Bound by Honor (film) Set against the background of East Los Angeles, the lives of three young men are traced during a 12-year span. When the half-Anglo, half-Chicano cousin, Miklo, of a barrio gang leader, Paco, arrives, he learns that the gang’s motto is “blood in, blood out,” which means to join the gang, one must spill the blood of a rival gang member. Amid increasing gang warfare, Miklo is arrested for killing an opposing gang leader and sent to prison where he also finds gangs are powerful. Paco becomes an undercover cop, and while the lives of Miklo, Paco, and their cousin, Cruz, go in different directions, they eventually realize that they must look out for each other, for they are truly “blood brothers.” Initial release on January 27, 1993 in Las Vegas, Tucson, and Rochester, N.Y., under the title Blood In, Blood Out; general release on April 30, 1993. Directed by Taylor Hackford. A Hollywood Picture. 180 min. Video release under the title Blood In, Blood Out: Bound by Honor. Stars Damian Chapa (Miklo), Jesse Borrego (Cruz), Benjamin Bratt (Paco), Enrique Castillo (Montana). Filmed on location in the barrio of East Los Angeles, and in San Quentin State Prison in Northern California. Released on video in 1994.
