![]() He convinces Baker and the rest of his coworkers to let him take some unflavored Cheetos home, but Judy offers that he talk to his father Vacho first about a job. Noticing that his youngest son Steven likes the spicy flavor, saying it “burns good”, he realizes that the way to save Frito-Lay is to pitch the brand to the Latino market. Frito-Lay CEO Roger Enrico releases a video encouraging the workers to "think like a CEO" which inspires Richard.Īfter picking up his kids from school, Richard takes them out for elotes (Mexican street corn). ![]() This eventually results in some of the workers getting laid off. Unfortunately, the Reagan administration begins to severely affect low-paying jobs and Frito-Lay's stocks begin to go down. Despite some reluctance, Baker agrees and teaches Richard how to operate all the machinery in the factory. Richard begins paying attention to all the nuances of the factory and starts pursuing engineer maintenance leader Clarence C. Despite lying on his resumé, floor head Lonny Mason hires him. He eventually turns to his friend, former hoodlum Tony Romero, who helps him get a job at Frito-Lay. A second child later, Richard and his family still struggle to make ends meet as Richard searches for honest work. They make an effort to turn their lives around once Judy gets pregnant with their first child. As adults, Richard and Judy marry but live as hoodlums in a gang, hustling to survive. He is arrested at a young age when nobody believes that he earned his money honestly. He meets his future wife Judy in school where he begins selling burritos to other children. In 1966 southern California, Richard Montañez grows up as a hard working child with a strict father and supportive grandfather. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song, written by Diane Warren. It was released on June 9, 2023, by Hulu and Disney+ to mixed reviews from critics. The film stars Jesse Garcia, Annie Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert, and Tony Shalhoub.įlamin' Hot had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 11, 2023. Written by Linda Yvette Chávez and Lewis Colick, it is based on the memoir A Boy, a Burrito and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive by Richard Montañez, who claims to have invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos. It burns so good.Flamin' Hot is a 2023 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Eva Longoria in her feature-length directorial debut. That’s a lot of stuff to put in a bag of chips, even if it’s all made up. ![]() corporations to finally respect the Latino market. The final product is credited with opening the door to cool new convenience store flavors and for U.S. There’s also the sequence when he and his family try every chile combo - poblano, pasilla, serrano, guajillo and habanero included - until they find the right formula, often hovering around their youngest kid as he samples a chip and gives them the green light. ![]() It had been there the entire time,” he says. It’s the montages that really shine, like the moment in a park when Montañez, eating elote and watching everyone put hot sauce on their food, gets a vision of a spicy snack. His heroic arc is more than a little unbelievable, especially when he taps his former drug-dealing pals to start handing out free bags of chips like pushers, and for the many times he jumps up on a piece of factory equipment to deliver a “Dead Poets Society”-like speech.ĭennis Haysbert as a gruff engineer, Annie Gonzalez as Montañez’s loving wife and Tony Shalhoub as the CEO of Frito-Lay all add welcome flavor notes. There are a few references to Frito-Lay scientists in the Midwest also working on a spicy flavor, but this is strictly a fist-in-the-air portrayal of Montañez alone, set to a soundtrack of Latin artists like Santana, Los Lobos and Ozomatli. To show the passage of time during the Reagan administration, they’ve also cleverly got a man on the factory floor holding a box reading “1985,” the extruder pumps out “1986” and forklifts carrying boxes that read “1987” and “1988.” ”What you think? It was my first week on the job.” “Nah, just kidding,” he says in the voice over. The filmmakers enliven their story with wonderful flights of fancy, like when we see Montañez lose it and beat up a manager with a mop after being called Paco. “People are always trying to throw away the brown ones,” he says. In one heartbreaking early scene, Montañez - so poor he waters down the milk for his kids and uses chewing gum to seal holes in their shoes - is wide-eyed at the Frito-Lay factory until he notices all the overcooked chips are tossed. This is more than just a snack-version “Rocky” story, with the filmmakers exploring the insecurity of factory shift workers, the stress of integrating into white culture, how hard it is for corporations to innovate and the ability to silence the voices in your head that urge you to quit.
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