La Bamba (film)

During the Summer of 1957 in Northern California, Richard "Richie" Steven Valenzuela is a 16-year old Mexican-American boy who lives with his mother, Concepcion “Connie” Valenzuela and his younger brothers and sisters. His family is poor, and he works as a farmworker after school. He loves music, especially rock and roll, and dreams of becoming a famous musician. Richie suffers from aviophobia due to recurring nightmares about the mid-air collision that occurred directly over his school, in which his best friend was crushed to death by the fallen aircraft, an event he did not witness due to attending his grandfather's funeral. One day, Richie's troubled half-brother Bob Morales arrives, surprising him and his mother. They all decide to leave the farm and move to a house in Southern California, along with Bob's girlfriend, Rosie.

Months later, Richie attends San Fernando High School where he falls in love with fellow student Donna Ludwig, and joins his friend Chino's band, The Silhouettes. Bob becomes an alcoholic and starts to abuse Rosie, yelling at her and raping her. When he learns that Rosie is pregnant, he refuses to take responsibility. Richie invites Donna to a garage party where he and the Silhouettes are performing. At the party, Richie performs on his guitar, but he doesn't get his turn to sing and Donna does not attend.

Richie decides to host a concert and becomes The Silhouettes’ new leader after they vote out their original leader. However, a drunken Bob crashes the concert and starts a brawl among the attendees, angering Richie. The next day, Bob Keane, the owner and president of Del-Fi Records in Hollywood, auditions Richie after seeing him perform at the party and signs him to his label; Keane becomes his record producer and manager. Richie and Donna become a couple, despite Donna's father disapproving of his daughter dating a Hispanic boy, and Richie starts recording songs like We Belong Together and Come On, Let’s Go at Gold Star Studios. He also starts performing under the stage name, "Ritchie Valens", becoming an overnight sensation.

Despite his fame, Ritchie's relationship with Donna suffers. He then gets the inspiration to write the song, Donna, as a tribute to her. One night, Bob meets up with Ritchie and they go to Tijuana, Mexico. At a brothel, Ritchie sees a band performing the Mexican folk song, La Bamba. He awakens the next day in a small village and is given a talisman by an old man, El Curandero, to protect him from his fear of flying. Ritchie and Bob return home to discover that Rosie gave birth to a girl in their absence. Ritchie soon decides to make a rock and roll rendition of La Bamba as a single to go along with Donna and convinces Keane to release it.

At first Ritchie avoids flying to his concerts and appearances, but eventually conquers his fear when invited to perform his song "Donna" on American Bandstand in Philadelphia. Keane helps him by giving him a little vodka to calm his nerves during the flight. Bob soon becomes jealous of Ritchie's success and drinks excessively while screaming and yelling at his family, wanting to see his daughter. Ritchie later buys his family a brand new house and goes to New York City to perform at Alan Freed's 1st Anniversary Rock N Roll Show in Brooklyn, meeting Eddie Cochran and Jackie Wilson backstage. He later goes onstage to perform La Bamba to the crowd's adoration. Arriving home for Christmas, he is given a welcoming party by his family and friends, but Bob is resentful and later starts a fight with Ritchie, breaking his talisman in the process. Ritchie promises Donna that he will always love her and hopes that one day they will get married.

Ritchie later joins the Winter Dance Party tour with Buddy Holly (Marshall Crenshaw) and "The Big Bopper" after "La Bamba" and "Donna" reach the top of the Billboard charts. While performing in Clear Lake, Iowa, at the Surf Ballroom, the tour bus's heating system breaks, so Holly charters a plane to fly to their next stop in Moorhead, Minnesota.

Valens, Holly, and Bopper take off in the airplane during a snowstorm on February 2, 1959. Before the flight, Ritchie makes a call to his brother, wherein they resolve their differences. He invites Bob to fly out to Chicago to join the tour for family support, which Bob accepts.

The next day, as Bob is fixing his mother's car, he hears on the radio that his brother's plane crashed, killing everyone on board. Bob darts out of his driveway in an attempt to get to his mother before she hears the news, but is too late. The news hits the Valenzuela family, Bob Keane, and Donna very hard. After Ritchie's funeral procession at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Bob walks across a bridge and screams out Ritchie's name, remembering all the good times they had together.

• Lou Diamond Phillips as Ritchie Valens
• Esai Morales as Roberto "Bob" Morales (Ritchie's half-brother)
• Rosanna DeSoto as Connie Valenzuela (Ritchie's mother)
• Elizabeth Peña as Rosie Morales
• Danielle von Zerneck as Donna Ludwig
• Joe Pantoliano as Bob Keane
• Rick Dees as Ted Quillin
• Stephen Lee as The Big Bopper
• Sam Anderson as Mr. Ludwig (Donna's father)

Also featured are several members of the Valenzuela family and director Luis Valdez's family, including:

• Concepcion Valenzuela (the real Connie Valenzuela, Ritchie's mother) as the older woman sitting next to Ritchie at a party
• Daniel Valdez (Luis' brother) as Ritchie's Uncle Lelo

Brian Setzer has a cameo as Eddie Cochran performing "Summertime Blues" onstage, while Howard Huntsberry stars as Jackie Wilson in the film, singing a cover of "Lonely Teardrops". Marshall Crenshaw plays Buddy Holly performing "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" at the final concert in Clear Lake, Iowa.

All of Ritchie Valens' songs were performed by Los Lobos, whom the Valenzuela family personally requested be involved in the film.[3] The band has a cameo in the film performing in the brothel ballroom in Tijuana.

The film opened in wide release in the United States on July 24, 1987. In the Philippines, it premiered on September 10, 1987.[4] In Australia it opened on September 17, 1987.

In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $5,698,884. La Bamba eventually grossed $52,678,820 in the United States in 12 weeks.[5]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 82% of 74 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's consensus reads, "Elevated by a perceptive performance by a perfectly cast Lou Diamond Phillips, La Bamba distills its subject's creative energy – and reflects his music's enduring appeal."[6]

Roger Ebert liked the film and the screenplay, writing, "This is a good small movie, sweet and sentimental, about a kid who never really got a chance to show his stuff. The best things in it are the most unexpected things: the portraits of everyday life, of a loving mother, of a brother who loves and resents him, of a kid growing up and tasting fame and leaving everyone standing around at his funeral shocked that his life ended just as it seemed to be beginning."[7] Writing for The New York Times, Janet Maslin said she was impressed with Lou Diamond Phillips' performance, and wrote, "A film like this is quite naturally a showcase for its star, and as Valens, Lou Diamond Phillips has a sweetness and sincerity that in no way diminish the toughness of his onstage persona. The role is blandly written, but Mr. Phillips gives Valens backbone."[8]

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• La Bamba at IMDb
• La Bamba at the TCM Movie Database
• La Bamba at Rotten Tomatoes
• La Bamba trailer on YouTube