Lupe Ontiveros

Passionada is a romantic comedy about a Portuguese widow whose husband, a fisherman, died at sea. The widow's naive teenage daughter wants to be a professional gambler and she convinces her mother to date a British man who's new in town. The widow falls for the Brit, a professional gambler who pretends to be in the fishing business. —Anonymous Passionada is the story of three generations of Portuguese women in the fishing community of New Bedford, MA. The protagonist, Sally Amonte, is still mourning the loss of her deceased husband and though she is young and beautiful, has resigned herself to working in the textile mill, caring for her elderly mother-in-law, and worrying about her rebellious teenage daughter. Her husband was the love of her life and she does not expect to find another. Charlie Beck is a handsome British charmer, he arrives in a vintage sports car and woos Sally until he sweeps her off her feet. Unfortunately, he neglects to mention that he is a professional gambler with bad instincts and that the Jaguar is borrowed. Sally's daughter, Vicky, is aware of Beck's chosen profession and threatens to tell her Mom (who Beck has fallen in love with) about it unless he tutors her in the art of card counting. —Anonymous

A dysfunctional writer`s world is forever changed by a waitress with a sick child, an artist neighbor and an ugly but endearing little dog.

When barrio leader Henry Reyna and his friends are unjustly convicted on circumstantial evidence, activist lawyers Alice Bloomfield and George Shearer fight the blatant racially motivated miscarriage of justice to win them their freedom. A kind of musical accompanying the story of the early 1940's and the effect that the "zoot suit" (a man's suit of long jacket and pegged pants, always worn with a long keychain that looped almost to the ankle.... the rebellious fashion of young men) had on the morals and attitudes of the people of that era. —BOB STEBBINS <stebinsbob@aol.com> Part fact and part fiction, Zoot Suit is the film version of Luis Valdez's critically acclaimed play, based on the actual Sleepy Lagoon murder case and the zoot suit riots of 1940s Los Angeles. Henry Reyna is the leader of a group of Mexican-Americans being sent to San Quentin without substantial evidence for the death of a man at Sleepy Lagoon. As part of the defense committee, Alice Bloomfield and George Shearer fight the blatant miscarriage of justice for the freedom of Henry and his friends. —Fiona Kelleghan <fkelleghan@aol.com>

As the movie opens, Cheech & Chong are siphoning gas from a tow truck to fill the tank of their "borrowed" car. As they drive away, Chong rolls and lights up a joint, igniting the gas fumes and causing an explosion in the car. Cheech is dropped off at a movie studio to ask a girlfriend for clean clothes, claiming his state was caused by rescuing a baby from a fire. Meanwhile, Chong returns the car to their prudish neighbor, resulting in a confrontation as the neighbor rants. Chong returns his sentiments by shooting exhaust fumes out of the house window, killing the neighbor's rose bushes. After smoking up, Chong plugs in his guitar and starts wailing away loudly, annoying the entire neighborhood. Cheech arrives, barely managing to pull the power on the amplifier. Cheech drives Chong to pick up a urine sample for his probation officer (last time, he used an unwashed mayonnaise jar; this time, his sister's urine, and she's pregnant!). While driving down the street, Cheech swerves the van causing the urine to splash all over Chong. Chong pulls out a large bag of what appears to be cocaine, refusing to share until Cheech asks to just "smell" it. Chong shoves the bag in Cheech's face, revealing it to be a bag of his laundry soap. Cheech grabs and drinks from the urine sample, spits it out, and Chong hands the urine to him again! The next morning, Cheech awakens to find the van has been stolen. The phone rings, Chong answers and hands it to Cheech, only to find that Cheech has been fired and that his employer has retrieved the van. The day continues as the guys go to the welfare office causing a ruckus as Cheech attempts to fornicate with one of the office workers on her office floor. Later, Cheech invites the worker over the house, practically pushing Chong out the front door. Upon finding that Cheech's cousin (Red) is in town, Cheech sends Chong to meet with Red. Chong finds Red arguing in a hotel lobby with Pee Wee Herman over an unpaid bill only to discover that Red is trying to get back his large duffel bag, stuffed full with marijuana buds. The two break into another room through a window, make their way to Red's room, and successfully grab Red's luggage. Meanwhile, Pee Wee has called the police and while leaving, Red records the police sirens and bullhorn comments on his boombox. The two end up at a brothel and, as they're leaving, Red plays the police sounds on his boombox, emptying the brothel completely, including a tied-up girl. She takes them to the home of her "trick" and before long, all of them, save Cheech, end up in a comedy club. Meanwhile, Cheech has fallen asleep waiting for Donna, the office worker, dreaming vividly of her. Back at the comedy club, Pee Wee Herman shows up and a riot ensues. As Red & Chong leave, Chong complains that they left the herb behind. Red takes Chong to one of his marijuana fields to get more with the police in hot pursuit. The police set off the booby-traps as Red and Chong are abducted by aliens. Back at the house, Donna shows up while Cheech is dreaming that the neighbor has interrupted his fun. He shouts out in his sleep "Get out! Get the f*** out, you f*** a**hole!" Donna, thinking he's yelling through the door at her, leaves angrily. Cheech falls back asleep, continuing to dream. Chong appears in the dream as a warlord and, upon awakening, realizes that Chong is now home, wearing a horned helmet, and holding a vial of "space coke." Cheech samples the coke and goes into a rage, tearing a hole in the side of the house and doing the same to the neighbor's house. The movie ends with Cheech & Chong flying high into the air to the great doobie in the sky.