BLOOD IN BLOOD OUT - 1993
AKA BOUND BY HONOR
Director: Taylor Hackford
Producers: Taylor Hackford and Jerry Gershwin
Screenplay: Jimmy Santiago Baca, Jeremy Iacone, and Floyd Mutrux
Cinematography: Gabriel Beristain
Music: Bill Conti
U.S. Release Date: 4/30/93 (wide)
Running Time : 3hrs
MPAA Classification: R (Violence, language, nudity, sexual situations, mature themes)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
U.S. Distributor: Hollywood Pictures
Cast: Damian Chapa, Jesse Borrego, Benjamin Castillo, Victor Rivers
This film is about three Latino friends, Miklo played by Damian Chapa, Paco played by, Benjamin Castillo, and Cruz played by, Jesse Borrego living in the midst of 1972 East Los Angeles now torn apart by gang violence. When this violence strikes close to home, its effects ripple through the destinies of each of the three men. Cruz, is an artist and suffers a crippling injury, and the pain from this spirals him into drug addiction. Paco, is arrested as an accessory to murder and is forced to enter the military to avoid jail time. This eventually leads to a place in the LAPD for Miklo, the shooter in the killing, he is sent to jail where he slowly but surely insinuates himself into the ranks of La Onda, the San Quentin Latino gang.
This film is quite engrossing at times and was originally called and advertised as Blood In, Blood Out. Whether or not the last-minute name change will lead to any confusion is unclear, apparently the marketing people didn't like the original title but given the events of the film, however, Blood In, Blood Out is a better Title.
The film isn't all original, but there are enough wrinkles that, coupled with strong character definition, lead to a quite entertaining story. Actually, there are three separate stories that occasionally cross and intermingle. After the first thirty minutes, however, each can stand on its own. The one involving Cruz, concentrating on drug addiction and its consequences, is pretty strong. Bound by Honor probably would have been better less focused on it. Paco's tale is scripted with greater intelligence than Cruz's, but is still missing elements that could have made it stronger. The events surrounding Miklo, which are accorded the most screen time, offer the movie's most absorbing moments.
The chronicle of Miklo's rise to power within the prison gang system is reminiscent of Edward James Olmos' powerful 1992 film American Me. There are parallels in both plot and character, but Bound by Honor's prison story isn't as complex or gritty as that of American Me, and its resolution is less satisfactory. Nevertheless the story is quite good and the actors do a wonderful which results in a pretty solid impact on the viewer. There's a really strange fascination in watching the violent politics and parlays that lead to the top rung of a corrupt prison system .