La Bamba *** (1987, Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosanna DeSoto) – Classic Movie Review 13,139

La Bamba (1987)

Luis Valdez’s 1987 biographical film La Bamba is a surprise hit for rising young star Lou Diamond Phillips, making a new generation care about tragic 50s rock ‘n’ roll singer star Ritchie Valens.

Writer/ director Luis Valdez’s 1987 biographical film La Bamba is a surprise hit for rising young star Lou Diamond Phillips, making a new generation care about tragic 50s rock ‘n’ roll singer star Ritchie Valens, killed at the age of 17, after three hit records (‘La Bamba’, ‘Come On Let’s Go’, ‘Donna’) in the same private-plane aircraft accident that claimed the lives of Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper in 1959.

La Bamba boasts excellent performances from the underrated Phillips, who is ideally cast as Valens, the former Mexican-American fruit-picker Ricardo Valenzuela, Esai Morales as his worried brother and Rosana De Soto as his mom, plus toe-tapping hit music performed by Los Lobos (who appear as the Tijuana Band).

See also The Buddy Holly Story (1978).

Runtime: 108 minutes.

Lou Diamond Phillips stars in La Bamba (1987).

Lou Diamond Phillips stars in La Bamba (1987), the biographical story of the rise from obscurity of early rock ‘n’ roll singer Ritchie Valens, who died at the age of only 17 in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper.

Director: Luis Valdez.

Writer: Luis Valdez.

The cast are Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosana De Soto, Elizabeth Pena, Danielle von Zerneck, Marshall Crenshaw, Joe Pantoliano, and Brian Seltzer.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,139

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