This film is obviously headed for a slot on “American Masters” (PBS is one of the producers) but it’s still great that David Alvarado’s lively, illuminating doumentary about Valdez, hailed as “the Shakespeare of the Chicano theater” is available for your Sundance experience.
Valdez was born into a poor farm worker family in California. As an activist in the 1960s, he became an important ally for union organizer Cesar Chavez, creating an agitprop stage company, and he later went out independently with “El Teatro Campesino.”
Valdez scored in 1978 with a phenomenon called “Zoot Suit” a musical based on World War II riots in Los Angeles where white soldiers attacked Chicano youth. Edward James Olmos became a star in the production, slinking on stage as El Pachuco, a magical embodiment of Chicano strength and dignity. (In a neat twist, Olmos recreates the role as narrator for Alvarado’s film.)
Although “Zoot Suit” got a poor reception on Broadway, it became a film — and played at the Park City Festival in 1982.
Also on hand: we hear from Lou Diamond Phillips, who became a star in “La Bamba,” Valdez’ 1987 film tribute to Richie Valens; the white haired Valdez recalls the story of his older brother, who pursued success in middle-class white America, but still encountered racism; and we learn that the word “Chicano” was originally an insult!
On the KPCW sun rating system, "American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez” receives three out of five suns.
