Boulevard Nights

Warner. Director Michael Pressman; Producer Bill Benenson; Screenplay Desmond Nakano; Camera John Bailey; Editor Richard Halsey; Music Lalo Schifrin; Art Director Jackson DeGovia

Richard Yniguez
Danny De La Paz
Marta du Bois
James Victor

The film fails to carve out a separate identity of its own, rehashing a familiar story about inter-family conflicts.

The decision to film Boulevard Nights on location in the barrios, using a largely Hispanic cast, is admirable, but does not automatically provide a raison d'etre for the pic.

Authenticity is the key here, and director Michael Pressman has accurately captured the sense of despair in this community.

Richard Yniguez plays a graduate of the VGV gang, who still maintains his ties with the group. Yniguez' g.f. (Marta du Bois) has dreams of upward social mobility, but is unable to shake him loose from his ties to the machismo competition of 'hopping' hydraulic car lifts. Meanwhile his brother, Danny De La Paz, becomes heavily involved in a gang war, until a pat dramatic crisis wraps up the film in a depressing and inconclusive fashion.

(Color) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1979. Running time: 102 MIN.

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