The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit is a 1998 fantasy comedy film directed by Stuart Gordon and written by Ray Bradbury, based on his play of the same name, as well as his short story The Magic White Suit.
The film was a direct-to-video release by Touchstone Pictures, but the actual movie credits Walt Disney Pictures as the studio that produced the film. It was initially intended as a TV movie, but Roy E. Disney, wanting to maintain a lower budget, shifted it to the direct-to-video market.
Plot[]
In East Los Angeles, Jose Martinez is trying to get the attention of a woman who lives next door to him to no avail. Elsewhere, Dominguez plays guitar in the streets trying to attract women with no luck while Villanazul attempts to get people's attention with his poetry, only to be ignored. The three are later recruited by local con artist Gomez who picks the three because they share the exact same measurements for an ice cream suit. Villanazul is unsure of the plan due to Gomez's past excursions resulting in him cheating others, as well as failing, and believes that he wants the suit for himself, but Gomez assures them that this is for all of them.
Each contribute $20 to pay for the $100 suit, forcing them to also recruit the incredibly dirty and homeless Vámonos who also just so happens to have $20 as well. The five purchase the suit from the Zellman brothers, who just so happen to be going out of business, and happily take it back to Gomez's soon-to-be former apartment. Gomez is unsure if they should actually wear the suit due to Vámonos' uncouth behavior, but Villanazul comes up with an obvious solution. For the night, all five will take turns wearing the suit for an hour each and will return to the apartment at the end of each session.
Dominguez wears the suit first and plays his guitar, attracting the attention of numerous women who take part in a giant musical number. Villanazul goes next and arrives at a politician's rally where he takes the stage and delivers a spoken verse poem that rouses the crowd. Martinez goes next and arrives at the woman's house, whom he learns has poor eyesight and wears glasses, and reveals that her name is Celia Obregon. She agrees to go out with him and he happily dances back to the apartment. Gomez puts on the suit, with the intent to hop a bus to El Paso, but before leaving is told to "go with god". He begins to have second thoughts and ultimately returns to the apartment.
Horrified that Vámonos is still dirty, the group forces him to take a bath and cut his hair. Now looking rather handsome, Vámonos sets off in the suit, but not before he is given a series of rules to follow to prevent the suit from getting dirty. Right away, he starts to break the rules and the group is forced to follow him to the Red Rooster where he parties, while smoking, drinking wine, and eating juicy tacos. Upon dancing with the corpulent Ruby Escadrillo, Vámonos incurs the wrath of her boyfriend Toro and the rest of the guys are forced to defend him.
The group get Vámonos outside where he attracts the attention of street walker Ramona, only for Toro to arrive in his car and chases Vámonos down the street. Confident, Vámonos beckons Toro, but is forced to jump over his car and lands in a pile of trash bags. The suit is unharmed, but he has broken his leg and demands that the group take the suit off of him as the ambulance medics will destroy the suit. The group hastily help him up and remove the suit in time for the paramedics to arrive. Vámonos asks that he still be included in their group and they agree with everyone, sans Martinez, choosing to ride with him to the hospital so that Martinez can take the suit back to the apartment.
Sometime later, the group, now without a true home, have the suit in nice pristine condition and are now sleeping on the roof of the apartment building. Martinez comes to the conclusion that if they were all rich, they wouldn't have the same kind of fun they had that night. The group goes to sleep, surrounding the ice cream suit that brought them together.
In a post-credits scene, a callback to Villanazul's outing is depicted with him, wearing the suit, leading a parade of people across a bridge.
Cast[]
- Clifton Collins Jr. (credited as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez) as Jose Martinez
- Joe Mantegna as Gomez
- Esai Morales as Dominguez
- Gregory Sierra as Villanazul
- Edward James Olmos as Vámonos
- Sid Caesar as Sid Zellman
- Howard Morris as Leo Zellman
- Mercedes Ortega as Celia Obregon
- Liz Torres as Ruby Escadrillo
- Mike Moroff as Toro
- Lisa Vidal as Ramona
- Tony Plana as Victor Medina (soapbox politician)
- Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez as Landlord
- Renée Victor as Grandmother
- Jose Hernandez as Mariachi
- Mariachi Sol de Mexico as Mariachi Band
Trivia[]
- This is the second film that Disney produced that is based on a Ray Bradbury story, the first being Something Wicked This Way Comes.
- Ray Bradbury referred to this film as the "the best film I've ever made", due to the fact that there is not a single curse word in the movie. He also felt that the film should have gone to theaters instead of being put direct to video.[1]
- Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez is the grandfather of Clifton Collins Jr. This was Gonzalez's final film before his death.
