All movies starring Kuno Becker

When their dad dies on his 55th birthday, Beverly Hills sisters Mary and Nora find themselves destitute, forced by a grasping sister-in-law to move in with their aunt in East L.A. Mary, the younger sister, is mortified: spoiled by her dad, ignorant of Spanish, scared of the vatos. Her sister convinces her to finish college, and she promptly decides that one of her T.A.s will be her ticket back to Rodeo Drive. Elder sister Nora, a law student, gets a job as a legal intern, and her supervisor Edward, brother of the grasping sister-in-law, promptly falls for her. Slowly the sisters realize what a rich place the barrio is at the same time that they get bruised in the contact sport of love.

Hector, a young Mexican national and border-crossing migrant farm laborer, has boxing abilities just like his late father had. He could perhaps be good if he learned to think along with his pummeling, then he could do better for his ailing mother than pull in a few side dollars from small-time, illegal gambling fights. Getting on the bad side of racist Texas farmer Big Al and his cocky, pugilist son Robert, puts Hector in touch with an alcoholic trainer named Billy who, nevertheless, can teach him to be better. It all comes down to an arranged, high-stakes match between Hector and the 20-pounds more muscular Robert in which Hector's only hope is to demonstrate he can keep his head in the game.