50 Fun Facts About Blood in Blood Out

Who directed Blood In Blood Out?

He took over after his company New Visions Pictures folded, seeing a chance to make a hard-edged prison film in the tradition of White Heat.

Under what alternate title was the film released in 1993?

The studio changed the name after a theater fistfight at a Las Vegas screening, fearing the original title might incite violence.

The screenplay is partly autobiographical, drawn from the life of which poet?

Hackford credits him with most of the final story; he also cameos as an inmate on the La Onda council.

The film follows three Chicano relatives over which span of years?

They begin as members of a street gang in East Los Angeles and end up on very different sides of the law.

What does the phrase 'blood in, blood out' refer to?

It is also the motto of La Onda in the film.

Miklo Velka leaves which city for East Los Angeles after a fight with his abusive father?

He moves in with his cousins Paco and Cruz in 1972.

What is the name of the street gang the cousins belong to?

Miklo joins after an attack on their rivals; the rivals retaliate by permanently damaging Cruz's back.

What is the name of the rival gang whose leader Miklo kills?

Their leader is Spider; fleeing the scene, Paco crashes the car and both he and Miklo are arrested.

In which prison does Miklo serve his murder sentence?

The filmmakers were allowed to shoot inside its walls, and real inmates and staff appear on screen.

Instead of prison, Paco volunteers for which branch of the military?

Afterward he joins the LAPD and ends up working as an undercover detective.

Cruz's heroin addiction leads to the accidental overdose of which relative?

Cruz turned to the drug for the back pain caused by the Tres Puntos attack.

Which of the prison's three gangs does Montana Segura lead?

He stops Popeye's attempted rape of Miklo, judging his intentions dishonorable, and later opposes the gang entering the drug trade.

Who leads the Black Guerrilla Army in the film?

He later agrees to a truce with Montana in the prison yard to stop a Black–Chicano war.

What is the name of the Aryan Vanguard leader?

The three prison gangs are fictional, loosely based on the Aryan Brotherhood, the Black Guerrilla Family and the Mexican Mafia.

Whom does Miklo kill in the prison kitchen to earn his place in La Onda?

He first builds a rapport with the Aryan Vanguard associate, then kills him; the only way in is to kill a rival gang member.

After how many years in prison is Miklo first granted parole?

Disgusted by his menial job on the outside, he joins an armed robbery that goes wrong.

What happens to Miklo after Paco shoots him in the leg during the robbery?

Paco had tried to persuade him to surrender peacefully; Miklo ran instead.

Which drug's spread through the prison drives the second half of the plot?

Competing supplies from the BGA and La Onda council member Carlos set up the war Montana fears.

Which La Onda council member breaks away to work with the Aryan Vanguard in the drug trade?

His brother Smokey bombs the BGA's stash house; the Aryans then let the BGA murder him, just as Montana predicted.

Montana is stabbed to death just before a visit from whom?

He had been granted a special request for the visit after being allowed to tour other prisons to end the violence.

Who is later revealed to have sent the forged orders for Montana's killing, at Miklo's behest?

As Miklo burns the evidence, Magic swears his life to him as his jefe.

What does Miklo do when the council is split up and sent to prisons in other states?

The warden had vowed to send council members to prisons in other states.

In the final scene, Paco visits one of whose murals in East Los Angeles?

He realizes that by ordering Miklo after Spider he made Miklo what he became, and forgives them both.

Who plays Miklo Velka?

He went on to play Ken Masters in the 1994 Street Fighter film, Raúl Juliá's last.

Which actor plays Paco Aguilar?

The same year he played Officer Alfredo Garcia in Demolition Man, before his Law & Order run as Rey Curtis.

Who plays the artist Cruz Candelaria?

He was a regular on the TV series Fame for its final three seasons and later played Gael Ortega on 24.

Which actor is best known for playing Montana?

Vincent Canby of The New York Times singled out his performance for praise.

Danny Trejo, who plays Geronimo, had actually served time in which prison?

The production filmed inside its walls, and then-inmates and staff appear as extras.

Which actor turned down the chance to both direct and star in the film?

He cited creative differences; the others listed were also considered for roles.

Which novelist wrote the first script for the project in the early 1980s?

Producer Jerry Gershwin hired him; the project first developed under director Harold Becker.

To which Disney executive did Hackford pitch the film?

It was distributed through Hollywood Pictures and Buena Vista, both Walt Disney Studios subsidiaries.

La Onda was loosely based on which real prison gang?

The Aryan Vanguard stood in for the Aryan Brotherhood and the BGA for the Black Guerrilla Family.

Which artist created all of Cruz's paintings seen in the film?

His film-noir-influenced style is called 'Chicano Noir'; he also cameos in an art gallery scene.

What is the title of the monumental oil painting Cruz makes in the film?

Like the artist's other work of the period, it was deeply influenced by film noir.

The mural in the film's climax was actually painted on what?

The production lacked permission to paint the wall; the panels were later removed and split into sections.

When did principal photography begin?

Shooting took place in and around Los Angeles and East L.A., plus sound stages at Raleigh Studios.

During production, who was wounded in a drive-by shooting in El Sereno?

Crew members were fired upon while taking down a set.

Which real prison official gives an extended cameo integral to the plot?

Many staff members got small lines, and several served as technical advisors.

Hackford originally planned Blood In Blood Out as what?

He was never able to complete the second part.

Studio executives worried about the film's effect on Los Angeles after which 1992 event?

Boyz n the Hood had been blamed by some as a partial inspiration for the unrest.

What incident at a Las Vegas screening prompted the studio to retitle the film?

Theater managers called police twenty minutes before the film started; Hackford said the message of the film was the opposite of what the studio feared.

How much did studio executives predict the film would gross after early test screenings?

Test runs in cities including Rochester and Tucson had gone well; the final opening weekend brought in about $1 million.

On how many screens did the film open nationally on April 30, 1993?

The Los Angeles release was delayed until May 21, when the Rodney King civil rights verdict was due.

Why was the Los Angeles release delayed until May 21, 1993?

The city feared a repeat of the riots that followed the 1992 acquittal of four LAPD officers.

How much did the film take from 391 theaters on its opening weekend?

Distributors did not expand the release, judging that crossover appeal to non-Hispanic audiences was not apparent.

Which Los Angeles Times critic dismissed the film as 'three hours of violent, cartoonish posturing'?

His colleague Mim Eichler called it 'possibly one of the most powerful and important films of the decade'.

Roger Ebert's two-star review compared the film unfavorably with which 1992 movie?

He praised 'moments of deeply felt truth' but said it lacked 'a vision to bring meaning to the material'.

What grade did Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly give the film?

He thought it 'comes fully alive when it moves behind bars' and preferred the La Onda half.

Which company released the film in theaters?

Though a box-office disappointment, it became a cult classic in parts of the Mexican-American community.

Which actor died shortly after filming his scenes in the movie?

Screenwriter Jimmy Santiago Baca also appears, as an inmate on the La Onda council.