has become a feared criminal organization, selling illegal drugs and committing murder.
Santana starts to see the error in his ways, but before he can take action is sent back to prison for possessing drugs that, ironically, were not his. In prison, he tells his former lieutenant, J.D. (William Forsythe
), that he is no longer interested in leading the gang. However, in following a precedent set by Santana himself earlier in the film, the gang members in prison murder Santana to show that they are not weak.
, where thousands of white American sailors and servicemen based in California attacked Latinos and others who took part in so-called "pachuco
" culture, mostly targeting those who wore "zoot suits" (seen as symbols of Latino pride and considered by the rioters to be unpatriotic and extravagant in a time of war). This grew into heightened tension between Mexican-Americans and white Americans in Southern California
, setting the stage for the later gang conflicts depicted in the film.
The character of Montoya Santana is modeled after Rodolfo Cadena
, who was a high-ranking and founding member of in the prison gang
La Eme, known popularly as the Mexican Mafia
. In real life, Cadena unsuccessfully attempted to steer La Eme into left-wing activism before being stabbed to death by members of the rival Nuestra Familia
. In the film, Santana is stabbed and killed by his own gang.
The character of J.D. was based on Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, a white
Croatian-American
gang member and prisoner who preferred the company of Latinos to other whites, and along with Cadena helped found La Eme, becoming a high-ranking, respected, and feared member of the Latino gang even though he was of Caucasian descent. Morgan died from liver cancer in 1993, while he was incarcerated at California State Prison, Corcoran
.
fashion, used actual prisoners as extras and bit players when he filmed at Folsom Prison.
.
of the Chicago Sun-Times
liked the reality that came through in the film and that it rang true: "What I felt watching American Me, however, is that it is based on a true situation - on the reality that street gangs and prison, mixed with the drug sales that finance the process, work together to create a professional criminal class."
Janet Maslin
writes in The New York Times
, "But Mr. Olmos's direction...is dark, slow and solemn, so much so that it diverts energy from the film's fundamental frankness. Violent as it is, American Me is seldom dramatic enough to bring its material to life."
Marjorie Baumgarten, a film critic for The Austin Chronicle, wrote, "American Me is crafted with heart and conviction and intelligence. It demands no less of its audience. It insists that there are no quick fixes, but that solutions are of the utmost urgency."
The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard
section at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival
.
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
currently lists American Me with a 75% positive approval rating, with 6 out of 8 reviews by professional movie critics listed as positive.
in the United States on March 13, 1992 (830 screens). The opening weekend's gross was $3,378,100 and the total receipts for the first three weeks were $9,108,435. The film was in wide release for three weeks (seventeen days). In its widest release the film was featured in 830 theaters across the country. The final box office
gross amounted to $13,086,430.
. According to reportage by CBS News weekly 60 Minutes
, three consultants on this film were later murdered because of the depiction of a homosexual rape scene which offended the Mexican Mafia's internal code of "ethics." The first killing occurred 12 days after the movie's premiere when one of the film's consultants Charles "Charlie Brown" Manriquez, who was a member of La Eme, was slain in Ramona Gardens, L.A.'s oldest public housing project. Another well-known person of East Los Angeles
and paid consultant to the film, 49 year old grandmother Ana Lizarraga commonly known as "The Gang Lady", was murdered when she was gunned down in her driveway unloading groceries. A federal indictment accused La Eme of ordering the 1992 murder of Ana Lizarraga.
Since the film deals with a Latino
subculture, the music included in the soundtrack was Latino oriented; late 1970s urban sounds and oldies from the 1950s.
The original soundtrack was released on April 28, 1992 by Virgin Records
.
The CD contains ten tracks and includes songs performed by various artists including: Los Lobos
, Santana
, Ike & Tina Turner
, Bobby Day
, Kid Frost, War
, and other performers.
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
crime
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
produced and directed by Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
, his first film as a director, and written by Floyd Mutrux
Floyd Mutrux
Floyd Mutrux is an American stage and film director, writer, producer, and screenwriter.- Career :He began his work in Hollywood as an uncredited writer for Two-Lane Blacktop...
and Desmond Nakano
Desmond Nakano
This article about a United States film director is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by [/w/index.php?stub&title=&action=edit expanding it]....
. Olmos also stars as the film's protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, Montoya Santana. Executive producers included record producer Lou Adler
Lou Adler
Lou Adler is an American record producer, manager, and director.-Life and career:Adler was born in Chicago, Illinois in December 1933, and raised in East Los Angeles. In 1964, Adler founded and co-owned Dunhill Records. He was President of the label as well as the chief record producer from 1964...
, screenwriter Mutrux, and Irwin Young It depicts a fictionalized account of the founding and rise to power of the Mexican Mafia
Mexican Mafia
The Mexican Mafia , also known as La Eme , 13 is a Mexican American criminal organization, and is one of the oldest and most powerful prison gangs in the United States.-Foundation:...
in the California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
prison system
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. CDC&R is the second largest law enforcement or police agency in the United States behind the New York City Police Department which employs approximately...
from the 1950s into the 1980s.
Plot
The film depicts 30 years of ChicanoChicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
gang life in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. It focuses on Montoya Santana (Panchito Gomez), a teen who, with his friends, J.D. (Steve Wilcox) and Mundo (Richard Coca), form their own gang. They soon find themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time and are soon arrested for a break-in.
Santana soon murders a fellow inmate (Eric Close
Eric Close
Eric Close is an American film and television actor.-Early life:His father is an orthopedic surgeon, and Close is the eldest of three brothers. His family moved to Indiana, then to Michigan, and finally settled in San Diego when Close was seven years old.Close graduated with a B.A...
) - who had raped him - at juvenile hall and has his sentence extended into prison after he turns 18 (now played by Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
). In prison, he becomes the leader of a powerful gang, both inside and outside the prison. He is finally released; once out, he tries to relate his life experiences to the society that has changed a lot since he left. The gang he formed in prison and now still leads has become a feared criminal organization, selling illegal drugs and committing murder.
Santana starts to see the error in his ways, but before he can take action is sent back to prison for possessing drugs that, ironically, were not his. In prison, he tells his former lieutenant, J.D. (William Forsythe
William Forsythe (actor)
William Forsythe is an American actor, known for playing "tough guy" roles. He is also a writer, and has several short stories that are set to be published.-Early life:...
), that he is no longer interested in leading the gang. However, in following a precedent set by Santana himself earlier in the film, the gang members in prison murder Santana to show that they are not weak.
Cast
- Edward James OlmosEdward James OlmosEdward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
(Panchito Gomez, young) as Montoya Santana - William ForsytheWilliam Forsythe (actor)William Forsythe is an American actor, known for playing "tough guy" roles. He is also a writer, and has several short stories that are set to be published.-Early life:...
(Steve Wilcox, young) as J.D. - Pepe SernaPepe SernaPepe Serna is an American film actor and artist.Serna's first break in movies came in 1970 on the Roger Corman directed film Student Nurses. Over the years Serna has appeared in over 100 films, most notably Car Wash and Scarface directed by Brian De Palma, where he played Montana's friend Angel...
(Richard Coca, young) as Mundo - Daniel A. Haro as Huero
- Sal Lopez as Pedro Santana
- Vira Montes as Esperanza Santana
- Danny De La Paz as Puppet
- Daniel Villarreal as Little Puppet
- Evelina Fernández as Julie
- Roberto Martín Márquez as Acha
- Dyana Ortelli as Yolanda
- Jacob VargasJacob Vargas-Early life:Vargas was born in Michoacán, Mexico, and raised in Pacoima, Los Angeles, California, since 1971. He was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family.-Career:...
as Paulito - Eric CloseEric CloseEric Close is an American film and television actor.-Early life:His father is an orthopedic surgeon, and Close is the eldest of three brothers. His family moved to Indiana, then to Michigan, and finally settled in San Diego when Close was seven years old.Close graduated with a B.A...
as Juvie Hall Attacker - Rigoberto Jimenez as Big Happy
- Cary-Hiroyuki TagawaCary-Hiroyuki Tagawais a Japanese-American actor.In addition to his extensive film work, he has appeared on television in Star Trek: The Next Generation - "Encounter at Farpoint" , Thunder in Paradise , Nash Bridges , Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding , and Heroes . He also provided the voice of Sin Tzu for the video game...
as El Japo - Robby RobinsonRobby RobinsonRobby Robinson is an American former bodybuilder who won the IFBB Mr. America, Mr. World and Mr. Universe titles. He was the Masters Olympia overall champion the first year that the event was held in 1994 and then went on to win the 50+ division at that same contest in both 1997 and 2000...
as Drug Thief - Rafael H Robledo as El Chucko
Factual basis
The film opens depicting events from the Zoot Suit RiotsZoot Suit Riots
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots in 1943 during World War II that erupted in Los Angeles, California between white sailors and Marines stationed throughout thehi c mlc city and Latino youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored...
, where thousands of white American sailors and servicemen based in California attacked Latinos and others who took part in so-called "pachuco
Pachuco
Pachucos are Chicano youths who developed their own subculture during the 1930s and 1940s in the Southwestern United States. They wore distinctive clothing and spoke their own dialect of Mexican Spanish, called Caló or Pachuco...
" culture, mostly targeting those who wore "zoot suits" (seen as symbols of Latino pride and considered by the rioters to be unpatriotic and extravagant in a time of war). This grew into heightened tension between Mexican-Americans and white Americans in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
, setting the stage for the later gang conflicts depicted in the film.
The character of Montoya Santana is modeled after Rodolfo Cadena
Rodolfo Cadena
Rodolfo Cadena was a Mexican-American mob boss and legendary figure in the Mexican Mafia prison gang.-Biography:"Chy" Cadena was a wayward youth and a member of the "Varrio Viejo" Gang from Bakersfield, California...
, who was a high-ranking and founding member of in the prison gang
Prison gang
Prison gang is a term used to denote any type of gang activity in prisons and correctional facilities. Prison officials and others in law enforcement use the term security threat group or STG...
La Eme, known popularly as the Mexican Mafia
Mexican Mafia
The Mexican Mafia , also known as La Eme , 13 is a Mexican American criminal organization, and is one of the oldest and most powerful prison gangs in the United States.-Foundation:...
. In real life, Cadena unsuccessfully attempted to steer La Eme into left-wing activism before being stabbed to death by members of the rival Nuestra Familia
Nuestra Familia
Nuestra Familia is a criminal organization of Mexican American prison gangs with origins in Northern California. While members of the Norteños gang are considered to be affiliated with Nuestra Familia, being a member of Nuestra Familia itself does not signify association as a Norteño...
. In the film, Santana is stabbed and killed by his own gang.
The character of J.D. was based on Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, a white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
Croatian-American
Croatian-American
Croatian Americans are citizens of the United States of Croatian descent.-Numbers:According to the 2007 US Community Survey, there are 420,763 Americans of full or partial Croatian descent....
gang member and prisoner who preferred the company of Latinos to other whites, and along with Cadena helped found La Eme, becoming a high-ranking, respected, and feared member of the Latino gang even though he was of Caucasian descent. Morgan died from liver cancer in 1993, while he was incarcerated at California State Prison, Corcoran
California State Prison, Corcoran
California State Prison, Corcoran is a male-only state prison located in the city of Corcoran, in Kings County, California. Also known as Corcoran State Prison, CSP-C, CSP-COR, CSP-Corcoran, and Corcoran I, it should not be confused with the newer California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and...
.
Casting
Olmos, in neo-realistNeorealism (art)
In art, neorealism was established by the ex-Camden Town Group painters Charles Ginner and Harold Gilman at the beginning of World War I. They set out to explore the spirit of their age through the shapes and colours of daily life...
fashion, used actual prisoners as extras and bit players when he filmed at Folsom Prison.
Filming locations
Filming locations include Folsom Prison, Represa, California; and East Los Angeles, CaliforniaEast Los Angeles, California
East Los Angeles is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States...
.
Marketing
The producers of the film used the following tagline to market the film: In prison, they are the law. On the streets, they are the power.Critical response
Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
liked the reality that came through in the film and that it rang true: "What I felt watching American Me, however, is that it is based on a true situation - on the reality that street gangs and prison, mixed with the drug sales that finance the process, work together to create a professional criminal class."
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
writes in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, "But Mr. Olmos's direction...is dark, slow and solemn, so much so that it diverts energy from the film's fundamental frankness. Violent as it is, American Me is seldom dramatic enough to bring its material to life."
Marjorie Baumgarten, a film critic for The Austin Chronicle, wrote, "American Me is crafted with heart and conviction and intelligence. It demands no less of its audience. It insists that there are no quick fixes, but that solutions are of the utmost urgency."
The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection. It is run at the Salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or.This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob...
section at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival
1992 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Gérard Depardieu *John Boorman *Carlo Di Palma *Jamie Lee Curtis *Joële Van Effenterre *Lester James Peries *Nana Djordjadze *Pedro Almodóvar *René Cleitman...
.
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
currently lists American Me with a 75% positive approval rating, with 6 out of 8 reviews by professional movie critics listed as positive.
Box office
The film opened in wide releaseWide release
Wide release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing nationally . Specifically, a movie is considered to be in wide release when it is on 600 screens or more in the United States and Canada.In the US, films holding an NC-17 rating almost never have a...
in the United States on March 13, 1992 (830 screens). The opening weekend's gross was $3,378,100 and the total receipts for the first three weeks were $9,108,435. The film was in wide release for three weeks (seventeen days). In its widest release the film was featured in 830 theaters across the country. The final box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
gross amounted to $13,086,430.
Mexican Mafia reaction
The real Mexican Mafia continues to revere Cadena and was enraged by the film, as the Cadena character is portrayed as having been raped as a juvenile ward of the court at the beginning of his foray into the criminal justice system and ultimately stabbed to death by his own followers at the end of his criminal career. Eme godfather Joe "Pegleg" Morgan allegedly attempted to extort money from Olmos, the director and lead actor of the film. An Eme member-turned-informant raised the possibility of putting out a contract on him. Court documents show that Olmos was a victim in one extortion count contained in a 33-count federal indictmentIndictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
. According to reportage by CBS News weekly 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
, three consultants on this film were later murdered because of the depiction of a homosexual rape scene which offended the Mexican Mafia's internal code of "ethics." The first killing occurred 12 days after the movie's premiere when one of the film's consultants Charles "Charlie Brown" Manriquez, who was a member of La Eme, was slain in Ramona Gardens, L.A.'s oldest public housing project. Another well-known person of East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles, California
East Los Angeles is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States...
and paid consultant to the film, 49 year old grandmother Ana Lizarraga commonly known as "The Gang Lady", was murdered when she was gunned down in her driveway unloading groceries. A federal indictment accused La Eme of ordering the 1992 murder of Ana Lizarraga.
Soundtrack
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
subculture, the music included in the soundtrack was Latino oriented; late 1970s urban sounds and oldies from the 1950s.
The original soundtrack was released on April 28, 1992 by Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
.
The CD contains ten tracks and includes songs performed by various artists including: Los Lobos
Los Lobos
Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...
, Santana
Santana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
, Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner were an American rock & roll and soul duo, made of the husband-and-wife team of Ike Turner and Tina Turner in the 1960s and 1970s. Spanning sixteen years together as a recording group, the duo's repertoire included rock & roll, soul, blues and funk...
, Bobby Day
Bobby Day
Bobby Day , was an early African American rock and roll and R&B musician.Born Robert James Byrd, , in Fort Worth, Texas, he moved to Los Angeles, California, at the age of 15...
, Kid Frost, War
War (band)
War is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae...
, and other performers.