The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit
Encyclopedia
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit is a 1998 film set in East Los Angeles directed by Stuart Gordon
, written by Ray Bradbury
and starring Edward James Olmos
, Joe Mantegna
, Esai Morales
, Clifton Collins Jr. (credited as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez), Sid Caesar
, Howard Morris
and Gregory Sierra
. Despite some well-known actors and the writing credit of Bradbury, the film was released direct-to-video
by Touchstone Pictures
.
. The story starts off with Jose Martinez (Clifton Collins Jr.), a poor young man living in East Los Angeles who is in love with the girl next door. He sets out to go say hi when he encounters a strange man eyeing him. He runs down the street and throws his wallet with his last $20 to escape. When cornered in the alley he is given back his money where the man measures his body frame. This man is Gómez (Joe Mantegna
) who introduces himself and then whisks Martinez off to a run-down bar. There he meets two other similarly-sized Latinos, Dominguez (Esai Morales
), a wandering guitar player, and Villanazul (Gregory Sierra
), a burgeoning philosopher and speaker for the people.
Barely letting the dust settle, Gómez shows them that they all have the same measurements, height, and weight. It is at that moment that Gómez shares his vision. The most beautiful, exquisite, vanilla-ice-cream-white summer suit is for sale at the downtown suit emporium. It is one of a kind and costs only $100. Alone, none of them have enough to purchase the suit, but by combining their money, they may be able to own the one-of-a-kind suit together. Each of the four has only $20, leaving them with $80 - just $20 short. They need one more person to complete their dream. In their haste, they choose to go along with a bum outside, Vámonos (Edward James Olmos
), who has the last $20 they need, and is surprisingly the same size as the rest of them.
Once they buy the suit, they work out a system to decide who will wear it. Each partner will get to wear it for the entire night, one night a week. However, on the first night, they will each wear it for one hour, then return to the bar. Dominguez goes first, and stirs up a parade with his guitar playing, inspiring those who hear it to ¡Muévete! Villanazul is second, and during his hour he interrupts a politician on a soapbox to perform a poem he has written. Martinez, third in line, returns to the balcony where he first saw the girl next door. While she had previously not noticed him (because she did not have her glasses on), this time the bright white suit attracts her attention and Martinez gets her name: Celia Obregon.
Gómez is next. Acting on an earlier hunch that Gómez's plan was a scam to get the money from the others to buy the suit and then leave town, Villanazul reminds Gómez to "go with God." This was indeed the plan all along, but on the way to the bus station, Gómez encounters a mural of five men, each resembling a member of their group. Gómez decides not to leave, and returns.
Finally it is Vámonos's turn. Gómez is infuriated that the filthy Vámonos did not get clean before it was his turn (though he claims he washed his hands). Along with the others, they force Vámonos to take a bath, something he hadn't done since 1991. Once clean, Gómez lays down a series of rules, aimed at keeping the suit clean: no eating juicy tacos, drinking wine, smoking cigars, even standing under trees with birds. Furthermore, he insists that Gómez avoid meeting with a woman named Ruby Escadrío, whose boyfriend, Toro, would ruin the suit in a fight. Vámonos heads off to a club. He is followed by the other four members, who watch him ignore every one of Gómez's rules.
Ruby Escadrío shows up, and she and Vámonos dance. Toro, predictably, is angry. The others protect Vámonos from Toro, Gómez even going so far as to insist Toro hit him instead of Vámonos. The fight ends after Toro hits Vámonos with his car. His leg is broken, but Vámonos insists that they quickly take off the suit before the ambulance arrives, because the paramedics would cut the suit off and ruin it. They do, and Vámonos is rushed to the hospital.
In the final scene, Dominguez has ironed the suit and placed it on a mannequin. As the scene continues, it becomes apparent that the suit is one of the few things the group has left: they are sleeping on a rooftop, with only a few hammocks between them. Vámonos is fine, though his leg is still in a cast. Martinez contemplates that if they were rich, they would never have had the great time they have spent together, before Villanazul tells him to get some sleep.
short story, "The Magic White Suit." Later, the short would be renamed to the much more familiar, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, and later was turned into a short play, published in The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit and Other Plays
(ISBN 0-552-67297-1), a 1972 collection of three plays by Ray Bradbury: The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, The Veldt, and To the Chicago Abyss. All are adaptations from short stories of the same names.
The story had gone on to see numerous incarnations as a television drama, a stage musical, and play. The first screen adaptation of The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit was a television version broadcast. An LA production of the play featured the debut of actor F. Murray Abraham
.
The 1998 version of the film was originally shown at that year's Sundance Film Festival
. Ray Bradbury wrote the screenplay. He has called that film version "the best film I've ever made." The film is director Stuart Gordon
's first departure from science fiction and horror genres. He had previously directed a stage adaptation of The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit.
Winner:
Stuart Gordon
After the University of Wisconsin demanded future theatrical productions by Screw Theater be overseen by a University Professor, Gordon cut his University ties to form Broom Street Theater. Its first production, the new translation of the risque Lysistrata, premiered in May 1969. Gordon is...
, written by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
and starring Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
, Joe Mantegna
Joe Mantegna
Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr. is an American actor, producer, writer,director, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos , The Godfather Part III , Forget Paris , and Up Close & Personal...
, Esai Morales
Esai Morales
Esai Manuel Morales is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Bob Morales in the 1987 biopic La Bamba. He also appeared in the PBS drama American Family and in the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd.. However, he is best known for his roles as Lt...
, Clifton Collins Jr. (credited as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez), Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
, Howard Morris
Howard Morris
Howard Morris was an American comic actor and director who was best known for his role as Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show.- Life and career :...
and Gregory Sierra
Gregory Sierra
Gregory Sierra is an American actor known for his roles as Detective Sergeant Chano Amenguale on Barney Miller and as Julio Fuentes, the Puerto Rican neighbor of Fred G...
. Despite some well-known actors and the writing credit of Bradbury, the film was released direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
by Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
.
Plot synopsis
The opening titles are done completely in sand animationSand animation
Sand animation, also known as sand art, is a term which has two meanings. It is the name given to a style of live performance art, and also to a type of animation. In the former, an artist creates a series of images using sand, a process which is achieved by applying sand to a surface and then...
. The story starts off with Jose Martinez (Clifton Collins Jr.), a poor young man living in East Los Angeles who is in love with the girl next door. He sets out to go say hi when he encounters a strange man eyeing him. He runs down the street and throws his wallet with his last $20 to escape. When cornered in the alley he is given back his money where the man measures his body frame. This man is Gómez (Joe Mantegna
Joe Mantegna
Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr. is an American actor, producer, writer,director, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos , The Godfather Part III , Forget Paris , and Up Close & Personal...
) who introduces himself and then whisks Martinez off to a run-down bar. There he meets two other similarly-sized Latinos, Dominguez (Esai Morales
Esai Morales
Esai Manuel Morales is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Bob Morales in the 1987 biopic La Bamba. He also appeared in the PBS drama American Family and in the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd.. However, he is best known for his roles as Lt...
), a wandering guitar player, and Villanazul (Gregory Sierra
Gregory Sierra
Gregory Sierra is an American actor known for his roles as Detective Sergeant Chano Amenguale on Barney Miller and as Julio Fuentes, the Puerto Rican neighbor of Fred G...
), a burgeoning philosopher and speaker for the people.
Barely letting the dust settle, Gómez shows them that they all have the same measurements, height, and weight. It is at that moment that Gómez shares his vision. The most beautiful, exquisite, vanilla-ice-cream-white summer suit is for sale at the downtown suit emporium. It is one of a kind and costs only $100. Alone, none of them have enough to purchase the suit, but by combining their money, they may be able to own the one-of-a-kind suit together. Each of the four has only $20, leaving them with $80 - just $20 short. They need one more person to complete their dream. In their haste, they choose to go along with a bum outside, Vámonos (Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
), who has the last $20 they need, and is surprisingly the same size as the rest of them.
Once they buy the suit, they work out a system to decide who will wear it. Each partner will get to wear it for the entire night, one night a week. However, on the first night, they will each wear it for one hour, then return to the bar. Dominguez goes first, and stirs up a parade with his guitar playing, inspiring those who hear it to ¡Muévete! Villanazul is second, and during his hour he interrupts a politician on a soapbox to perform a poem he has written. Martinez, third in line, returns to the balcony where he first saw the girl next door. While she had previously not noticed him (because she did not have her glasses on), this time the bright white suit attracts her attention and Martinez gets her name: Celia Obregon.
Gómez is next. Acting on an earlier hunch that Gómez's plan was a scam to get the money from the others to buy the suit and then leave town, Villanazul reminds Gómez to "go with God." This was indeed the plan all along, but on the way to the bus station, Gómez encounters a mural of five men, each resembling a member of their group. Gómez decides not to leave, and returns.
Finally it is Vámonos's turn. Gómez is infuriated that the filthy Vámonos did not get clean before it was his turn (though he claims he washed his hands). Along with the others, they force Vámonos to take a bath, something he hadn't done since 1991. Once clean, Gómez lays down a series of rules, aimed at keeping the suit clean: no eating juicy tacos, drinking wine, smoking cigars, even standing under trees with birds. Furthermore, he insists that Gómez avoid meeting with a woman named Ruby Escadrío, whose boyfriend, Toro, would ruin the suit in a fight. Vámonos heads off to a club. He is followed by the other four members, who watch him ignore every one of Gómez's rules.
Ruby Escadrío shows up, and she and Vámonos dance. Toro, predictably, is angry. The others protect Vámonos from Toro, Gómez even going so far as to insist Toro hit him instead of Vámonos. The fight ends after Toro hits Vámonos with his car. His leg is broken, but Vámonos insists that they quickly take off the suit before the ambulance arrives, because the paramedics would cut the suit off and ruin it. They do, and Vámonos is rushed to the hospital.
In the final scene, Dominguez has ironed the suit and placed it on a mannequin. As the scene continues, it becomes apparent that the suit is one of the few things the group has left: they are sleeping on a rooftop, with only a few hammocks between them. Vámonos is fine, though his leg is still in a cast. Martinez contemplates that if they were rich, they would never have had the great time they have spent together, before Villanazul tells him to get some sleep.
Story and film history
The story's life and inspiration comes from Ray Bradbury's 1957 Saturday Evening PostThe Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
short story, "The Magic White Suit." Later, the short would be renamed to the much more familiar, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, and later was turned into a short play, published in The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit and Other Plays
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit and Other Plays
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit and Other Plays is a collection of three plays by Ray Bradbury: The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, The Veldt, and To the Chicago Abyss. All are adaptations of his short stories by the same names. The play The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit was adapted into a film in 1998 by...
(ISBN 0-552-67297-1), a 1972 collection of three plays by Ray Bradbury: The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, The Veldt, and To the Chicago Abyss. All are adaptations from short stories of the same names.
The story had gone on to see numerous incarnations as a television drama, a stage musical, and play. The first screen adaptation of The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit was a television version broadcast. An LA production of the play featured the debut of actor F. Murray Abraham
F. Murray Abraham
Fahrid Murray Abraham is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. He has appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in films such as All the President's Men and Scarface...
.
The 1998 version of the film was originally shown at that year's Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. Ray Bradbury wrote the screenplay. He has called that film version "the best film I've ever made." The film is director Stuart Gordon
Stuart Gordon
After the University of Wisconsin demanded future theatrical productions by Screw Theater be overseen by a University Professor, Gordon cut his University ties to form Broom Street Theater. Its first production, the new translation of the risque Lysistrata, premiered in May 1969. Gordon is...
's first departure from science fiction and horror genres. He had previously directed a stage adaptation of The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit.
Principal cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Clifton Collins Jr. (credited as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez) | Martinez |
| Joe Mantegna Joe Mantegna Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr. is an American actor, producer, writer,director, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos , The Godfather Part III , Forget Paris , and Up Close & Personal... |
Gomez |
| Esai Morales Esai Morales Esai Manuel Morales is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Bob Morales in the 1987 biopic La Bamba. He also appeared in the PBS drama American Family and in the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd.. However, he is best known for his roles as Lt... |
Dominguez |
| Gregory Sierra Gregory Sierra Gregory Sierra is an American actor known for his roles as Detective Sergeant Chano Amenguale on Barney Miller and as Julio Fuentes, the Puerto Rican neighbor of Fred G... |
Villanazul |
| Edward James Olmos Edward James Olmos Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt... |
Vámonos |
| Sid Caesar Sid Caesar Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,... |
Sid Zellman |
| Howard Morris Howard Morris Howard Morris was an American comic actor and director who was best known for his role as Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show.- Life and career :... |
Leo Zellman |
| Mercedes Ortega | Celia Obregon |
| Liz Torres Liz Torres Elizabeth "Liz" Torres is an actress, singer, and comedienne of Puerto Rican descent.-Early years:Torres was born in the Bronx borough of New York City where her parents had settled after moving from Puerto Rico. There she received her primary and secondary education... |
Ruby Escadrillo |
| Mike Moroff | Toro |
| Lisa Vidal Lisa Vidal Lisa Vidal is an American film and television actress.-Early years:Vidal was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of Josie, a secretary, and Manny Vidal, a tax consultant and businessman. Her parents moved from Puerto Rico and settled in Manhattan, New York, where Vidal and her two... |
Ramona |
Awards
Nomination:- Annie Awards - 1998; Nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Interstitial, Promotional Production or Title Sequence"
- FantasportoFantasportoFantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental projects from all over the world, Fantasporto has created enthusiastic audiences, ranging from...
- 1998; Nominated for "International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film"
Winner:
- FantafestivalFantafestivalFantafestival is a film festival devoted to fantasy film that is held annually in Italy from 1981....
- 1998; Won for "Best Direction" Stuart Gordon