[5] The film stars Daniel Valdez, Edward James Olmos—both reprising their roles from the stage production—and Tyne Daly.

[6][7] In the barrios of Los Angeles in the early 1940s against the backdrop of the Zoot Suit Riots and World War II, Henry Reyna (inspired by real-life defendant Hank Leyvas) is a pachuco gangster.

El Pachuco, an idealized Zoot Suiter, functions as narrator throughout the story and serves as Henry's conscience.

Henry Reyna, a young Mexican American, is arrested for murder by the LAPD a day before he leaves for the Navy.

Henry tackles Rafas and has him on the floor with a switchblade to his neck, but at El Pachuco’s urging chooses not to kill him.

The first witness is Sergeant Frank Galindo, who discovered found Jose Sanchez's dead body at Sleepy Lagoon.

Della visits to see how Henry is doing, and lets him know that she is out of the Ventura School for Girls thanks to four months off for good behavior.

But Pachuco snaps them back to the dance hall, where two alternate endings of Henry's story are offered by the different characters: perhaps Henry died in jail; or maybe he died in the Korean war; or maybe he and Della lived happily ever after in LA Vincent Canby of the New York Times called it "a holy mess of a movie, full of earnest, serious intentions and virtually no achievements".

[8] The film earned some controversy for being staged as a combination of play and movie; most of it was shot in normal cinematic fashion, but some scenes featured audience members watching the show, with the actors occasionally performing among them[9]—a decision that Leonard Maltin in his Movie Guide called "a major distraction".

[12] The film was nominated for the 1982 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (won by Arthur).