Down for the Barrio

I saw this because I like to see all things El Paso. I was pretty disappointed. There was such a great opportunity to explore barrio culture and it fell on cheesy clichés. The production was good with very nice picture and sound. A lot of great locations can be seen in this film. There are some great creative shots in the movie but that isn't enough. Tony Plana does his best with what poor script he is given. Some of the other supporting actors were good, but some were down right awful. Its not as bad as some say, but it isn't outstanding either. See it for what it is: an El Paso film. Otherwise don't expect Orson Welles.

This movie spoke to me. I don't know about everybody else but, this is a harrowing tale of life on the street directed towards kids. And it is done masterfully, and no other film has even tried. With violence and realism, mixed with slapstick and melodrama, the movie strikes not one, but various chords. Of course the film has various stereotypes and muddled moments, but no film is perfect. And as people we have to relate to characters we know. This kids are pretty good actor, I liked Spanky, he had a subtle way of acting, a maturity not common to these types of film. Franky was a Darth Vader character, I mean a scenery-chewing monster you feel for. I liked it as a whole, and would rather not nit-pick on the little or even obvious flaws any film can have. Very good.

Save your money and don't rent this one folks. The acting is shameful and the script is one of the most poorly devised I've ever seen. The premise behind the movie about gangs and the Hispanic culture sounded semi-promising, but the emphasis on the barrio accents is just too much to sit through (the dialog is amateurish and clumsy).

I watched this movie because I am originally from El Paso where this was filmed. Besides seeing lots of El Paso landmarks, this was a terrible movie! Horrible acting and terrible film quality. I like what the story was trying to convey, but not even that could save this film!

I'll never rent another Cesar Alejandro movie again. This was terrible, more so because it could have been passable if it had been written, directed or performed by someone else. Basically the idea alone might have been worthwhile in the hands of someone even semi-competent. Cesar Alejandro is laughably bad.

I thought this movie was a joke at first. It's like something they might have picked to do for MST3K. My friends saw it on the big screen and said it was hilarious. The audience was laughing and yelling at the screen. I wish now I had seen it in the theater so I could have laughed out loud with everybody else and not felt I'd wasted my money, having at least gotten a chuckle out of it. Run, don't walk, away from this one.