Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo (2019)

(On Cable TV, November 2019) Few people need convincing that Danny Trejo is quite a character, but Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo will do the job anyway. Trejo, a distinctive presence that has somehow amassed over three hundred acting credits, did not follow the traditional path to fame. Born in poor circumstances, he quickly became a drug addict and petty criminal, ending up incarcerated for much of the 1960s. By the time the decade ended, he found faith, got clean, renounced the criminal life and started working odd jobs. His first screen credit dates from 1985, but it took decades of inglorious third-string roles (as the titular “Inmate #1”) before getting more prestigious assignments, culminating in leading-man roles by 2000 and then, increasingly, prestige cameos to capitalize on his notoriety. Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo is a tour of this storied life, interspaced by a look at the intervention and motivating work he somehow manages to do in-between acting jobs, and a look at a man who’s far more approachable than most of his tough-guy roles. It’s an inspiring story, and one of the most unlikely road-to-fame narratives that Hollywood has ever produced. For Trejo fans, the film is confirmation—for everyone else, it will be a revelation.