Born In East L.A. (1987)

Give us your tired and poor but keep Cheech Marin. Cheech Marin writes, directs and stars in Born in East L.A., a hip, outrageous comedy that's based on his best-selling record parody. The story follows Rudy (Marin), an American of Hispanic descent, whose south-of-the-border looks show him no mercy during an immigration raid in a migrant worker factory. As his luck goes, he is caught with neither money nor his ID and is deported to Mexico - without speaking a word of Spanish! Unable to contact his vacationing family or his newly immigrated cousin (played by comedian Paul Rodriguez), Rudy is in for a crazy ride as he tries every legal - and illegal - scheme he can think of to get back home to the States. He finds himself in jail, in love, and practically in-sane! Trouble follows him everywhere as he runs from la migra in this case of mistaken - or rather misplaced - identity.

A Golden Oldie!

I have always loved this movie. I think a re-release starring "Carlos Mencia" would be AWESOME! August 13, 2008

Born in East LA DVD

I was expecting the entire movie that I have seen on TV before. I'm very disappointed. The DVD is missing some 27 minutes of the movie, including the parts where Cheech gets his wallet back proving he's an American and the chase leading up to the marriage on the float! The very reason I bought the DVD was to have the whole movie not some cut down version! May 15, 2008

Still a very, very funny and, yes, touching movie. . .

Richard (Cheech) Marin stepped out of the shadow of the Cheech and Chong phenomenon with this, his first solo film, in August of 1987. He both wrote and directed, and his sure hand developed in stage and recorded comedy as well as on film is evident in every frame. He surrounded himself with the best talent (Daniel Stern of CITY SLICKERS and HOME ALONE, comedian Paul Rodriguez, Kamala Lopez-Dawson of STAR TREK: VOYAGER and NYPD BLUE, Jan-Michael Vincent of BIG WEDNESDAY, AIRWOLF and BITE THE BULLET, Lupe Ontiveros of SELINA and AS GOOD AS IT GETS, and, in one of his first roles, Jason Scott Lee as one of the "Wass Sappenin'" boys (and if you haven't seen the movie yet, I won't spoil it for you. It's one of my favorite bits!)

Quick rundown: Cheech plays Rudy Robles, a 100% native-born American from the East end of Los Angeles. He is two generations removed from immigrants, and is so American that he speaks very little real Spanish, just a few words and phrases of "Spanglish". By a series of writer's conceits, he is deported with a busload of illegal immigrants to Tijuana, and has to find his way back home. Daniel Stern is an expatriate American out for a quick buck any way he can get it (including as a coyote), and he takes on Rudy as a great meal ticket, holding out the promise of enough money to get Rudy on a truck to the USA. As Rudy experiences life in Tijuana, he meets up with Dolores, a beautiful young lady who also has dreams of being an American. Their relationship grounds the film in reality, and gives BORN IN EAST L. A. some genuinely touching moments. On the comedy side, he is assigned a group of young men from China, Japan, Korea. . .it's never completely explained. Rudy has to teach them how to act appropriately once they get to L.A., and the "Wass Sappenin'" boys are born. Great stuff.

Cheech has many adventures on the way to getting back home, including a brilliant use of Neil Diamond's "America" (used with Neil's blessing). You have to see it, and the first time I did, it brought a tear to my eye.

The Universal DVD has the film in both Wide- and Full-screen versions, and, yes, it is missing the wedding scene, but if you has never seen it, you wouldn't know it was missing. The film is complete, and ends appropriately, so this is fine. If you want the wedding scene, you can still find the VHS edition quite easily, but it, of course, is only full-screen.

It would have been nice to have an edition with commentary from Richard. He's a great storyteller. The only bonus on this edition is the trailer for the film.

BORN IN EAST L. A. wasn't a big hit when it came in at the end of the summer blockbuster season in 1987 (it was up against THE UNTOUCHABLES, FULL METAL JACKET, Steve Martin's ROXANNE and Eddie Murphy's BEVERLY HILLS COP II, among others). Still, it's enjoyed a long life on television and video. Rent, buy, enjoy. Richard, ya done good! May 14, 2008

LOVE CHEECH

I WILL WATCH THIS MOVIE OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I WAS SURPRISED TO FIND A DIFFICULT MOVIE TO FIND AT SUCH A CHEAP PRICE. March 26, 2008

Whats up with the missing Kidnapping scene at the end

Great movie, I dont know why the studios ended it like this, I have an old VHS copy where at the end they come back to the East side and are kidnapped by the people who are renting a house across the street from where Rudy's family lives....whats up with that, I feel robbed, they should of at least put that in a deleted scenes option. August 29, 2007

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