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Born in East LA
A very good movie which I just saw on the Saturday Afternoon Movies. A
Mexican-American who was born in East LA goes to visit a relative who
is working in a factory. At just that moment, the United States
Immigration and Naturalization Service raids the place, sweeps up all
the workers and deports them all to Mexico. The protagonist, who was
not working there but just visiting, protests that he is a US Citizen,
born in East LA, but the Immigration Officers do not believe him and
he too is deported to Mexico.
To make his problems worse, he was not carrying any ID with him at the
time he was arrested and cannot prove that he is a US citizen, plus he
happens to have the same name as a known illegal alien who has been
arrested and deported nine times.
Denied legal re-entry into the United States, he gets involved with a
succession of con artists, people smugglers and fugitives from
justice, all trying to sneak across the border to get to America.
One point which I almost missed: When they first arrest the
protagonist and he protests that he is a US Citizen, they ask him who
the President of the US is. He replies, "That guy who starred in Death
Valley Days, John Wayne". This is the wrong answer, and so they deport
him. This movie was made in 1987 and at that time the US President was
Ronald Reagan, who had in fact been the star of Death Valley Days.
Although this is a comedy, it depicts a real situation which does
happen from time to time. The INS does make mistakes and does
occasionally deport US Citizens, who are then faced with the same
situation as the protagonist in this movie.
What I find especially noteworthy is that the "bad guy" in this movie
is the Immigration Officer who makes the mistaken arrest and
deportation, and then proceeds to chase him throughout the movie. The
officer's name is McCalister and that is the very name of the INS
Officer who made the 1982 arrest of Aziz in the infamous Honzagool
Case. http://www.samsloan.com/poorgool.htm
The real Officer McCalister was later transferred to San Diego, where
he undoubtedly came to the attention of the producers of this 1987
movie.
Take a look at the Wanted Card for Aziz at
http://www.samsloan.com/aziz.htm You will see the name and telephone
number of Investigator McCalaster.
Now, look at the credits for the movie "Born in East LA" at
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092690/ You will see the name McCalister.
The same name except that they changed one letter in his name. They
changed one other thing, too. The real Officer McCalaster is Black.
The actor playing him in the movie is White.
Sam Sloan
Full Cast and Crew for Born in East L.A. (1987)
Directed by Cheech Marin
Writing credits Cheech Marin (written by)
Cast in credits order
Cheech Marin .... Rudy
Paul Rodriguez .... Javier
Daniel Stern .... Jimmy
Kamala Lopez-Dawson .... Dolores (as Kamala Lopez)
Jan-Michael Vincent .... McCalister
Lupe Ontiveros .... Rudy's mother
Urbanie Lucero .... Rudy's sister
Chastity Ayala .... Rudy's niece
David Perez .... Rudy's nephew
Neith Hunter .... Marcie
Larry Blackmon .... Slick dude
Tito Larriva .... Oscar
Geoffrey Rivas .... Immigration Aide (as Geoff Rivas)
Eddie Barth .... Lester
Miguel M. Delgado .... Jos? (as Miguel Delgado)
David Yanez .... Altar boy
Bret Chafe .... Immigration man
McKeiver Jones III .... Immigration man
Terrence Evans .... Immigration officer
Tony Plana .... Feo
Eloy Casados .... Thug #1
Mike Moroff .... Thug #2
Alex Garza .... Jail sergeant
George Garvin .... Doorman
Jim Perrine .... Tourist
Alma Mart?nez .... Gloria
Ruben Guevara .... Miguel
Sam Allen .... Customs officer
Bob McClurg .... Harry
Diana Bellamy .... Harry's wife
John Villella .... Customs agent
Doug Ingold .... Customs agent
Mark Istratoff .... Customs agent
Robert Masseria .... Customs agent
Ronald G. Joseph .... Tattooed prisoner
Josh Cruze .... Jail truck driver
Noble Willingham .... Border Patrol sergeant
Randal Patrick .... Border Patrol officer
Ernest Harden Jr. .... Border Patrol officer
Vic Trevino .... Patrol Patrol officer
Sal Lopez .... What's Happening Boys
Del Zamora .... What's Happening Boys
Ted Lin .... What's Happening Boys
Jason Scott Lee .... What's Happening Boys
Teo .... What's Happening Boys (as Jee Teo)
Mark L. Taylor .... TV evangelist
Dyana Ortelli .... Mother with oranges
Humberto Ortiz .... Boy with oranges
Daniel Valdez .... Norteno Trio
L. David Silva .... Norteno Trio (as David Silva)
Steve Jordan .... Norteno Trio
Austin Cortez Tobar .... Bar customer
Cesar Dominguez .... Bar customer
R.D. Kennedy .... German man
Lilyan Chauvin .... German woman
Ernesto Hernandez .... Fernando
Angela Moya .... Mexican woman
Jorge Andras Fernandez .... Mexican husband
David Selburg .... Policeman
Sam Vlahos .... Father
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Although this is a comedy, it depicts a real situation which does
happen from time to time. The INS does make mistakes and does
occasionally deport US Citizens, who are then faced with the same
situation as the protagonist in this movie.
Your right Sam. Not only that, hospitals sometimes make mistakes. People are
better off dying than going to a hospital and risking a mistake. We should
close all the hospitals. Free Huey Long.
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Ya dumb bastit you mean Huey Newton, the black panther.
Huey Long was the charismatic gov of La., who probably would have wanted to
free Huey Newton so maybe you're right after all..
"StanB" <stanbooz@comXXXcast.net> wrote
Free Huey Long.
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I thought Huey Long was tight end for the Bears.
And don't make fun of Sam, he obviously puts time into his posts.
Ya dumb bastit you mean Huey Newton, the black panther.
Huey Long was the charismatic gov of La., who probably would have wanted
to
free Huey Newton so maybe you're right after all..
"StanB" <stanbooz@comXXXcast.net> wrote
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"Angelo DePalma" <adpspammersgotohell@tellurian.net> wrote in message news:<ocGdndlp4cybnMTcRVn-tg@garden.net>...
Ya dumb bastit you mean Huey Newton, the black panther.
Huey Long was the charismatic gov of La., who probably would have wanted to
free Huey Newton so maybe you're right after all..
"StanB" <stanbooz@comXXXcast.net> wrote
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Speaking of bastits, what do you call the son of a lesbian union?
Speaking of jokes, a horse comes into the bar. The bartender looks at him
and says, why the long face?
Draft beer not people.
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On 28 Sep 2004, Danny Purvis wrote:
Speaking of bastits, what do you call the son of a lesbian union?
A baster baby.
swac
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sloan@ishipress.com (Sam Sloan) wrote in message news:<9802e06e.0409271621.34d31c55@posting.google.com>...
Born in East LA
A very good movie [snip]... >
Debatable. For a contrary viewpoint, this from Leonard Maltin's "Movie
and Video Guide":
"Third-generation American Hispanic gets deported to Tijuana; it takes
a tiresome hour and a half of screen time to get back. Nothing
offensive but also nothing special. Rodriguez's dim-witted comedy
relief is a particular drag."
Maltin gives the film only one and one-half stars, and unlike Sloan's,
his review is refreshingly brief and free of implausible personal
tie-ins.
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