WALK PROUD

US, 1979, 93 minutes, Colour.
Robby Benson, Sarah Holcomb, Henry Darrow.
Directed by Robert Collins.

Walk Proud is one of several 1979 gang features. It is better written (Evan Hunter: Blackboard Jungle, Wake In Fright, Ed Mc Bain of the 87th Precinct series), is a star vehicle for Robbie Benson as a Chicano who ultimately stands against the group (Aztecos) and its false macho heritage. Indeed the film (while showing ugly gang violence, especially in reprisals on its members) is strongly anti-gang. It is a romance - Chicano boy loves wealthy white girl and changes. It is also a strong message film about the presence and rights of so many Spanish-speaking Americans, especially in California.

1. The interest in making gang films in the late '70s? The conventions of the group, their bonds together, their sub-culture, their attack on established groups? Violence?

2. The impact for an American audience? Non-Americans? An urban audience? Young audience? Audience fears of the gangs and what they stand for, what they do?

3. The title and its tone, its application to the group, to the Mexican race? As applied to the gang and the individual?

4. The presentation of gangs: the various members. the ethos, the American and Californian background, territories, their place in Los Angeles, Spanish speaking. the race heritage and the title of the Aztecos. the challenge to the average wealthy American? The intergroup clashes? Insults, violence, rage? The importance of rage being expressed? As illustrated in the fights? Boasting, violence. guns? Playing with death? The rules and code of the gangs? Walking the line of the gang for punishment for an offence? Secrecy. loyalty? The role of the young boy and the audience seeing the gangs through his eyes - favourably and at the end unfavourably? What did the film say in favour of the place of gangs, against the gangs?

5. The introduction to the gang world: the fight and the threat of death, the member balking at killing, the hostile reaction of the group, making him walk the line and brutalising him, Emilio's not brutalising him? His hospitalisation? The police investigation, the attitude of the social worker? The transition from gang life into ordinary school routines? How authentic a background for this gang story?

6. The affluent background of Los Angeles, the Spanish-speakers and their houses. being able to afford cars, ethnic celebrations? The school itself? The comparative poverty with the wealthy whites? Cars, yachts, homes? What did the film have to say about the classes and status of the affluent in Los Angeles?

7. The picture of Los Angeles and its mixed race, the effect of intermingling, prejudice and suspicion? The film's emphasis on race and equality?

8. Robbie Benson's portrait of Emilio? His impersonation of a Chicano? A type, the reason for his belonging to the gang, his pride in his ethnic background? His reaction to the boy walking the line and his not brutalising him? His love of his car and skill with it? Home life, his mother and her Spanish-speaking heritage? The myth about his father (and its later disillusionment)? The girls in the house? His lies? The encounter with Sarah and the possibility of change? His attraction towards her, taking her out., the hamburgers? His politeness and courtesy towards her? His beginning to change, their dates, the going on the yacht and the warning off by her father and Emilio's ability to answer him? The bonds with his friends in the gang, loyalties? The funeral and his going to Mexico and its exhilaration and disillusionment? His taking Sarah to the Catholic ceremony? The background of the party, the fight? Sarah's plea to him not to belong to the gang after his lies to her? The importance of the sequence where the police interrogated him at her home and her defence of him? The challenge. the battle after the party, the fight? His decision to go. the challenge to the leader and withdrawing? His decision to walk the line and suffer the brutality? The physical clash with the leader? His pride in walking the line? The little boy and his disgust? A credible portrait of a young man in this situation?

9. The portrait of the individual gang members, the leader and his arrogance, the various friends and their closeness to Emilio? Types, the fights, the living out of the ethos especially with its Mexican heritage?

10. The women in the Mexican Spanish-speaking world, Emilio’s mother and her desertion, the encounter with Emilio's father at the funeral? Home life, the Church devotion to the grandmother and the trip to Mexico? The sequence of Emilio meting his father, their talk in the restaurant, the effect on Emilio?

11. The highlighting of the Chicanos in the United States, their heritage, the Spanish traditions, religious traditions?

12. The contrast with the white community in Los Angeles, wealth, and attitudes towards intermarriage? As symbolised with Sarah and Emilio?

13. Themes of youth, contemporary needs, occupation, banding together, codes? The reaction against contemporary society?

14. America and violence, as lived by the young? The role of the police? Social workers?

15. Themes of environment, people being shaped by their environment, opportunities for change? A moralising and message film?