company of heroes movie based on true story

'None of our records show that Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin' Hot test market,' Frito-Lay told the news outlet in a statement. In 2021, the Los Angeles Times published an investigation discrediting him as the flavor's sole creator. The movie is based on Montañez's 2013 memoir 'A Boy, A Burrito and A Cookie: From Janitor to Executive,' and follows his rise from former gang member to Flamin' Hot Cheeto inventor.īut Montañez's claims have been the source of flaming hot arguments. Why is the 'Flamin' Hot' movie controversial?

He has since published two memoirs and built a lucrative career out of speaking engagements where he retells his story.

In 2019, during an internal investigation into claims he created Flamin' Hot Cheetos, Montañez retired from PepsiCo. In 1977, he was promoted to machinist operator. Here's what's fact and what's fiction in the new movie: Was Richard Montañez really a janitor at Frito-Lay?īorn to a Mexican American family, Montañez grew up in a migrant labor camp outside of Los Angeles.Īfter dropping out of high school, he was hired by Frito-Lay in 1976 as a janitor in the company's Rancho Cucamonga factory when he was 18. 'Flamin' Hot,' directed by 'Desperate Housewives' actress Eva Longoria, depicts Richard Montañez (played by Jesse Garcia) landing a job at Frito-Lay as a janitor to support his wife Judy (Annie Gonzalez) and their sons and going on to invent the iconic Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

The film (streaming now on Hulu and Disney+) is an inspiring story about an underdog proving naysayers wrong, a Latino man who beat the odds stacked against him as he rose the ranks of corporate America in the '80s. 'Flamin' Hot' is not the story of how Flamin' Hot Cheetos came to be.

Company of heroes movie based on true story