January 26, 2025 • 35 mins
I'm joined here with fabb_999 on this episode reviewing "American Me" directed and produced by Edward James Olmos who shows us a life of a man who's spent half his life in the prison system, trying to reclaim himnself in society after he gets out. It's a very masculine but truly humbling film. Olmos did a great job showing us that he can not only act, but direct as well. I was impressed with the shots he used in the film, some that I pondered as to why he would use it and I understood why. He's a creative indivisual and gave us something DIFFERENT to look at. Faby and I talk about about film, it's explosive cast of characters, the iconic one-liners, it's controversies, the elements of theater displayed into the film, the way lighting is used to make things look realistic, how a film like this still resonates to this day spreading its message beyond East Los Angeles, beyond Folsom State, beyond California period. It's a powerful film by Olmos and a story of this kind needed to be told. It's important that even in filmmaking, we need to be a melting pot of sorts of sharing stories that created a culture that is still powerful to today's societal means.
Four out of four tokes.
#americanme #edwardjamesolmos
Four out of four tokes.
#americanme #edwardjamesolmos
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Good morning and this is morning Real. If I see it,
I review it. This is a three to four to
a hunremon or so podcasts of films that I review,
hosted by yours truly, Ray Salazar. Today I'm joined with Faby,
who will be reviewing the film American Me, producer and
directed by Eber James Almost. It's a nineteen ninety two
(00:25):
crime drama film. It came out on March thirteenth, nineteen
ninety two. It's just a little bit over two hours.
Was not a box office success because I had a
budget of sixteen million. Cannot break the bank. But you
know what, who fucking cares?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Dog?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Seriously, there's movies that are made with a budget of
twenty five thousand dollars and has surpassed the test of time,
and this film was one of them. And you know
why it's one of them. Just this past year, in
twenty twenty four, this film was selected for preservation the
United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress
(01:03):
as being culturally, historically, or esthetically significant and in my
humble opinion, I feel like all three count What do
you say?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, that's that's insane. You know. In nineteen ninety five too.
I was really born, so.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Technically you were not born yet.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It depends what month it was.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
March thirteenth, nineteen ninety two, I was you were born
five days later. You know that. That's crazy. I didn't
know that well about the release date. What did you
think about this film? Like, I've only seen it once
when I was a kid. I've seen YouTube videos about
it and all that stuff, But does that really count No,
of course, not actually seeing it. It's not your typical
(01:52):
gangster film or your typical prison gangster film. It's it's
one of its kind. And I like the fact that
a Latino directed it, you know it braind the Palmer
directed Scarface, and you know Martin Scorsese, he directed Good
Fellas well for Latinos Edward James Alvos, and he did
(02:13):
a really good job in this film. How would you say, yeah,
I did?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I love American Me. It's one of those movies that
take you back, they take you down memory lane, for example,
Like I watched it during my younger age, and it
was it was a very it was a movie that
captured my attention right away because of that opening, the
opening scene. It was amazing, not amazing. It's kind of sad,
(02:41):
but it's historical, and I think that film has a
historical value. Definitely.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
This film puts East Loos on the map, and when
I mean, I mean East Los Angeles where the film
has taking place for the most part. And then you
got you know, Owesome State Prison, which is, you know,
a very notorious prison in California and it's you know,
in the northern cal close to you know, like humble
(03:08):
and all that.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
It's kind of like hit or miss because it's like, Okay,
you can wather learn from our experiences through the film,
or you can practice it or exhibit it.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Or or copycat the film in a way.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, in the way you're learning from it. So therefore
it's kind of shaping like our youth. And yeah, I
can go both ways. Are you gonna be a tolo
or you're gonna be a cop?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Or are you just gonna be a you know, an honest,
private citizen just going about his or her day.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
But do you see how like that film may be
portrayed as like a movement of sorts, you know, like
it's it's highlighting the Chicano like Chicanos, you know, what
they went through Zutsu riots for example, very historical time
and the way that they captured in the beginning with
the opening, the you know, opening scene.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
That's pretty brutal.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
It was brutal, and it's kind of like a shocker
and an eye opener, and if you don't know about
it rights, it makes you want to look it up.
So in the way, it does provide value of knowledge
in a sense.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Thought American sailors US sailors were you know, pigs and rapists,
and I mean.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
We've known that's vice versa really obviously by the film
with the other scenes.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, so this one's controversial because you know, the Mexican
Mafia that's a real you know, criminal gang organization and whatnot.
And some of these members did not like the film
because it wasn't portrayed you know, to their stand well
that's not to their standards, but to the facts of
their you know, of their history. Right. So with God
(04:46):
Edward James Almost's title character, which is Santana, which you
know when you look it up on the history books
and all that stuff, he's like the guy who started
a lemon and all that stuff. But it's funny the
film it doesn't really touch upon a lement per se,
you know, like it's a window, you know, and you
go in it, you look at it and you're flying
(05:09):
on the wall. These people don't really like talk about
politics too much. What they really talk about is like
getting shipped done, Like hey, this guy needs to go.
How we're gonna do it? Like that, plain and simple
politics of prison, politics of prison, you know, plain and simple.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You know, like it's like by color, you know, we're
all we're all one in here, right like how they say,
like I don't care what hood you're from when you're here,
we're all together. We're stronger together. And again when it
comes to our youth, like they can see it like,
oh my gosh, I don't want to be like that
because I can end up in jail getting your butt raped,
or they can be like, man, that seems feeling.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
So as all as we all know. In the film,
you know, Montogna guests, he gets raped them, you know, Juvie,
and it's fucked up. It's a hey, I gotta say, man,
like look fiction or not, you know, like I don't
know why they decided to use that as like a
catalyst for you know, Montogna becoming this you know, iconic figure,
(06:19):
and not only in the film, but like as a
representation of gang life. Right. I don't know what they
would have done differently if they had not chosen the
rape scene. But look, let's just.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Go with that.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I honestly think from a not just from a viewer's perspective,
but from like a like a film reviewer perspective, it's
a very strong scene. It's it's a little bit just
a little bit too hard to watch because I mean
they don't show it, right, they don't show any penetration,
but you know what's going on, and it's wild man,
And these are kids in Juvie. Like what's the age
(06:56):
of Juvie? Like from like kid and up.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Or what I know juven nows is like I don't know,
I want to say from ten to like eighteen. I
just know that that's the cutoff line eighteen. And even
nowadays they'll even like send you to county before that,
depending on your crime.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So imagine like especially back in those days where like
they didn't really give a fuck about like how to
like put kids together when it comes to Juwie. But
you you see little kids like looking at rape and
and you know it's affecting them.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And it even shows like like what could happen when
you have like some type of trauma or like when
you don't establish like you know, like attachment style, like
attachment love style, like when you're a child. And what
I mean by that is that you see how the dad,
the father resents him and you never really know why,
but you see it. You see the tension as he
walks in the room and he just kind of spasses
(07:49):
out on him for no reason, and that that pushed
him that and it's what happens to a lot of
the youth. You know, they get pushed out by family
not understanding them. They feel like like nobody understands me.
And then you find, like you know, your little homies
that are all kind of like going through something similar,
and you guys create that bond and and yeah, and
then and then this is what happens.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
I'm glad you brought this up because as you were
talking about it, I was just thinking, like that makes sense,
and what a way that these actors that were chosen
in this film delivered these lines, especially between like the
son and the father. As you can see, it's tense, right,
and Montoya has a way of just delivering his lines.
(08:33):
You know, it's in a way nonchalant, but it's it's
in a respectful way. Like you got to give it
to Edward James almost man like. Besides his directing, this
guy can act, man, he can he he he got it. Man,
He's got the look, he's got the feel. But he
plays it so good it makes you really feel like, man,
(08:55):
this guy is living that life, you know, just making
us believe that what we're watching is real, even though
it's fiction at the end of the day. And there's
so many there's a lot of scenes whatever James almost
where he just he nails it, man. And he's from
a theater background, and you can tell right off the bat.
In almost every scene he gives his theater chops as
(09:17):
much as he can and it works. And when you
think about it, when you look at this film, especially
the way he decided to direct it, it does look
kind of like a play because almost every scene you
always have these characters in the room or in a
certain space and they don't move, they just sit there.
And in theater it's sort of like that. You know,
(09:38):
you're looking at a certain setting and you're just watching it.
As long as it can go. And you're seeing all
these different characters interact with each other, and they all
have different personalities. Some of them are one dimensional. But
JD Man, dude, I gotta give it up for William
ForSight playing JD as you know him. He's in Blue
Streak and The Devil's Recha explaining that one kind the
(10:00):
devils reject. Yes, remember that cup. He was just like merciless.
He didn't give a fuck about what's going to happen.
That guy's badass, and he played a really good villainous
character if you really think about it, because he didn't
really give a fuck about like about life. You know,
he just wanted to like take power and just go along.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
With because he had nothing else to live for. That's all,
you know. After he after he was raped in Julie
in Juvenile Hall, he had plenty of time to think
about what his values were in those eighteen years that
he got sentenced. And therefore, you just he gained all
his respect and power and he had a name to maintain,
(10:42):
like he had like a title almost I don't know
what that title was. It was like like there, you know,
like yeah, so he had to play that role. He
had to be that role in order to be successful,
like to keep on getting that respect for him and
you know culture.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You know what's so cool about this film is it's
it's not just sort it's not just centered towards like
the gang life and violence. There's there's a love it,
there's a there's a romance in it. There's comedy in it,
you know, amongst the amongst the characters, right as far
as like they hang out and what they say and
how they say things to each other. You know, it's
(11:21):
it feels very familiar but familiar. Yeah, familiar familiar thing.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I like.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I like the romance in the film Man like again
Edward James almost going into that theater route where like
you put two people together and they're like talking about
life and it's very A film like this needed to
have women in it, like playing a certain role, playing
like a light out of the shadows.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
It was so hard to watch that scene with him
and her and they're getting it on, and it's just
so hard. She goes, you've never been with the woman before.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
He has not, and her too.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
She's an actress from EASTLA. She went to Garfield and
she graduated and Costay okay, so yay. You know, East
La is very proud of that film, not because of
how they portrayed, you know, our culture or like Mexican
Americans or mestigos mestizos. It is an iconic film that
represents us in the film world that along with crazy
(12:34):
local locals Blood In, Blood Out. Yeah, I'm not going
to get into that. It's inspired by a true story
and she kind of put like all the characters together
into one, which is why it has comedy and it's
romance and all these different emotions that play out throughout
the film, because I'm sure it came from a lot
(12:56):
of different stories put into one.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Did you have a favorite scene?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I did have a favorite scene. My favorite scene is okay, Well,
it depends like like enjoyable to watch favorite scene or
like impactful hard to watch scene, Like for example, like
port the rape scenes were really hard to watch. When
Esperanto was raped at first and you know the dad
is getting beat up by the sailors, that that was
(13:20):
a bit hard to watch. And then when you see
the girl crying, it like in Stales, emotion in you
and you can't help but put yourself in your shoes,
like oh, my gosh, you know our ancestors believing around
those times, and yeah, they kind of went through these things.
American me had angered the Mexican mafia, Right, what was
(13:41):
that about?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
All Right, Well, I'm not gonna get into it too
much because you know, it's a controversial subject, but basically
they didn't like the way the film was portrayed because
of the rape scenes.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Of course, of course, because who wants to think like, oh, yeah,
if you go to prison, the Mexicans are gonna.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Rape you, or rather the Mexican mouff if.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
You go to a jail, you're gonna get raped. Well
you know that's I mean, that's kind of the message.
Not like that, but it pretty much don't go to
jail unless you like that type of thing.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Well, I'll say this, like Edward James almost decided to
like show us, you know, the prison life. And obviously
it's not a good life to live in. Whether you know,
whether the subject of rape is that calm in there
or not, it's still not a fucking cool place to live.
You've basically got to survive day in and day out,
(14:34):
and due over there. The way they showed murders and
all that stuff, seems like it's the easiest thing ever,
even though it's very like gotta be cautious, right.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
But like slicy like butter.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And they did and they suck man. And it's hard
to see that because like you're looking at lives who
are hopeless in there and then boom, they're gone.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Other reasons why it could have angered I mean, I
would say is the fact that they have this pride,
they have this prior, you know, like Mexican pride, like
a very like Machiesemo ideology, and it can affect that,
you know, by how it's perceived. Yeah, and it would
anger anyone who was very like pride, proudful of, you know,
(15:18):
their Mexican culture. And so your favorite scene, no, no, no, okay,
what was my favorite scene? I don't know where I
have one, Okay, I would have to say it's the
beginning esperanza and like, how how the sailors? I'm a
historic fanatic, so history fanatic, therefore, you know, that's that's
(15:38):
what that's what captured my attention, And it happened in
the beginning, so that's kind of what kept me hooked,
Like oh that's you know, and then yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Good job like how like how they depict that life
when she got on the bus, like you see it
like old cars.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Esperanza was a beautiful woman.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
And then you see all the you know, all these
mixed people like judging her.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Looking at her, like not even sitting next to her
and stuff. But again, it was a crazy time, you know,
Zootsu riots had to do. You know, they felt like
they were being disrespected by the way they were dressing
during the World War, and that's what led on with
that's what added on to the racial tension already going on.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Imagine that even there was racial tensions that far back
into the past.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Like they weren't just assaulting at all, like people like
they were assaulting children. And it wasn't just like Mexican.
It wasn't just mestizos. It was also like African Americans
and Filipinos, like anybody who was not I don't want
to say it, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Anybody who was not white Caucasian. I'm sorry, but come on, man,
if I'm want to be real about it, if we're
going to be real about it, then let it be know.
But you know, no offense, but it happened, you know,
but you know, there was race. There was race relations
between all kinds of other races at that time too.
You know, they was trying to like get their own
you know, and.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
You know, but when it comes down with it, I
I could see how it could be a bit offensive. Okay,
this is gonna be controversial. But the reason I say
that is because that's the time of patriarchy and and
maybe the way it started off was like zutsu riots,
(17:22):
but then it became gangs. And I mean, yeah, there's
gangs of different cultures. It's not just like Mexican Americans.
But it just got highlighted as the beginning of that
era because they're being rebellious and you know, not following order,
like not following societal norms, and yeah, it was a
start to how we are how Mexican Americans nowadays are viewed.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
I have a favorite scene when when when Julian and
Montoya they go to the beach. They're walking at the
beach and it looked like it was Santa Monica. I
don't know, it could be well, she was actually teaching
him how to drive. I actually liked that scene a
lot because it showed a different side of that character,
Santana who's like fucking crime boss dog like a metal
(18:09):
metal right a lemon, you know. And here he is
getting taught by a woman how to drive a manual
stick shift car, and it's great because he's with it
and he can tell he likes his chick a lot
like it. For the first time ever, he feels comfortable
in society, basically, And I think the part about it
(18:33):
in the beach scene isn't the fact that they're like
they didn't care whether their shoes got wet in the
sand or the water or whatever. But like where he
says to her, oh, I know, I know, I.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Know, but this is my first time at the beach.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yep, that line is tight, man.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
That is a really I don't remember those that or
I've never been to the beach before. Which one was it?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
I don't know. I'm pretty pretty baked on that one,
but I'll say that the reason why I love that
line so much is he's been in prison for like
a large part of his life, so much time spend
with other men, and I'm pretty sure they've talked about
all kinds of stuff, all kinds of cool stuff, bad stuff,
(19:20):
whatever you name it. But here here we are like
we're like a part of that moment watching two people, like,
you know, seeing where something like love can go, you know,
and like kind of change a person around, and to
have a confession like that, it's pretty monumental for a
character like that to have.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, it's almost as if with that line it kind
of helps the viewers like put yourself in their shoes
as to feel what it would feel like, like oh wait,
he oh yeah, he was in jail for like all
his life and it is his first time, and you
kind of think like, oh wow, you know, and it's
kind of like very sensitive moment, like he's very yeah,
(20:03):
he's ring emotionally.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Very human for the first.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Time ever, the first time in forever.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
You have a favorite line in the whole movie.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
You have a favorite line, It would have to be, oh,
if you tie anyone next time, they'll be shipped on
my knife, not on my dick.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
That's a pretty good line.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
It's like god day yeah, no day there.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
For real. You know. It's crazy about lines like that.
There's a lot of lines like that in the movie.
It's very like Genitalia ish, you know, very sexualized and
like you kind of think about, like, man, this movie
is pretty camp too. There's like some type of camp
involved in this ship. You have to see it to
like really notice it. But anyways, my favorite line is
(20:52):
when we're still they're still in juvie, right, and you
got with this with this like swave like slick back,
you know, and you know what's crazy, Like I didn't
know like back then, like as far as like being
in a little click or dang, like it was a
plain white T shirt and some khaki pants and some
(21:13):
I guess chucks or whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
The kids can't wear their uniform to school.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
It looked like fucking school uniform, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
They're like we studying the streets and.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Then you see the penaltons with the little button on
the top end. Oh how much has it changed? Right? Yeah?
But my favorite lines when he was like, actually I
forgot the long you say that, I don't remember the lie.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Hey, hey A is sick? Can I talk to you?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Because but he looks so young in the face, like
I swear, I like, I swear I've known somebody that
looks like him in like my in my times, I
was like, you know, running around with like nobody when
I was you know back then, like there you know
when you see people in school that are like, oh
damn it, it's like they're kind of a little gangster there,
(22:02):
you know. And I swear that he has that same face.
It's almost like they like combined all these different faces
and made it into one universal one, because I swear
I've seen that face before.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Yeah, well, I think that was the line where the
kid didn't want, like Montoya to get with a white
dude because you know he's white and you know, you
gotta stick to you, gotta stick with you.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, when he was like, look who they finally laid
out as a hospital and then the other guy's like,
I don't know what he said. He said something, you know,
But then the other guy's like, oh no, he had
introduced him. He's like, oh this is this and this
is my part. Oh yeah, and he's like, hey, can
I talk to you? No? No, no, wait, then we
sound my childish, Hey said can I talk to you?
(22:43):
Or whatever? You know.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
A said, Yeah, that line is pretty tight because like, dude,
that kid looks like he's ten or eight years old man,
and he's so like like a grown folk, you know,
and it's crazy to see like how like how effective
it is to be molded in an environment, you know.
But it was Juvie, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
And it was I gets supposed to be like from
an age of like I don't know how.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I mean, I don't know where they sent them, but
whatever they sent him, like, he just got accustomed to it. Man.
He had to make it his own. Man, He's not
gonna like let some fuck at least for him and
his character, right, he was not gonna let just some
guy fucking rape him and then like that's say a
good night, Like what the fuck? Like an eye for
an eye, motherfucker and sucks for that guy, but like
(23:33):
in a way it doesn't suck, but you know how
it is right and it led him to false But yeah, man,
American me. I wonder why they call it American me.
But it's just his version of America, you know, taking
a journey through the prison system.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
It was there. It was their legacy in America, which
is not me. I'm not going to judge if it's
good or not, but it's like American me. This is
the American me.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
No, yeah, no, that's that's right.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
On the This isn't the Mexican because if she don't
go down to Mexico. This go down in.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
America from the Mexican Mexican me, lo've be hilarious, one
me Mexican, one American me. A really good film by
where James Almost Man, if I ever meet that guy,
I always just want to shake his hand and thank
him for making that movie, because it's a really effective film.
I forgot to say that. I like the ending of
(24:37):
the film. It's funny because you see films like Boys
in the Hood Do the Right Thing, even Fucking Baby Boy,
even Menace to Society, where all those films have a
very impactful ending, something that really sticks to you, and
it has to stick to you because look, man, it
(24:57):
didn't take that ending to make the movie's point. You
already got the point as soon as you got to
the middle of the second act, right. But it's just
like putting the cherry on top.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Man.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
You see a kid like basically being inducted into a
gang and he's helping on paint with his you know,
little homies driving a car and you can tell they're
underage or whatnot, and it just sucks that, like you
become what you're in what you are in your environment
in a way, you know it's and which is why
some people get out of the fucking hood, because once
(25:30):
you stay stuck there, man, like you're more than like
it's the notion where like you're most likely to be
what you are and all that shit. But that's not
always true because Montoya was trying to get out of
that life and obviously, because he said his own standard,
he had to live by that standard and die by
that standard.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Oh oh and look, okay, so talking about that that
scene where like, you know, he goes back into jail
and he was trying to live a normal life or whatnot.
Do you remember and he.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Took that rap by the way, he didn't like sitch purposely,
you know, get caught up like that. Man. It's just
like fucking wrong place at the wrong fucking time, right,
you know, And that sucks. That scene is so fucking bad, man,
because again theater, the cop shows up and you just
know it's over dog when you see those little those
(26:18):
little balloons and you're like, oh, it's over for this guy.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
And they look like little toy cop cards too weird,
like there's a like invisible hand driving it. Yeah, okay,
So like I was saying, so remember in the beginning
when not in the beginning, but when little puppet goes
into prison and I don't need to go backwards, but okay,
so little puppet goes into prison and then he has
him go and do a job, right, and the Puppet's like, no,
(26:42):
I can handle it whatever, and like he's not talking
to you.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Pretty good, pretty good, okay.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And then after that he says something along the lines
I'm talking about Montoya. He says something about like that
it had okay that they earned some respect by doing that,
and it also that the consequences were still not known.
And these were the consequences because there was the first
time that they had like and I don't know if
it was the first time, but they had to kill
(27:09):
one of their own. They had to kill one of
their own. Oh. It wasn't the scene with a little puppet.
It was something else.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
It was this dude who was all tied up on
the chest, right and he was like in the bench press, yeah,
and at the yard. And then when once they stabbed him,
all the other fucking gangs knew, like out.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Of you, yeah they yeah, because there's like they they
killed one of their own to gain some kind of respect.
But by oh no, no, it's because there's such a backstory.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
It's more of a thing where like it's more like, okay,
you guys want to kill one of my guys, you
know what, let me handle it. Okay, that's how it.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Was, Yes, because of that guy that got burned for
cutting the wire.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Because that's how you start a war between gangs. Once
you killed like anything else, like any other gangster filmed,
like once you kill the the opposing gangs, you know,
member or leader, they're going to retaliate and we're gonna
start a fucking war.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
You don't want that, Yes, And then they started that
they killed one of their own, and not just that,
they were like, hey, I just killed one of my guys,
and now you're here, so you're gonna have to do
this other job and kill this other dude for me,
because if not, we're going to be seen as the
weakest link. And by that they started like a chain
of like killing their own because then look at the
cycle of killing their own kind of began, and it
(28:21):
shows that in the scene where like that the white
dude that has a prosthetic leg, Yes, you wouldn't think
that he would be like targeted as that because he's
one of the first ones, right, but guess what, he
is targeted and he savagely gets assaulted and then I
don't I'm not sure if he died, but.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
No, well I don't know about that.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah, but he it was. Yeah, that's actually a pretty
scene to see somebody get stabbed in the butt with
a crazy looking ass knife.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Man, that scene is crazy, man the whole And you know,
it's crazy the editing, just the editing in those scene alone,
because it goes back and forth between Montoya having sex
for the first time, oh and then this guy basically
getting you know, getting raped murdered for the first time ever.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
It's a good scene. How at first it was so
hard to watch because it just looked like he's never
been with the girl and it's just like very like gentle.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
And like trying to go for the back door two pg.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Thirteen. No, but but yeah, and then eventually they start
getting it on, and then he gets into it. And
by him getting into it, when he's getting turned on, right,
he's turned on, he turns her over and he's like
about to put it in her butt and girls, you know,
they did it like that. It kind of hurts right
in the beginning. I mean it depends like but yeah,
so she was mad and she like moved. But but
(29:43):
going back to like the scene is like this compilation
of like, what's going on in prison with that other
dude that's getting raped and this guy that's having this intimate,
intimate moment and yeah, it's it's actually it's crazy. It's
hard to ingest. But but again it's trying to light
us to like the character and be like, Okay, again,
(30:07):
remember he's been in jail out his life it and
it portrays the idea that that's how he got it
on in prison, that he must have, you know, been
with some dudes and done that with some dudes. And
if not, how would he know that's what turns him on,
Not that it turns him on, but it's just a
it's a natural reaction to the body, you know what.
And yeah, it's it's crazy knowing that he was rayed
(30:32):
too as a child like that. It's just like the
cycle of.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Like, yeah he was he was a teen when you
know when he went to Juvie and he do you
remember the line or do you know what she said
to him in regards to the rape and they're waiting
at the bus at the bus stop or whatever, I
can't remember, and they were like she was mad. She
was still mad at what.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Happened, something sudden, something you want to use.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
I wish had said the line, but yeah, I don't
really remember the line, but it was along the lines
of that where she's like, oh, but you can just
fuck me in the ass or something like that.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
He just turned me out and fuck me in the ass.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
And I was just like, dear guy, like she like
again for him, that was the right there.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
This is not the American me I want to be.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Oh man, stay take your American me away from me.
Great film, Edward James. Almost please check out this film.
It's a nineteen ninety two classic. It stands the test
of time. It's a very important film to watch as
far as like, if you want to, you know, know
about your East La roots or whatnot.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Those are not I'm sure there's other roots too.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
No, but you get to see culture outside of prison,
you know, he not really Yeah, he showed a wedding,
you know, he showed like kids, you know, running around
you know.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
You know what I guess growing up growing up with
that background, you understand that coming like with parents that are.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
You see how you do see family life? You see
dysfunctional family life really because oh.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
You see my cheesem.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You see a lot of my cheesema. You know, old
school values and all that.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Old school values. Yeah, like like respecting your mom, yeah,
and fucking going to school and not talking back to
your father even though you want to punch him in
the face.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, stuff like that. Yeah, but very important film to watch.
If the United States government decided that this film was
like important enough to be in their Library of Congress, then.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
I'm sure, I'm sure are our president would love to
have that locked away in a little box labeled this
is why.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Hey American me every Jame's almost salute to you, my brother.
Do you want to give any shout outs?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I would like to shout out, Jake. Shout out to
Montoya for holding it down and letting us, you know,
walk in the shoes of a crazy ass mafia boss
and seeing you know, and having an insight of like
the prison life or how it was. Hopefully it's still
(33:13):
not like that, but or maybe yeah it depends. There's
killers and rapers, yeah, burn them all, but no, I'm
just kidding. Yeah, and yeah, follow me at fab Fabb
Underscore nine ninety nine and.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
She's doing the metal horns. Yeah, thank you. And now
I want to thank you for being a part of
this podcast episode. I was pretty psyched when you accepted. Actually,
I think you brought it up, brought it up that
you wanted to review this movie.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, sure of course I do.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I so I was just like, you know what, let's
do it.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Because we did watch it together.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Yeah, we did. It was pretty cool watch.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Well.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Anyways, you follow me at Morning Shop Films on IG.
Check out my website Morning Show Films do ceo a
bunch of other films that are coming out after this episode,
such as the Killing of a Sacred Deer, pretty crazy
film and Camera Person's out. Check out Camera Person Cursing
(34:19):
Cursed in something some great, great filmmaker. And you know,
I'm a review Sully. Remember Sully. We were actually watching
Sully together the other night and I haven't seen that
film in a long time. When I saw that film,
it was just like, oly crap, like this is a
I forgot how good this film was and it's crazy.
I forgot that Clint Eastwood directed the film. And it's
(34:39):
crazy because the guy's fucking old man, and he's still
making pretty good movies about everyday people and like telling
their story and telling the actual facts, you know, and
then like competing with AI. And it's crazy. This film
is about AI because they thought that AI would pretty
much settle the case. See look now I'm going with
(35:01):
Sully right here. Anyways, on to the next one. Thank you.
Good morning and this is morning Real. If I see it,
I review it. This is a three to four to
a hunremon or so podcasts of films that I review,
hosted by yours truly, Ray Salazar. Today I'm joined with Faby,
who will be reviewing the film American Me, producer and
directed by Eber James Almost. It's a nineteen ninety two
(00:25):
crime drama film. It came out on March thirteenth, nineteen
ninety two. It's just a little bit over two hours.
Was not a box office success because I had a
budget of sixteen million. Cannot break the bank. But you
know what, who fucking cares?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Dog?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Seriously, there's movies that are made with a budget of
twenty five thousand dollars and has surpassed the test of time,
and this film was one of them. And you know
why it's one of them. Just this past year, in
twenty twenty four, this film was selected for preservation the
United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress
(01:03):
as being culturally, historically, or esthetically significant and in my
humble opinion, I feel like all three count What do
you say?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, that's that's insane. You know. In nineteen ninety five too.
I was really born, so.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Technically you were not born yet.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It depends what month it was.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
March thirteenth, nineteen ninety two, I was you were born
five days later. You know that. That's crazy. I didn't
know that well about the release date. What did you
think about this film? Like, I've only seen it once
when I was a kid. I've seen YouTube videos about
it and all that stuff, But does that really count No,
of course, not actually seeing it. It's not your typical
(01:52):
gangster film or your typical prison gangster film. It's it's
one of its kind. And I like the fact that
a Latino directed it, you know it braind the Palmer
directed Scarface, and you know Martin Scorsese, he directed Good
Fellas well for Latinos Edward James Alvos, and he did
(02:13):
a really good job in this film. How would you say, yeah,
I did?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I love American Me. It's one of those movies that
take you back, they take you down memory lane, for example,
Like I watched it during my younger age, and it
was it was a very it was a movie that
captured my attention right away because of that opening, the
opening scene. It was amazing, not amazing. It's kind of sad,
(02:41):
but it's historical, and I think that film has a
historical value. Definitely.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
This film puts East Loos on the map, and when
I mean, I mean East Los Angeles where the film
has taking place for the most part. And then you
got you know, Owesome State Prison, which is, you know,
a very notorious prison in California and it's you know,
in the northern cal close to you know, like humble
(03:08):
and all that.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
It's kind of like hit or miss because it's like, Okay,
you can wather learn from our experiences through the film,
or you can practice it or exhibit it.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Or or copycat the film in a way.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, in the way you're learning from it. So therefore
it's kind of shaping like our youth. And yeah, I
can go both ways. Are you gonna be a tolo
or you're gonna be a cop?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Or are you just gonna be a you know, an honest,
private citizen just going about his or her day.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
But do you see how like that film may be
portrayed as like a movement of sorts, you know, like
it's it's highlighting the Chicano like Chicanos, you know, what
they went through Zutsu riots for example, very historical time
and the way that they captured in the beginning with
the opening, the you know, opening scene.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
That's pretty brutal.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
It was brutal, and it's kind of like a shocker
and an eye opener, and if you don't know about
it rights, it makes you want to look it up.
So in the way, it does provide value of knowledge
in a sense.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Thought American sailors US sailors were you know, pigs and rapists,
and I mean.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
We've known that's vice versa really obviously by the film
with the other scenes.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, so this one's controversial because you know, the Mexican
Mafia that's a real you know, criminal gang organization and whatnot.
And some of these members did not like the film
because it wasn't portrayed you know, to their stand well
that's not to their standards, but to the facts of
their you know, of their history. Right. So with God
(04:46):
Edward James Almost's title character, which is Santana, which you
know when you look it up on the history books
and all that stuff, he's like the guy who started
a lemon and all that stuff. But it's funny the
film it doesn't really touch upon a lement per se,
you know, like it's a window, you know, and you
go in it, you look at it and you're flying
(05:09):
on the wall. These people don't really like talk about
politics too much. What they really talk about is like
getting shipped done, Like hey, this guy needs to go.
How we're gonna do it? Like that, plain and simple
politics of prison, politics of prison, you know, plain and simple.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You know, like it's like by color, you know, we're
all we're all one in here, right like how they say,
like I don't care what hood you're from when you're here,
we're all together. We're stronger together. And again when it
comes to our youth, like they can see it like,
oh my gosh, I don't want to be like that
because I can end up in jail getting your butt raped,
or they can be like, man, that seems feeling.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
So as all as we all know. In the film,
you know, Montogna guests, he gets raped them, you know, Juvie,
and it's fucked up. It's a hey, I gotta say, man,
like look fiction or not, you know, like I don't
know why they decided to use that as like a
catalyst for you know, Montogna becoming this you know, iconic figure,
(06:19):
and not only in the film, but like as a
representation of gang life. Right. I don't know what they
would have done differently if they had not chosen the
rape scene. But look, let's just.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Go with that.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I honestly think from a not just from a viewer's perspective,
but from like a like a film reviewer perspective, it's
a very strong scene. It's it's a little bit just
a little bit too hard to watch because I mean
they don't show it, right, they don't show any penetration,
but you know what's going on, and it's wild man,
And these are kids in Juvie. Like what's the age
(06:56):
of Juvie? Like from like kid and up.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Or what I know juven nows is like I don't know,
I want to say from ten to like eighteen. I
just know that that's the cutoff line eighteen. And even
nowadays they'll even like send you to county before that,
depending on your crime.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So imagine like especially back in those days where like
they didn't really give a fuck about like how to
like put kids together when it comes to Juwie. But
you you see little kids like looking at rape and
and you know it's affecting them.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And it even shows like like what could happen when
you have like some type of trauma or like when
you don't establish like you know, like attachment style, like
attachment love style, like when you're a child. And what
I mean by that is that you see how the dad,
the father resents him and you never really know why,
but you see it. You see the tension as he
walks in the room and he just kind of spasses
(07:49):
out on him for no reason, and that that pushed
him that and it's what happens to a lot of
the youth. You know, they get pushed out by family
not understanding them. They feel like like nobody understands me.
And then you find, like you know, your little homies
that are all kind of like going through something similar,
and you guys create that bond and and yeah, and
then and then this is what happens.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
I'm glad you brought this up because as you were
talking about it, I was just thinking, like that makes sense,
and what a way that these actors that were chosen
in this film delivered these lines, especially between like the
son and the father. As you can see, it's tense, right,
and Montoya has a way of just delivering his lines.
(08:33):
You know, it's in a way nonchalant, but it's it's
in a respectful way. Like you got to give it
to Edward James almost man like. Besides his directing, this
guy can act, man, he can he he he got it. Man,
He's got the look, he's got the feel. But he
plays it so good it makes you really feel like, man,
(08:55):
this guy is living that life, you know, just making
us believe that what we're watching is real, even though
it's fiction at the end of the day. And there's
so many there's a lot of scenes whatever James almost
where he just he nails it, man. And he's from
a theater background, and you can tell right off the bat.
In almost every scene he gives his theater chops as
(09:17):
much as he can and it works. And when you
think about it, when you look at this film, especially
the way he decided to direct it, it does look
kind of like a play because almost every scene you
always have these characters in the room or in a
certain space and they don't move, they just sit there.
And in theater it's sort of like that. You know,
(09:38):
you're looking at a certain setting and you're just watching it.
As long as it can go. And you're seeing all
these different characters interact with each other, and they all
have different personalities. Some of them are one dimensional. But
JD Man, dude, I gotta give it up for William
ForSight playing JD as you know him. He's in Blue
Streak and The Devil's Recha explaining that one kind the
(10:00):
devils reject. Yes, remember that cup. He was just like merciless.
He didn't give a fuck about what's going to happen.
That guy's badass, and he played a really good villainous
character if you really think about it, because he didn't
really give a fuck about like about life. You know,
he just wanted to like take power and just go along.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
With because he had nothing else to live for. That's all,
you know. After he after he was raped in Julie
in Juvenile Hall, he had plenty of time to think
about what his values were in those eighteen years that
he got sentenced. And therefore, you just he gained all
his respect and power and he had a name to maintain,
(10:42):
like he had like a title almost I don't know
what that title was. It was like like there, you know,
like yeah, so he had to play that role. He
had to be that role in order to be successful,
like to keep on getting that respect for him and
you know culture.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You know what's so cool about this film is it's
it's not just sort it's not just centered towards like
the gang life and violence. There's there's a love it,
there's a there's a romance in it. There's comedy in it,
you know, amongst the amongst the characters, right as far
as like they hang out and what they say and
how they say things to each other. You know, it's
(11:21):
it feels very familiar but familiar. Yeah, familiar familiar thing.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I like.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I like the romance in the film Man like again
Edward James almost going into that theater route where like
you put two people together and they're like talking about
life and it's very A film like this needed to
have women in it, like playing a certain role, playing
like a light out of the shadows.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
It was so hard to watch that scene with him
and her and they're getting it on, and it's just
so hard. She goes, you've never been with the woman before.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
He has not, and her too.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
She's an actress from EASTLA. She went to Garfield and
she graduated and Costay okay, so yay. You know, East
La is very proud of that film, not because of
how they portrayed, you know, our culture or like Mexican
Americans or mestigos mestizos. It is an iconic film that
represents us in the film world that along with crazy
(12:34):
local locals Blood In, Blood Out. Yeah, I'm not going
to get into that. It's inspired by a true story
and she kind of put like all the characters together
into one, which is why it has comedy and it's
romance and all these different emotions that play out throughout
the film, because I'm sure it came from a lot
(12:56):
of different stories put into one.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Did you have a favorite scene?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I did have a favorite scene. My favorite scene is okay, Well,
it depends like like enjoyable to watch favorite scene or
like impactful hard to watch scene, Like for example, like
port the rape scenes were really hard to watch. When
Esperanto was raped at first and you know the dad
is getting beat up by the sailors, that that was
(13:20):
a bit hard to watch. And then when you see
the girl crying, it like in Stales, emotion in you
and you can't help but put yourself in your shoes,
like oh, my gosh, you know our ancestors believing around
those times, and yeah, they kind of went through these things.
American me had angered the Mexican mafia, Right, what was
(13:41):
that about?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
All Right, Well, I'm not gonna get into it too
much because you know, it's a controversial subject, but basically
they didn't like the way the film was portrayed because
of the rape scenes.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Of course, of course, because who wants to think like, oh, yeah,
if you go to prison, the Mexicans are gonna.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Rape you, or rather the Mexican mouff if.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
You go to a jail, you're gonna get raped. Well
you know that's I mean, that's kind of the message.
Not like that, but it pretty much don't go to
jail unless you like that type of thing.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Well, I'll say this, like Edward James almost decided to
like show us, you know, the prison life. And obviously
it's not a good life to live in. Whether you know,
whether the subject of rape is that calm in there
or not, it's still not a fucking cool place to live.
You've basically got to survive day in and day out,
(14:34):
and due over there. The way they showed murders and
all that stuff, seems like it's the easiest thing ever,
even though it's very like gotta be cautious, right.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
But like slicy like butter.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And they did and they suck man. And it's hard
to see that because like you're looking at lives who
are hopeless in there and then boom, they're gone.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Other reasons why it could have angered I mean, I
would say is the fact that they have this pride,
they have this prior, you know, like Mexican pride, like
a very like Machiesemo ideology, and it can affect that,
you know, by how it's perceived. Yeah, and it would
anger anyone who was very like pride, proudful of, you know,
(15:18):
their Mexican culture. And so your favorite scene, no, no, no, okay,
what was my favorite scene? I don't know where I
have one, Okay, I would have to say it's the
beginning esperanza and like, how how the sailors? I'm a
historic fanatic, so history fanatic, therefore, you know, that's that's
(15:38):
what that's what captured my attention, And it happened in
the beginning, so that's kind of what kept me hooked,
Like oh that's you know, and then yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Good job like how like how they depict that life
when she got on the bus, like you see it
like old cars.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Esperanza was a beautiful woman.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
And then you see all the you know, all these
mixed people like judging her.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Looking at her, like not even sitting next to her
and stuff. But again, it was a crazy time, you know,
Zootsu riots had to do. You know, they felt like
they were being disrespected by the way they were dressing
during the World War, and that's what led on with
that's what added on to the racial tension already going on.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Imagine that even there was racial tensions that far back
into the past.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Like they weren't just assaulting at all, like people like
they were assaulting children. And it wasn't just like Mexican.
It wasn't just mestizos. It was also like African Americans
and Filipinos, like anybody who was not I don't want
to say it, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Anybody who was not white Caucasian. I'm sorry, but come on, man,
if I'm want to be real about it, if we're
going to be real about it, then let it be know.
But you know, no offense, but it happened, you know,
but you know, there was race. There was race relations
between all kinds of other races at that time too.
You know, they was trying to like get their own
you know, and.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
You know, but when it comes down with it, I
I could see how it could be a bit offensive. Okay,
this is gonna be controversial. But the reason I say
that is because that's the time of patriarchy and and
maybe the way it started off was like zutsu riots,
(17:22):
but then it became gangs. And I mean, yeah, there's
gangs of different cultures. It's not just like Mexican Americans.
But it just got highlighted as the beginning of that
era because they're being rebellious and you know, not following order,
like not following societal norms, and yeah, it was a
start to how we are how Mexican Americans nowadays are viewed.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
I have a favorite scene when when when Julian and
Montoya they go to the beach. They're walking at the
beach and it looked like it was Santa Monica. I
don't know, it could be well, she was actually teaching
him how to drive. I actually liked that scene a
lot because it showed a different side of that character,
Santana who's like fucking crime boss dog like a metal
(18:09):
metal right a lemon, you know. And here he is
getting taught by a woman how to drive a manual
stick shift car, and it's great because he's with it
and he can tell he likes his chick a lot
like it. For the first time ever, he feels comfortable
in society, basically, And I think the part about it
(18:33):
in the beach scene isn't the fact that they're like
they didn't care whether their shoes got wet in the
sand or the water or whatever. But like where he
says to her, oh, I know, I know, I.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Know, but this is my first time at the beach.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yep, that line is tight, man.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
That is a really I don't remember those that or
I've never been to the beach before. Which one was it?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
I don't know. I'm pretty pretty baked on that one,
but I'll say that the reason why I love that
line so much is he's been in prison for like
a large part of his life, so much time spend
with other men, and I'm pretty sure they've talked about
all kinds of stuff, all kinds of cool stuff, bad stuff,
(19:20):
whatever you name it. But here here we are like
we're like a part of that moment watching two people, like,
you know, seeing where something like love can go, you know,
and like kind of change a person around, and to
have a confession like that, it's pretty monumental for a
character like that to have.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, it's almost as if with that line it kind
of helps the viewers like put yourself in their shoes
as to feel what it would feel like, like oh wait,
he oh yeah, he was in jail for like all
his life and it is his first time, and you
kind of think like, oh wow, you know, and it's
kind of like very sensitive moment, like he's very yeah,
(20:03):
he's ring emotionally.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Very human for the first.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Time ever, the first time in forever.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
You have a favorite line in the whole movie.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
You have a favorite line, It would have to be, oh,
if you tie anyone next time, they'll be shipped on
my knife, not on my dick.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
That's a pretty good line.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
It's like god day yeah, no day there.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
For real. You know. It's crazy about lines like that.
There's a lot of lines like that in the movie.
It's very like Genitalia ish, you know, very sexualized and
like you kind of think about, like, man, this movie
is pretty camp too. There's like some type of camp
involved in this ship. You have to see it to
like really notice it. But anyways, my favorite line is
(20:52):
when we're still they're still in juvie, right, and you
got with this with this like swave like slick back,
you know, and you know what's crazy, Like I didn't
know like back then, like as far as like being
in a little click or dang, like it was a
plain white T shirt and some khaki pants and some
(21:13):
I guess chucks or whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
The kids can't wear their uniform to school.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
It looked like fucking school uniform, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
They're like we studying the streets and.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Then you see the penaltons with the little button on
the top end. Oh how much has it changed? Right? Yeah?
But my favorite lines when he was like, actually I
forgot the long you say that, I don't remember the lie.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Hey, hey A is sick? Can I talk to you?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Because but he looks so young in the face, like
I swear, I like, I swear I've known somebody that
looks like him in like my in my times, I
was like, you know, running around with like nobody when
I was you know back then, like there you know
when you see people in school that are like, oh
damn it, it's like they're kind of a little gangster there,
(22:02):
you know. And I swear that he has that same face.
It's almost like they like combined all these different faces
and made it into one universal one, because I swear
I've seen that face before.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Yeah, well, I think that was the line where the
kid didn't want, like Montoya to get with a white
dude because you know he's white and you know, you
gotta stick to you, gotta stick with you.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, when he was like, look who they finally laid
out as a hospital and then the other guy's like,
I don't know what he said. He said something, you know,
But then the other guy's like, oh no, he had
introduced him. He's like, oh this is this and this
is my part. Oh yeah, and he's like, hey, can
I talk to you? No? No, no, wait, then we
sound my childish, Hey said can I talk to you?
(22:43):
Or whatever? You know.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
A said, Yeah, that line is pretty tight because like, dude,
that kid looks like he's ten or eight years old man,
and he's so like like a grown folk, you know,
and it's crazy to see like how like how effective
it is to be molded in an environment, you know.
But it was Juvie, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
And it was I gets supposed to be like from
an age of like I don't know how.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I mean, I don't know where they sent them, but
whatever they sent him, like, he just got accustomed to it. Man.
He had to make it his own. Man, He's not
gonna like let some fuck at least for him and
his character, right, he was not gonna let just some
guy fucking rape him and then like that's say a
good night, Like what the fuck? Like an eye for
an eye, motherfucker and sucks for that guy, but like
(23:33):
in a way it doesn't suck, but you know how
it is right and it led him to false But yeah, man,
American me. I wonder why they call it American me.
But it's just his version of America, you know, taking
a journey through the prison system.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
It was there. It was their legacy in America, which
is not me. I'm not going to judge if it's
good or not, but it's like American me. This is
the American me.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
No, yeah, no, that's that's right.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
On the This isn't the Mexican because if she don't
go down to Mexico. This go down in.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
America from the Mexican Mexican me, lo've be hilarious, one
me Mexican, one American me. A really good film by
where James Almost Man, if I ever meet that guy,
I always just want to shake his hand and thank
him for making that movie, because it's a really effective film.
I forgot to say that. I like the ending of
(24:37):
the film. It's funny because you see films like Boys
in the Hood Do the Right Thing, even Fucking Baby Boy,
even Menace to Society, where all those films have a
very impactful ending, something that really sticks to you, and
it has to stick to you because look, man, it
(24:57):
didn't take that ending to make the movie's point. You
already got the point as soon as you got to
the middle of the second act, right. But it's just
like putting the cherry on top.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Man.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
You see a kid like basically being inducted into a
gang and he's helping on paint with his you know,
little homies driving a car and you can tell they're
underage or whatnot, and it just sucks that, like you
become what you're in what you are in your environment
in a way, you know it's and which is why
some people get out of the fucking hood, because once
(25:30):
you stay stuck there, man, like you're more than like
it's the notion where like you're most likely to be
what you are and all that shit. But that's not
always true because Montoya was trying to get out of
that life and obviously, because he said his own standard,
he had to live by that standard and die by
that standard.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Oh oh and look, okay, so talking about that that
scene where like, you know, he goes back into jail
and he was trying to live a normal life or whatnot.
Do you remember and he.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Took that rap by the way, he didn't like sitch purposely,
you know, get caught up like that. Man. It's just
like fucking wrong place at the wrong fucking time, right,
you know, And that sucks. That scene is so fucking bad, man,
because again theater, the cop shows up and you just
know it's over dog when you see those little those
(26:18):
little balloons and you're like, oh, it's over for this guy.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
And they look like little toy cop cards too weird,
like there's a like invisible hand driving it. Yeah, okay,
So like I was saying, so remember in the beginning
when not in the beginning, but when little puppet goes
into prison and I don't need to go backwards, but okay,
so little puppet goes into prison and then he has
him go and do a job, right, and the Puppet's like, no,
(26:42):
I can handle it whatever, and like he's not talking
to you.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Pretty good, pretty good, okay.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And then after that he says something along the lines
I'm talking about Montoya. He says something about like that
it had okay that they earned some respect by doing that,
and it also that the consequences were still not known.
And these were the consequences because there was the first
time that they had like and I don't know if
it was the first time, but they had to kill
(27:09):
one of their own. They had to kill one of
their own. Oh. It wasn't the scene with a little puppet.
It was something else.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
It was this dude who was all tied up on
the chest, right and he was like in the bench press, yeah,
and at the yard. And then when once they stabbed him,
all the other fucking gangs knew, like out.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Of you, yeah they yeah, because there's like they they
killed one of their own to gain some kind of respect.
But by oh no, no, it's because there's such a backstory.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
It's more of a thing where like it's more like, okay,
you guys want to kill one of my guys, you
know what, let me handle it. Okay, that's how it.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Was, Yes, because of that guy that got burned for
cutting the wire.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Because that's how you start a war between gangs. Once
you killed like anything else, like any other gangster filmed,
like once you kill the the opposing gangs, you know,
member or leader, they're going to retaliate and we're gonna
start a fucking war.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
You don't want that, Yes, And then they started that
they killed one of their own, and not just that,
they were like, hey, I just killed one of my guys,
and now you're here, so you're gonna have to do
this other job and kill this other dude for me,
because if not, we're going to be seen as the
weakest link. And by that they started like a chain
of like killing their own because then look at the
cycle of killing their own kind of began, and it
(28:21):
shows that in the scene where like that the white
dude that has a prosthetic leg, Yes, you wouldn't think
that he would be like targeted as that because he's
one of the first ones, right, but guess what, he
is targeted and he savagely gets assaulted and then I
don't I'm not sure if he died, but.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
No, well I don't know about that.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah, but he it was. Yeah, that's actually a pretty
scene to see somebody get stabbed in the butt with
a crazy looking ass knife.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Man, that scene is crazy, man the whole And you know,
it's crazy the editing, just the editing in those scene alone,
because it goes back and forth between Montoya having sex
for the first time, oh and then this guy basically
getting you know, getting raped murdered for the first time ever.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
It's a good scene. How at first it was so
hard to watch because it just looked like he's never
been with the girl and it's just like very like gentle.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
And like trying to go for the back door two pg.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Thirteen. No, but but yeah, and then eventually they start
getting it on, and then he gets into it. And
by him getting into it, when he's getting turned on, right,
he's turned on, he turns her over and he's like
about to put it in her butt and girls, you know,
they did it like that. It kind of hurts right
in the beginning. I mean it depends like but yeah,
so she was mad and she like moved. But but
(29:43):
going back to like the scene is like this compilation
of like, what's going on in prison with that other
dude that's getting raped and this guy that's having this intimate,
intimate moment and yeah, it's it's actually it's crazy. It's
hard to ingest. But but again it's trying to light
us to like the character and be like, Okay, again,
(30:07):
remember he's been in jail out his life it and
it portrays the idea that that's how he got it
on in prison, that he must have, you know, been
with some dudes and done that with some dudes. And
if not, how would he know that's what turns him on,
Not that it turns him on, but it's just a
it's a natural reaction to the body, you know what.
And yeah, it's it's crazy knowing that he was rayed
(30:32):
too as a child like that. It's just like the
cycle of.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Like, yeah he was he was a teen when you
know when he went to Juvie and he do you
remember the line or do you know what she said
to him in regards to the rape and they're waiting
at the bus at the bus stop or whatever, I
can't remember, and they were like she was mad. She
was still mad at what.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Happened, something sudden, something you want to use.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
I wish had said the line, but yeah, I don't
really remember the line, but it was along the lines
of that where she's like, oh, but you can just
fuck me in the ass or something like that.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
He just turned me out and fuck me in the ass.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
And I was just like, dear guy, like she like
again for him, that was the right there.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
This is not the American me I want to be.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Oh man, stay take your American me away from me.
Great film, Edward James. Almost please check out this film.
It's a nineteen ninety two classic. It stands the test
of time. It's a very important film to watch as
far as like, if you want to, you know, know
about your East La roots or whatnot.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Those are not I'm sure there's other roots too.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
No, but you get to see culture outside of prison,
you know, he not really Yeah, he showed a wedding,
you know, he showed like kids, you know, running around
you know.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
You know what I guess growing up growing up with
that background, you understand that coming like with parents that are.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
You see how you do see family life? You see
dysfunctional family life really because oh.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
You see my cheesem.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You see a lot of my cheesema. You know, old
school values and all that.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Old school values. Yeah, like like respecting your mom, yeah,
and fucking going to school and not talking back to
your father even though you want to punch him in
the face.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, stuff like that. Yeah, but very important film to watch.
If the United States government decided that this film was
like important enough to be in their Library of Congress, then.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
I'm sure, I'm sure are our president would love to
have that locked away in a little box labeled this
is why.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Hey American me every Jame's almost salute to you, my brother.
Do you want to give any shout outs?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I would like to shout out, Jake. Shout out to
Montoya for holding it down and letting us, you know,
walk in the shoes of a crazy ass mafia boss
and seeing you know, and having an insight of like
the prison life or how it was. Hopefully it's still
(33:13):
not like that, but or maybe yeah it depends. There's
killers and rapers, yeah, burn them all, but no, I'm
just kidding. Yeah, and yeah, follow me at fab Fabb
Underscore nine ninety nine and.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
She's doing the metal horns. Yeah, thank you. And now
I want to thank you for being a part of
this podcast episode. I was pretty psyched when you accepted. Actually,
I think you brought it up, brought it up that
you wanted to review this movie.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, sure of course I do.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I so I was just like, you know what, let's
do it.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Because we did watch it together.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Yeah, we did. It was pretty cool watch.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Well.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Anyways, you follow me at Morning Shop Films on IG.
Check out my website Morning Show Films do ceo a
bunch of other films that are coming out after this episode,
such as the Killing of a Sacred Deer, pretty crazy
film and Camera Person's out. Check out Camera Person Cursing
(34:19):
Cursed in something some great, great filmmaker. And you know,
I'm a review Sully. Remember Sully. We were actually watching
Sully together the other night and I haven't seen that
film in a long time. When I saw that film,
it was just like, oly crap, like this is a
I forgot how good this film was and it's crazy.
I forgot that Clint Eastwood directed the film. And it's
(34:39):
crazy because the guy's fucking old man, and he's still
making pretty good movies about everyday people and like telling
their story and telling the actual facts, you know, and
then like competing with AI. And it's crazy. This film
is about AI because they thought that AI would pretty
much settle the case. See look now I'm going with
(35:01):
Sully right here. Anyways, on to the next one. Thank you.
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