Zoot Suit (1981) on Netflix
Henry Reyna, a Mexican American gang leader in 1940s Los Angeles, is arrested for a murder at Sleepy Lagoon the day before he ships out. A defense committee takes up his case.
- Watch on NetflixThis title is not on Netflix right now. Please check back later for updates.
- Watch on Prime
- Watch on NordVPN
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.7/101,537 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes60%
Trailer
Plot summary
Henry Reyna is a young Mexican American who leads a pachuco gang in the Los Angeles barrios during World War II. On the eve of his departure for the Navy, the LAPD arrests him for the death of a man found at Sleepy Lagoon, and his friends are jailed with him. Watching over him is El Pachuco, a zoot-suited figure who narrates the story and serves as Henry's conscience, urging him to refuse help from a white man. His mother Dolores dreads the zoot suit he puts on. Defense attorney George Shearer and Alice Bloomfield, a newspaper writer working to clear the group's names, take up a case built on little evidence.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Zoot Suit (1981)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Zoot Suit tells a fictionalized version of the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial, in which a group of young Mexican Americans were charged with murder, a case that fed the racially fueled Zoot Suit Riots across Los Angeles.
- The film's protagonist, Henry Reyna, a pachuco gangster in 1940s Los Angeles, was inspired by the real-life defendant Hank Leyvas.
- Zoot Suit was staged as a hybrid of play and movie: most of it was shot in normal cinematic style, but some scenes had audience members watching the show while the actors occasionally performed among them.
- In 2019, Zoot Suit was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
