American Me (1992)

"American Me" is a story of the growth of strength in the Mexican mafia during the 1970s and 1980s. It tracks the development of some of the key figures from their earliest days running the streets and coming into conflict with the authorities to the period in which the Mexican mafia developed great influence in the California penal system and on the streets of California influencing the drug trade. The film is based on a true story and tracks some of the same ground covered by "Blood In, Blood Out" which was released a year later. It works in flashback, from the later thoughts of director and star Edward James Olmos as Santana. The film is told as a flashback as advice given to his nephew to avoid the gang life which he has embarked on.This is gut-check cinema. It's not for the faint of heart. The acting is excellent from Olmos as gang leader Santana and his right-hand man JD (William Forsythe). Olmos plays Santana as extremely world-weary. One can see in Santana's face the toll that his time in prison and role in La Primera (the Mexican mafia) has taken. William Forsythe is fantastic, playing JD very low-key and as committed to the Mexican mafia as Santana, so much so that perhaps he forgets he is not Mexican at times! The intra-gang and interracial conflicts are powerfully and graphically portrayed. Nothing is held back in depicting what happens in jail but it has the ring of truth and ultimately, if one wrongs one's gang, one will be held accountable by that gang.This movie really deserves mention along with great gang movies like Goodfellas, The Godfather, and Boyz in the Hood, for its no-hold-barred depiction of the brutality and cheapness of life, but also the brotherhood and sense of identity gained within a gang.

I've seen this movie a few times and while it does have it's moments, it also has some really fundamental flaws. Overall I consider it mediocre at best.WARNING, POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD...First of all I thought some of the prison scenes were a little on the far fetched side and really strained my credulity - specifically one where Pedro and company confront a rival black gang leader and his crew in the cell block for several minutes with hoots and jeers and toilet paper flying all around. I really can't believe that the prison guards wouldn't have intervened long before they did. And the idea that the Latino gang would dare to kill the Mafia crime bosses son was ridiculous.Secondly, as some other reviewers have commented, the overuse of the words "ese" and "homes". I'm not even a Latino and I found this stereotypical and contrived.The films was rather long and slow moving and could definitely benefited from editing.There were no really sympathetic characters and some of them were down-right repugnant. I didn't even particularly like Pedro's girlfriend, Yolanda. I can't empathize with someone who falls for a man who spent 18 years in the joint running a prison gang and is then surprised when he turns out to be a user and fake and not a social reformer. About the only person who seemed to have any honor at all was "El Japo" A movie needs to have someone you connect with and root for me to enjoy it.Lastly, there was no optimism at all to the ending. It seemed to say to me, "It's all hopeless and will never end". Rather depressing.Overall, a nice try, but fall short of the mark.

The tirade you show in life comes back in a fossiled stain hologram indented in trees or billboards of late. Those visions are inept to the rightful stocking stuffed tamale. Which person is your go to Guy? i look at Michael not any other person. When i look at that person does not mean i am gonna give my life for him but rather as a way to help with your assimilation process and growth of knowledge here on earth. Those sacrificial party throwers can realign themselves to a new tune of trance. Do not ever seek the owner of the planet to die for anyones cause even if he blurts that out loud....I see your other party promoters yet i do not understand them if they are older than him. They have had several years to understand these issues to gather the right people to help solve them before they become and continue to be a problem... Sticking something up someones anal rectum is not what you should be doing to solve that issue. Look to nature as in those wind talking rain dancers to help solve that scene of distress...

I saw this movie a couple of days ago. It was a chilling and shocking tale of a society that I frequently visited in my life. I treaded on the turf of East Los Angeles practically everyday for three years. The Zoot Suit riots, the drug circulation, the violence is all real. Hot summer days, cold winter nights. They had an Asian population over there whom I met on a phone-based chat service. The movie American Me was to me violence Mexican Mafia style. The Italian movies differ, while their scenes are more dramatical. I believe that the action in American Me was in a sense, more raw. I could actually say that a Mexican is three races combined. Spanish, French, and Italian.