The 1998 American comedy The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit borders on fantasy at times, with some characteristics of a musical without being a full musical. The screenplay by Ray Bradbury is based on his play The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, published in a play collection in 1972, which in turn was based on his short story “The Magic White Suit,” which appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in 1958 and was collected as “The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit” in A Medicine for Melancholy in 1959.

Jose Martinez, played by Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez, is a poor young man living in East Los Angeles with a crush on the girl next door who doesn’t know he’s alive. His landlord turns him out of his apartment for being behind on rent. He goes out but spots a strange man eyeing him who begins to chase him when he runs off. He fears the man is going to rob or kill him but oddly he only wants to measure him.

The man turns out to be Gomez, played by Joe Mantegna. He lets Martinez in on his scheme to purchase a magical white suit which costs $100.00. Martinez is down to his last $20.00. Gomez introduces him to Dominguez, played by Esai Morales, and Villanazul, played by Gregory Sierra, who each contribute $20.00. They need one more man of the same measurements and weight. At that point, Vámonos, played by Edward James Olmos, a filthy, smelly, dumpster-diving gutter rat, appears and won’t take no for an answer.

They all rush to the shop but at first can’t locate the suit which was formerly in the window. Sid Caesar is hilarious as Sid Zellman, the shop owner who thinks they are a gang there to rob him. He is so happy when they buy the suit he throws in a dummy.

The suit is wonderfully presented. It is made of some fantastically shiny material and brilliantly lit so that it glows in every scene. The men decide for the first night they will each wear the suit for an hour. Dreams begin to come true. When it is Vámonos’s turn, they all jump him and forcibly bathe him in a scene reminiscent of Eliza Doolittle’s bath in My Fair Lady and give him a makeover.

Gomez gives Vámonos rules for wearing the suit: no smoking, no juicy tacos, no wine, no standing under trees with birds, and especially no going to a certain club frequented by Ruby Escadrillo, played by Liz Torres, and her boyfriend Toro, played by Mike Moroff. Vámonos promptly proceeds to break every rule and runs afoul of Toro. The others rush to protect the suit.

Unfortunately this movie was released direct to video although it is much better than many theatrical releases. It is a comedy which delivers some genuine laughs. After the enormous failure of Something Wicked This Way Comes, (due in part to Ray Bradbury’s directives being ignored but that’s another long story) which proved disastrous to the studio, it is a wonder that Disney filmed anything of his ever again. Roy E. Disney loved the stage play and wanted it filmed, but the studio would offer only a TV movie budget and due to contractual duties it would have cost too much extra to bring a TV movie to the big screen so it was released direct to video, very undeservedly so. It is an absolute delight and one of the purest adaptations of Ray Bradbury’s work to film ever.

Being direct to video, the film received no rating, but could well have been a G. It has some smoking and drinking. There is a bar fight with punches to the face, and a man is deliberately struck with a car and sustains a broken leg. If anyone violently wanted to object to something about this film, they could cite Hispanic/Latino stereotypes, but that’s about it. This is a great film for all ages.