American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez
Preview: 10/6/2026 | 2m 10sVideo has Closed Captions
Discover filmmaker and playwright Luis Valdez, a founding figure of the Chicano Movement.
Follow the legacy of filmmaker and playwright Luis Valdez. A founding figure of the Chicano Movement, Valdez is best known for his play Zoot Suit, the Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba and the theatre company El Teatro Campesino.
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Support for American Masters is provided by AARP, The Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Thea Petschek Iervolino Foundation, Burton P. and Judith B. Resnick Foundation, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation,...
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American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez
Preview: 10/6/2026 | 2m 10sVideo has Closed Captions
Follow the legacy of filmmaker and playwright Luis Valdez. A founding figure of the Chicano Movement, Valdez is best known for his play Zoot Suit, the Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba and the theatre company El Teatro Campesino.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- [Narrator] Ladies and gentlemen, it has come to my attention that some of you don't know the story of Luis Valdez.
(dramatic music) - [Interviewee 1] Luis Valdez is the Shakespeare of Chicano theater.
- He's a director, writer, but I think of him as a brujo, a witch man.
(dramatic music) - Luis Valdez could be described as a social arsonist, getting people motivated and getting them to light up.
- Chicano power!
Chicano power!
- My parents were farm workers.
Being on the road, being virtually homeless, I felt this hole opening up in my chest.
It could have destroyed me.
It became the hungry mouth of my creativity.
- This was heavy political theater told with a sense of humor.
- $15,000 for a mere Mexican?
- [Interviewee 2] Luis Valdez attracted a whole new audience with "Zoot Suit."
- [Interviewee 3] It was a statement about belonging.
- You know, it's New York.
My God, it's a Broadway opening.
- Out of the nine major newspapers, we were bombed in eight of them.
- Drama critics in New York tell the American public who is admittable and who is not.
They didn't understand the Chicano experience at all.
I was back home in California, and I was going to restructure my life.
- When Luis turned in his first draft of "La Bamba!"
Whoo, boom.
- [Reporter] "La Bamba!"
mania has hit the south land.
- Never happened to a Chicano on this level before.
- Tears.
- Still is the most successful Latino film ever made.
(upbeat dramatic music) - [Interviewee 3] We have been here and we have contributed.
What we don't have is enough people telling those stories that reaffirm our humanity and reaffirm our presence in America.
(upbeat dramatic music) - There's never been anybody like him ever.
(upbeat dramatic music)
NewLuis Valdez's play commented on identity and assimilation
Video has Closed Captions
Luis Valdez's play, "Los Vendidos," or the sellouts, was a commentary on assimilation and identity. (3m 7s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
Support for PBS provided by:
Support for American Masters is provided by AARP, The Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Thea Petschek Iervolino Foundation, Burton P. and Judith B. Resnick Foundation, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation,...