Johnny Chicano (1981)

Johnny Chicano explores the lives of farmworkers in Indio, California. The titular character “Johnny” (Fernando Allende) is a Chicano who’s close to his migrant co-workers and relied heavily by his boss Don Filemón. At the bar where everyone frequents, Johnny meets Pepe (Jaime Garza) after getting into an altercation and finds out that he has just gotten into town after crossing over from Mexico. Pepe is then taken in by Johnny & his family and even lands a job at the farm that Johnny works at. Johnny’s girlfriend "Raquel" (Silvia Pasquel) has many troubles at home which mostly consists of making ends meet, thus leading her into sex work. This of course causes a strain between her & Johnny and leads him to pursue the farm owner’s daughter/All-American girl “Debbie” (Veronica Castro). Debbie & Johnny form a loving relationship that of course doesn’t sit right with some people and complicates their lives all-together. 

After his debut with Verano Salvaje, director Enrique Gomez Vadillo returns with another melodrama which this time around tackles topics of immigration, racism & romance. Vadillo wrote the screenplay alongside Eduardo Lujan whom previously worked on Verano Salvaje as well. It’s pretty obvious both men had many ideas for Johnny Chicano and nothing was left out which ends up making the film feel bloated. 

Johnny Chicano is a film that has so much going on that you sort of lose focus on what exactly is going on with all the characters that we’re introduced to. The film will of course focus on Johnny & his troubles, then Raquel & her problems, and then we get into Pepe’s immigration dilemma which we really don’t get into much or at all really. He also begins a relationship with Johnny’s sister, which we really don’t have to give a damn about with everything else that’s already going on. I will say though that the scene where everyone in the bar sings "Cancion Mixteca" is rather beautiful. It feels so personal & makes you love these characters whom are all proud of their Mexican roots.

Johnny Chicano is a bloated film for sure, but it’s at least an intriguing time capsule of that era & especially of the Coachella Valley considering not a whole lot of films were shot out there then. I was honestly more into the setting of Johnny Chicano than its overall story. I was also intrigued in seeing Enrique Gomez Vadillo act in the film as one of the migrant characters—a sort of Hitchcock cameo here. And of course this being a Vadillo film, there are plenty of scenes with all the leading men not wearing any shirts. Homoeroticism undertones? Nah. But close. 

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