Edward James Olmos's pet project (he directs it as well as stars in it), a moralizing, make-a-difference gang movie that depicts the cyclic hopelessness of life in the L.A. barrios. Ambitious in scope, it begins on the night of the Zoot Suit Riots in 1943, skips to 1959, skips again before catching up to the adult protagonist and to his rhythmic and rhyming narration from a cell in Folsom Prison ("Thought I knew it all. Ended up in Juvvie Hall" and "You ride behind the pride, thinking you can hide [pause] feelings within you"). Filled with equal parts passion, hubris, clumsiness, and naiveté, it supposes the cycle can be broken if only it can be revealed -- and in the plainest, bluntest of terms. Maybe the umpteenth time will be the charm. With William Forsythe and Pepe Serna. (1992) — Duncan Shepherd
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