Bigas Luna: I'm very keen on symbols, generally speaking. That's what I prefer in the process of film narration. I usually start working on a plot, and when the framework is ready, I begin a true speech of symbols.
Bigas Luna: When I make a film, I don't want the symbolic interpretation of what I am doing, to be too obvious. I do think we have to be generous to the people going to the cinema, but I don't want to produce only pure entertainment either. But I don't want to be cryptic either. I think that to achieve a perfect highly symbolical story, the symbolical load has to be underneath. As something that is present, but that someone that has seen the film can say he has not noticed. That would be wonderful.
Bigas Luna: Symbols help a lot, but can also kill a story. When one comes up with a new interpretation, it is great. Because what matters is the energy generated by that idea. And also the energy that piece just gave to someone else.
Bigas Luna: According to my theory, the limit, in fiction, is set by pain. In the fictional world, you can and you must do whatever you want. If you feel pain when you do that, it means you reached the limit of your work as a creator.
Bigas Luna: Silence is the original. Words are the copy.
Bigas Luna: I adore animals. They are... I really love them. I've always had dogs. I have five donkeys, chickens... There are only two animals that I can't stand. One is the fly. I have a horrible relationship with flies. I really hate them. It's a true obsession. I depict it as the devil in my films. This horrific insect that I deeply hate...
Plot
In the summer of 1965, strict high-school Westwood's senior class in its privileged white suburb of L.A. graduates. Their relief to get out of the oppressive model of 'good American' behavior none actually adopted is soon spoiled. Surfer boy George Jr. 'Stick' is enlisting as volunteer for Vietnam, which is portrayed as a 'police action', panics on his last evening. Academic weakling Pirate, who intended to dodge a draft as drifter, suddenly faces the pregnancy of his lifelong true love Sunny. A spoiled 'princess' (also narrator) bitches because her parents want her to attend UCLA, not 'revolutionary' Berkeley. Calvin, the only black mate, lives in the poor quarter Watts, where the majority of his race plunders and attacks everyone, including class poet Michael Finnegan, whose family treated Calvin as an adopted son. Finnegan decides to symbolically deal with the hated school principal's patriotic pride, the Soldier statue...
Keywords: 1960s, american-teenagers, americana, arson, bare-chested-male, bathrobe, blood, blood-on-face, burning-draft-card, california
It was the summer of '65. Rock 'n' roll was alive. And the future of this country went looking for America.
Plot
Comedy about two misfit men who lose a borrowed ten grand from a mob kingpin and must flee from NY to LA, only to there get involved in a caper involving a video of Senators in compromising positions. Given a cool million for the video, they are then pursued for the money, which brings about a surprise ending to the film, as well as to their bungling adventures.
Keywords: brother-sister-relationship, gay-slur, get-rich-quick, independent-film, limousine, los-angeles-california, mafia, mobster, new-york-city, politician
Plot
A group of high school students, led by a rich boy Derek, is sick of shool violence and decides to become underground vigilantes named "Brotherhood of Justice". It starts with the idea "watching people", but things quickly get out of control. "Brotherhood of Justice" turns out another gang of violence. Derek wants to stop it but it is too late, so he takes responsibility for it and gives himself to the law.
Keywords: criminal, drug-dealer, gang, hero, high-school, melodrama, rampage, revenge, school, student
They were the best kids in the neighborhood ... until they decided it was time to fight back.
In this town if you deal or steal, you die... That's a promise from the Brotherhood.
Derek: The "Brotherhood of Justice"... where'd you get that?::Les: It must have been divine inspiration, I guess.
Collin: What do you think he was talking about, he wants a junior police force!::Barnwell: In a manner of speaking.
Derek: Since when do you like Calculus more than me?::Christie: I don't, but some of us mortals have to study.
Barnwell: [School Intercom] Attention all students. You are being watched. Every day you wake, every purse you take, every test you fake, every wrong you make, every rule you break will put your lives at stake... from the Brotherhood of Justice.
Derek: When we hit somebody, we do it as the Brotherhood... and we leave a calling card so they and everybody else learns a lesson. No screw ups.
Christie: You think everything is that easy. You just hop in your little sports car and you forget it all. You've had your whole life handed to you on a silver platter. Everything comes easy for you. It's easy for you to get into Harvard, you're captain of the football team, you've never had to work. And now all of a sudden you go around picking on people because you think you're chosen; you're going to decide who's good and who's bad.
Derek: This made so much sense in the beginning.::Christie: Doesn't make any sense right now, does it.::Derek: Nothing does.
Richard Dreyfuss as Moses Wine, private detective. So go figure...
A Dramedy.
Moses Wine: Bakunin? Bakunin was a terrorist monster. You are not an authority on Bakunin just because you used to date every terrorist in Soviet Russia, that does not make you an authority.
Eppis: Do you know why being a revolutionary doesn't work in this country? Being a revolutionary in America is like being a spoil sport at an orgy. All these goodies being passed around and you feel like a shit when you say no.
Eppis: Hey man! I can write copy faster than any alcoholic on this floor!
Plot
When a five year old inner city kid witnesses the murder of a kind police officer, he is struck mute. However, his older brother and his gang refuse to let the murder of their friend and mentor go unsolved and they decide to band together and crack the case.
Keywords: bisexual, blaxploitation, child-witness, crime-solving, cross-dressing, crossdresser, doll, downtown-galveston, drag-queen, galveston-texas
A good black cop is dead. A crazy killer's on the loose. One little boy saw it all. Save that boy. Stay alive. Stay together. TOGETHER BROTHERS.
Plot
An American soldier sent to Vietnam goes AWOL and returns to his hometown. His parents turn him over to military authorities. He is court-martialled and sent to the toughest military prison in the US - the Army Stockade of the Presidio base near San Francisco. There he is subjected to horrendous treatment. He, along with others, spoke out about the treatment of prisoners.
Keywords: absent-without-leave, american, anti-war, army, conscientous-objector, court-martial, deserter, independent-film, independent-film, military-prison
Where the American Dream ends and the death waltz begins.
The terms Chicano/Chicana (also spelled Xicano/Xicana) are used as reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s. For Mexicans, "Chicano" meant "poorest of the poor" but during the Civil Rights movement, they used the word to unite themselves.
The origin of the word "chicano" is disputed. Some critics claim it is a shorterned form of "Mexicano" ("Mexican" in Spanish). The word "Mexico" as spoken in its original Nahuatl, and by the Spaniards at the time of the conquest, was pronounced originally with a "sh" sound ("Mesh-ee-co"), as opposed to current pronunciation, and was transcribed with an "x" as was the usage in Spanish at the time. The difference between the pronunciation and spelling of "chicano" and "mexicano" stems from the fact that the modern-day Spanish language experienced a change in pronunciation regarding a majority of words containing the "x" (for example: México, Ximenez, Xavier, Xarabe). The "sh" sound was dropped[clarification needed] and in most, but not all, cases accompanied by a change of spelling ("x" to "j"). The word "Chicano" in the US was evidently not affected by this change.
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges. He has also voiced characters in several Disney films, including Oliver and Company, The Lion King, Cars, its sequel and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
Marin's trademark is his character's thickly Mexican-accented voice. This is part of a comic persona, rather than a natural accent (Marin was born and raised in the U.S.).
Marin, a Mexican American, was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Elsa (née Meza), a secretary, and Oscar Marin, a policeman in the LAPD. Marin was born with a cleft lip, which has long since been repaired. Although he speaks Spanish and uses it in some of his movies, he is not particularly fluent.
Marin's nickname "Cheech" is short for "chicharron", a fried pork skin that is a popular snack in Mexican cuisine and a favorite of marijuana smokers afflicted with "the munchies", and the nickname's alliteration with Chong's surname made "Cheech and Chong" an obvious choice for the name of the duo. The name of this character gave rise to the popular term "cheeched", meaning "under the influence of marijuana, usually at a relatively high dose".
Raul Montes Torres (b. Botucatu, Sao Paulo, July 11, 1906 - d. July 12, 1970) was a Brazilian caipira artist.
Torres came from a family of poor Spanish immigrants. His first appearance on Brazilian radio was in 1927 on Rádio Educadora Paulista and Rádio Cruzeiro do Sul; that same year, he made his first recordings on Brasilphone, with the songs "Segura o Coco, Maria" b/w "Verde e Amarelo." As his fame grew in Brazil, Torres assembled a group, Raul Torres e sua Embaixada, and toured Paraguay in 1935, and again in 1944 and 1950; he became the principal reason for the increased popularity of caipira in that country. A star in Rio de Janeiro, Torres recorded profusely in the 1930s and 1940s, recording with João Pacífico, Lamartine Babo, Francisco Alves, Sílvio Caldas, Jaime Vogeler, Noel Rosa, and Moreira da Silva. From 1937 to 1942, Torres recorded with his nephew, Antenor Serra; among their releases were the Brazilian hit singles "Cigana," "Meu Cavalo Zaino," and "Boiada Cuiabana." After this, Torres recorded with Florêncio (João Baptista Pinto).
You don't know what it's like to live easy
You're just pushed like a black rubber ball
There are days that you're trying to please me
and may never get fun at all
You believe in the early sunrise
be a part of American dream
Your siësta begins at midnight
but live once you've never been
Hey Chico get back to Rico
where you play your guitar everyday
Tell me cheat, I'll be waiting still
in Magdalena Bay
Chicano your lost for a while
Chicano your lost for a while
Cause when seven days and seven nights
Take away your style
Chicano your lost for a while
Chicano your lost for a while
It's a dead end street your going through
Blue has turned to grey
Chicano you can't stay
You are watching revelry much longer
and if someone reminds you of home
You'll be eating your taco stronger
and your friends they did leave you alone
Hey Chico get back to Rico
where you play your guitar everyday
Tell me cheat, I'll be waiting still
in Magdalena Bay
Chicano your lost for a while
Chicano your lost for a while
Cause when seven days and seven nights
Take away your style
Chicano your lost for a while
Chicano your lost for a while
It's a dead end street your going through
Blue has turned to grey