Un pícaro en Los Ángeles

Rudy, a Mexican-American, born in the United States is deported to Mexico by mistake. He tries to get back, but is repeatedly caught and sent back into Mexico. Cheech Marin showed some excellent acting in this movie. He's a kind-hearted person who helps out some folks in bad situations, like the mother of three who he gives the oranges to, and the wife of a man who can't afford to pay a coyote to bring her into the United States. He is ready to leave and gives up his spot on the transport to but this lady on, even after he had worked to get money to return. It was a love story...a painful thing to watch at times and funny at the same time. Just picture yourself being sent to a country that you don't know, even if your parents came from there. He was lost I'm his parent's birth place. I had seen it before, but the second time around made the picture better. Very human movie.

Much better than i expected. I first saw this film on one of those boring rainy days where you end up sitting in front of the TV channel surfing. i stopped while this was on. needless to say, i watched the whole thing and totally enjoyed it.

it's very funny at times, and the plot is hilarious! some of the comedy is slapstick and some of it isn't...but it's all good. give it a rent and you won't be disappointed. i just picked up the DVD for 9.99 and i'm glad i did.

yeahhhhhhhhhhh yeah yeah!

(sorry, i need ten lines before i could post a comment)

When this movie was made, it was a comedy. It couldn't really happen, right? Well, as of 2008, 21 years later, it's happened to five US citizens, as far as anyone knows, since 2007 alone. There's no way of knowing how many people have actually been detained and/or deported because the government refused to believe their documentation -- Or they lacked it; Citizens don't have green cards, after all, so an immigration officer who is determined to deport anyone without one will deport a lot of citizens.

I just read an Associated Press article about a man by the name of Jose Ledesma who was jailed for two months, because the feds refused to accept his 100% real birth certificate as legitimate. The government has become so absurd, that a parody of 1987 has become the reality of 2008.

I heard about this movie recently, and last night I finally got to see it. I'm glad I did! There were a few laugh-out-loud moments, including scenes with Javier and scenes when Rudy has to deal with the boarder patrol. The romance with the woman from El Salvador was actually tolerable (I generally do not like romance in movies), plus it didn't take up too much of the time. As the movie goes on the audience sees Rudy is a man with a good heart, yet I sensed no sappieness. Another aspect of "Born in East L.A." is that it can make people think about the struggles and poverty that happens just over our boarder; this serious issue is presented in a comedy though, so it's easier to take and people don't have to put their guard up for preachy morals while they're looking for a good laugh. Yes, the movie isn't very deep, but it certainly doesn't have to be. I would recomend "Born in East L.A." to anyone. I definitely have to see it again.

As a kid, I didn't like it probably because he wasn't with Chong getting stoned all the time. But having just watched it as a standalone piece, I found it quite bittersweet and enjoyable. Sure the story was a bit predictable but the movie did have a decent flow and never seemed to bore. The acting was pretty decent and there were plenty of laughs (again it's not slapstick stoner humor) Also keeping in mind that Chong usually directed their films, Cheech did a good job first time out. I think we'd all like to see them reunite, but lets just appreciate the material they've left us and leave it at that. So if you want to see Cheech branch out on his own, I'd suggest checking this out.