Boulevard Nights

Last updated
Boulevard Nights
Boulevard Nights.jpg
VHS cover
Directed by Michael Pressman
Written by Desmond Nakano
Produced byBill Benenson
Starring Richard Yniguez
Danny De La Paz
Marta DuBois
Carmen Zapata
James Victor
Victor Millan
Daniel Zacapa
Cinematography John Bailey
Edited by Richard Halsey
Music by Lalo Schifrin
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • March 23, 1979 (1979-03-23)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.5 million [1]
Box office$1.9 million (US rentals) [2] [3]

Boulevard Nights is a 1979 American neo noir crime film directed by Michael Pressman.

Contents

It is about life in East Los Angeles and its street gangs. It concerns two brothers, Raymond (Richard Yniguez) and Chuco (Danny De La Paz). Raymond is 'straight' -- he has a job and is engaged to Shady (Marta DuBois) -- while Chuco is a drug user and gang member who is about to be drawn into a gang war.

It was filmed on location, mostly in East Los Angeles. [1]

Cast

Controversy

Boulevard Nights was one of a number of "gang / hood films" released in 1979, along with The Warriors , Walk Proud , The Wanderers and Over the Edge . [4] Fearing a repeat of the gang violence associated with The Warriors, Warner Bros. and the filmmakers tried to distance themselves from that film by saying that Boulevard Nights was not so much a gang film as a "family story" of two brothers "set in a gang environment." [1]

A week before releasing the film, Warner Bros. offered theater owners the option of hiring security at the studio's expense if they felt the need; officially fewer than half a dozen theaters added security. [4] Boulevard Nights was pulled from San Francisco's Alhambra Theatre and an Ontario, California drive-in after incidents of gang-related violence broke out during showings of the film at those locations. [4] The film was also picketed by protesters who said that it negatively stereotyped Mexican Americans as gang members. [1]

Reception

Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "It's a movie that tries to tell us something about life in the Mexican-American neighborhoods of East Los Angeles, and that sometimes succeeds. 'Boulevard Nights' is not altogether successful, though, because the truth of the situation has been cluttered up by a story structure borrowed from umpteen other Hollywood movies about coming of age in a ghetto." [5] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote the film "is so busy trying to meet the needs of a conventional narrative that it appears to have no point of view about its characters. When we watch them suffer and die in foolish pursuits, the movie is merely sightseeing. With the possible exception of Mr. De La Paz, whose haunted looks suggest someone very troubled, the actors are not very good." [6]

Dale Pollock of Variety wrote, "To label 'Boulevard Nights' simply another gang picture because its milieu is the streets of East Los Angeles would be doing the Tony Bill-Bill Benenson production a disservice. Unfortunately, the film fails to carve out a separate identity of its own, rehashing a familiar story about inter-family conflicts." [7] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three stars out of four and wrote that the film had a "quiet power," with Danny De La Paz giving "a memorable performance of a young man lost." [8]

Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called it "a modest, earnest, honest, authentic, dramatic and effective drama," adding, "Without much overt sermonizing, Desmond Nakano's script elonquently demonstrates the somber and tragic defeats that violence inflicts on its winners and losers alike ... It's a cycle of revenge as empty and unavailing (and here not so poetic) as it was in 'Romeo and Juliet.'" [9]

Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called the film "disappointing, since screenwriter Desmond Nakano falls back on some miserable melodramatic devices to force his material to a showdown. A gang bullet meant for Chuco kills dear little Mrs. Avila on the day of Raymond's wedding. Still, it's a respectable, absorbing sort of movie, even though you have to admit it doesn't work." [10] David Ansen of Newsweek wrote, "The setting and the all-Hispanic cast are fresh; the story is, unfortunately, as old as Hollywood." [11]

The film's domestic take of $1.9 million in rentals was considered a box office failure. [2]

Legacy

In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". [12] [13]

Danny De La Paz (Chuco Avila) on Boulevard Nights

In a rare media interview, in 2023, with journalist David Leighton, of the Arizona Daily Star newspaper, Danny De La Paz—who also played Big Puppet in the Edward James Olmos film American Me—reflected back on the film and the time period in which it was released.

“The year 1979 was a year of street gang films with movies like The Warriors , Walk Proud and Boulevard Nights. The Warriors, in my opinion, was like a comic book and was not realistic at all. And Walk Proud, I will call it what it was, Brown Face, an actor Robby Benson pretending to be Chicano.

“My character (Chuco Avila) is a young man without a father, a role being filled by my older brother, (Raymond Avila), and is looking to belong while at the same time trying to find his own individual identity, in the only world he has ever known, in the fictitious Varrio Grande Vista, a neighborhood in the real East Los Angeles.

“The Boulevard Nights script was about what effect this environment had on these two brothers in this period in their lives. The unintentional effect was that it glorified gangs and helped them grow. Although this is what movies do. When I was very young I saw a film and immediately went home and tried to mimic the main character’s actions. It’s the effect films have on some people.

“In regard to the protesters, who picketed outside the theaters that played Boulevard Nights, most of them likely never saw the film. They read about it or heard about it from a friend and just reacted without understanding it.

“One other effect this movie had was, within a few months after it came out, cruising Whittier Boulevard, which is where the film took place got so out of control, law enforcement outlawed it, for a while anyways.” [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>L.A. Confidential</i> (film) 1997 film by Curtis Hanson

L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American neo-noir crime film directed, produced, and co-written by Curtis Hanson. The screenplay by Hanson and Brian Helgeland is based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same name, the third book in his L.A. Quartet series. The film tells the story of a group of LAPD officers in 1953, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity. The title refers to the 1950s scandal magazine Confidential, portrayed in the film as Hush-Hush.

<i>Mad Max 2</i> 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic action film

Mad Max 2 is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic dystopian action film directed by George Miller. It is the second installment in the Mad Max franchise, with Mel Gibson reprising his role as "Mad Max" Rockatansky. The film's tale of a community of settlers moved to defend themselves against a roving band of marauders follows an archetypical "Western" frontier movie motif, as does Max's role as a hardened man whose decision to assist the settlers helps him rediscover his humanity. Filming took place in locations around Broken Hill, in the Outback of New South Wales.

<i>Faces</i> (1968 film) 1968 film written and directed by John Cassavetes

Faces is a 1968 American drama film written and directed by John Cassavetes. It stars John Marley, Gena Rowlands, Lynn Carlin, Seymour Cassel, Fred Draper, and Val Avery.

<i>Grease</i> (film) 1978 musical romantic comedy film by Randal Kleiser

Grease is a 1978 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Randal Kleiser from a screenplay by Bronté Woodard and an adaptation by Allan Carr, based on the stage musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The film depicts the lives of greaser Danny Zuko and Australian transfer student Sandy Olsson, who develop an attraction for each other during a summer romance.

<i>Cant Hardly Wait</i> 1998 American film

Can't Hardly Wait is a 1998 American teen romantic comedy film written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont. It stars an ensemble cast including Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose, Peter Facinelli, Seth Green, and Jennifer Love Hewitt, and is notable for a number of "before-they-were-famous" appearances by teen stars. The story takes place at a high school graduation party in the 1990s.

<i>The Warriors</i> (film) 1979 American action thriller film by Walter Hill

The Warriors is a 1979 American action thriller film directed by Walter Hill. Based on Sol Yurick's 1965 novel of the same name, the film was theatrically released in the United States on 9 February 1979 by Paramount Pictures. The film centers on a fictitious New York City street gang who must travel 30 miles (48 km), from the north end of the Bronx to their home turf in Coney Island in southern Brooklyn, after they are framed for the murder of a respected gang leader.

<i>Car Wash</i> (film) 1976 American comedy film by Michael Schultz

Car Wash is a 1976 American comedy film released by Universal Pictures. Directed by Michael Schultz from a screenplay by Joel Schumacher, the film stars Franklyn Ajaye, Bill Duke, George Carlin, Irwin Corey, Ivan Dixon, Antonio Fargas, Jack Kehoe, Clarence Muse, Lorraine Gary, The Pointer Sisters, Richard Pryor, and Garrett Morris. Originally conceived as a musical, Car Wash is an episodic comedy about a day in the lives of a close-knit group of employees at a Los Angeles, California car wash and their boss, Leon "Mr. B" Barrow.

<i>Running on Empty</i> (1988 film) 1988 film by Sidney Lumet

Running on Empty is a 1988 American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Naomi Foner and starring River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Christine Lahti, and Martha Plimpton. It was produced by Lorimar Film Entertainment. It is the story of a counterculture couple on the run from the FBI, and how one of their sons starts to break out of this fugitive lifestyle.

<i>Harlem Nights</i> 1989 comedy drama crime film directed by Eddie Murphy

Harlem Nights is a 1989 American crime comedy-drama film starring and directed by Eddie Murphy, who also wrote. The film co-stars Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Danny Aiello, Michael Lerner, Della Reese, and Murphy's older brother Charlie. The film was released theatrically on November 17, 1989, by Paramount Pictures. The film tells the story of "Sugar" Ray and Vernest "Quick" Brown as a team running a nightclub in the late 1930s in Harlem while contending with gangsters and corrupt police officials.

<i>Colors</i> (film) 1988 film directed by Dennis Hopper

Colors is a 1988 American police procedural action crime film starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall, and directed by Dennis Hopper. The film takes place in the gang ridden neighborhoods of Los Angeles: late-1980s South Central Los Angeles, Echo Park, Westlake and East Los Angeles. The film centers on Bob Hodges (Duvall), an experienced Los Angeles Police Department C.R.A.S.H. officer, and his rookie partner, Danny McGavin (Penn), who try to stop the gang violence between the Bloods, the Crips, and Hispanic street gangs. Colors relaunched Hopper as a director 19 years after Easy Rider, and inspired discussion over its depiction of gang life and gang violence.

<i>Blood In Blood Out</i> 1993 film directed by Taylor Hackford

Blood In Blood Out is a 1993 American epic crime drama film directed by Taylor Hackford that has become a cult-classic film among the Mexican-American community. It follows the intertwining lives of three Chicano relatives from 1972 to 1984. They start out as members of a street gang in East Los Angeles, and as dramatic incidents occur, their lives and friendships are forever changed. Blood In Blood Out was filmed in 1991 throughout the Spanish-speaking areas of Los Angeles and inside California's San Quentin State Prison.

<i>American Me</i> 1992 film directed by Edward James Olmos

American Me is a 1992 American independent crime drama film produced and directed by Edward James Olmos, his first film as a director, and written by Floyd Mutrux and Desmond Nakano. Olmos also stars as the film's protagonist, Montoya Santana, loosely based on mafia boss Rodolfo Cadena. Executive producers included record producer Lou Adler, screenwriter Mutrux, and Irwin Young. It depicts a fictionalized account of the founding and rise to power of the Mexican Mafia in the California prison system from the 1950s into the 1980s.

<i>The Prisoner of Zenda</i> (1979 film) 1979 film by Richard Quine

The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Richard Quine that stars Peter Sellers, Lynne Frederick, Lionel Jeffries, Elke Sommer, Gregory Sierra, Jeremy Kemp, and Catherine Schell. It is adapted from the 1894 adventure novel by Anthony Hope. The novel tells the story of a man who has to impersonate a king, whom he closely resembles, when the king is abducted by enemies on the eve of his coronation. In 1952, an earlier adaptation of the story was made into a film starring Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger, and directed by Richard Thorpe.

<i>Mi Vida Loca</i> 1994 film directed by Allison Anders

Mi Vida Loca is a 1993 American coming-of-age drama film directed and written by Allison Anders. It centers on the plight of cholas growing up in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles, who face the struggles of friendship, romantic entanglements, motherhood, and gang membership. The story follows interlocking stories of several female gang members while centering on the friendship between two friends who become involved with the same man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pepe Serna</span> American actor

Pepe Serna is an American film and television actor and artist.

<i>The Sluggers Wife</i> 1985 film by Hal Ashby

The Slugger's Wife is a 1985 romantic comedy film about a baseball star who falls for a singer. Written by Neil Simon, directed by Hal Ashby and produced by Ray Stark, the film stars Michael O'Keefe, Rebecca De Mornay, and Randy Quaid. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures and released on March 29, 1985.

<i>Down for Life</i> (film) 2009 film directed by Alan Jacobs

Down for Life is a 2009 American dramatic film directed by Alan Jacobs based on the true story of a 15-year-old Latina gang leader in Watts, Los Angeles. The story follows one day in her life as she struggles to break away from her gang. Made in cinéma vérité style, the film stars many local teens, with veteran actors such as Danny Glover, Laz Alonso, Kate del Castillo, and Snoop Dogg in supporting roles. Down for Life focuses on the gritty reality of gang life and the racial tension surrounding it. Ultimately, the film’s message is one of hope to those in tough circumstances while shedding light on a pressing social issue.

Alan Jacobs is an American independent film director, screenwriter and producer, best known for his films Nina Takes a Lover (1994) and Down for Life (2009).

<i>Roots of Blood</i> 1978 film by Jesús Salvador Treviño

Raíces de sangre is a Mexican movie written and directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño released in 1978 in Mexico and other countries. According to some sources, it had a wide release on May 30, 1979, but other sources show it was playing in US theaters as early as August 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicano cinema</span>

Chicano cinema is an aspect of Mexican American cinema that refers to the filmmaking practices that emerged out of the cultural consciousness developed through the Chicano Movement. Luis Valdez is generally regarded as the first Chicano filmmaker and El Teatro Campesino as the first theater company.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Boulevard Nights - History". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute . Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  2. 1 2 Epstein, Andrew (April 27, 1980). "The Big Thuds of 1979—Films That Flopped, Badly". Los Angeles Times . Calendar, p. 6.
  3. ↑ Richard Nowell, Blood Money: A History of the First Teen Slasher Film Cycle Continuum, 2011 p 260
  4. 1 2 3 Schreger, Charles (March 28, 1979). "Gang Movies Stir Controversy". Los Angeles Times . Part IV, p. 14.
  5. ↑ Ebert, Roger (May 7, 1979). "Boulevard Nights". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  6. ↑ Canby, Vincent (March 23, 1979). "Film: 'Boulevard Nights'". The New York Times . C14.
  7. ↑ Pollock, Dale (March 21, 1979). "Film Reviews: Boulevard Nights". Variety . 24.
  8. ↑ Siskel, Gene (May 10, 1979). "'Boulevard Nights' an antigang film with quiet power". Chicago Tribune . Section 2, p. 8.
  9. ↑ Champlin, Charles (March 23, 1979). "Brothers on the Boulevard". Los Angeles Times . Part IV, p. 1.
  10. ↑ Arnold, Gary (May 5, 1979). "Boulevard Nights". The Washington Post . B6.
  11. ↑ Ansen, David (April 2, 1979). "Ganging Up in the Barrio". Newsweek . 82.
  12. ↑ "2017 National Film Registry Is More Than a 'Field of Dreams'". Library of Congress. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  14. ↑ David Leighton, "Street Smarts: Sixto Molina Lane honors police/community leader (Danny De La Paz)" Arizona Daily Star, January 11, 2023
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.