| La Bamba | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Luis Valdez |
| Produced by | Executive Producer: Stuart Benjamin Producers: Bill Borden Taylor Hackford and others. |
| Written by | Luis Valdez |
| Starring | Lou Diamond Phillips Esai Morales Rosanna DeSoto |
| Music by | Los Lobos Miles Goodman Carlos Santana |
| Cinematography | Adam Greenberg |
| Editing by | Sheldon Kahn Don Brochu |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 24, 1987 |
| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $54,215,416 |
La Bamba is a 1987 American biographical film written and directed by Luis Valdez. The picture features Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosanna DeSoto, Elizabeth Peña, Danielle von Zerneck, and Joe Pantoliano.[1] The drama is based on the real life events that affected the lives of rock star Ritchie Valens, his half-brother Bob Morales, his girlfriend Donna Ludwig and the rest of their families.
Contents |
Richard Steven Valenzuela (played by Phillips) is a normal teenage boy who becomes a rock 'n' roll superstar under the stage name Ritchie Valens. He meets and falls in love with fellow high school student Donna Ludwig, for whom he wrote a song that became a number one hit ("Donna"). However, her father is shown as having problems with his daughter dating Ritchie, which causes friction between Donna and Ritchie. The movie also has several subplots, such as his relationship with his mother Connie Valenzuela (Rosanna DeSoto) and half-brother Bob Morales (Esai Morales), and the jealousy Bob felt toward Ritchie because of his success.
In one scene, Bob won an important art contest that helps promising cartoonists, only to throw away his prize because, in his mind, his mother doesn't seem to care enough. Bob resorts to drinking heavily and, at one point, leads him to end up crying in front of his mother's door yelling "I want to see my daughter!" in reference to the child he sired with Ritchie's ex-girlfriend, Rosie (Elizabeth Peña).
However, when they get an opportunity, Ritchie and Bob sneak out for a good time. On one occasion, they take a road trip to Tijuana, visiting one of the local nightclubs where Ritchie discovers the song that would eventually become his biggest hit, "La Bamba".
The film also focuses on Ritchie's aviophobia (fear of flying), and a recurring dream he has as a result of a midair collision between two planes that actually occurred directly over Ritchie's school, in which Ritchie's best friend was killed by one of the fallen aircraft. Eventually, he must conquer his fear when asked to perform his song "Donna" on American Bandstand. His manager, Bob Keane (Joe Pantoliano), helps him by giving him a little vodka to calm his nerves during the flight to Philadelphia for the Bandstand appearance.
As Valens becomes more famous, his responsibilities change. He has to go on the ill-fated Winter Party Dance Tour with Buddy Holly (Marshall Crenshaw) and "The Big Bopper" (Stephen Lee) after his hits, "La Bamba" and "Donna", reach the top of the Billboard charts.
Valens, Holly, and Bopper take off in an airplane during a snowstorm for their fateful flight on February 3, 1959 (a day that becomes known as "The Day the Music Died"). Before that, Ritchie makes a call to his brother, wherein they patch up their differences. He even invites Bob to fly out to Chicago to join the tour for family support.
As Bob is fixing his mother's car, he hears the news bulletin on the radio that his brother's plane crashed without any survivors. Bob darts out of his driveway in an attempt to get to his mother before she hears the bad news through the radio. Unfortunately, by the time he gets there she stands immobile. The news hits the whole Valenzuela family very hard. In the final scene, Bob is walking over a bridge and screaming the name of Ritchie, remembering all the good times they had together (in flashback).
We then see Lou Diamond Phillips and the Mexican American rock band Los Lobos performing Valens' version of "La Bamba" accompanied by the closing credits.
Also featured are several members of the Valenzuela family and director Luis Valdez's family, including:
This production had the full support of the Valenzuela family. Bob Morales and Connie Valenzuela came to the set to help the actors portray their characters correctly, and Connie makes an appearance as an older lady sitting next to Ritchie at the family's first party.
Phillips bonded with the Valenzuelas and, at one point, actually became Ritchie to them. This led to an incident involving Ritchie's sister: When the actors began boarding the plane for the final fatal flight, the scene was interrupted by Connie Lemos (Ritchie's real life sister), who was only six years old when her brother died. She hysterically tried to keep Phillips from boarding the plane. She was heard to shout, "Don't go Ritchie! Please don't get on the plane! Why did you have to die?" Connie admitted on Behind the Music that she realized at that moment that she never fully accepted her brother's death.
The original title of this film was "Let's Go", named for Valens' hit song: "Come On, Let's Go!"[2]
All of Ritchie Valens' songs were performed by Los Lobos. The band has a cameo in the movie wherein they sang in the brothel ballroom in Tijuana. Brian Setzer has a cameo as Eddie Cochran performing "Summertime Blues" onstage, and Marshall Crenshaw plays Buddy Holly performing "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" at the final concert in Clear Lake, Iowa. They and other musicians portraying The Big Bopper and Jackie Wilson also provided recordings for the film.
Ritchie Valens was only 17 years old when he died, eight months after he signed to Del-Fi Records and produced three songs that hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Don McLean immortalized Ritchie and his friends' deaths as "The Day the Music Died", when he chronicled his reaction to hearing about the plane crash in his song "American Pie".
The film opened in wide release in the United States on July 24, 1987. 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.[3]
The producers used the following taglines to market the film:
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."[4]
Janet Maslin, writing for The New York Times, 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."[5]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 95% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 21 reviews."[6]
Wins
Nominations
| La Bamba Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
Cover |
|
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
| Released | June 30, 1987 |
| Genre | Rock |
Because the movie is a celebration of 1950s rock & roller Ritchie Valens, his music and the music of his contemporaries play a central part in the film.
An original motion picture soundtrack album was released on June 30, 1987 on Warner Bros. Records. The album contained 12 tracks. The first six songs consist of Los Lobos covers of Ritchie Valens' songs: "La Bamba", "Come On Let's Go", "Ooh My Head", "We Belong Together", "Framed", and "Donna".[7]
Other performers include: Howard Huntsberry, Marshall Crenshaw, Brian Setzer, and Bo Diddley performing a new version of his blues classic "Who Do You Love?"
Some songs like The Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace" were omitted from the release. Other omitted songs were "Oh Boy", "Rip It Up", "The Paddi Wack Song" (written by Valens), and "Sleep Walk".
| Preceded by Whitney by Whitney Houston |
Billboard 200 number-one album September 12–26, 1987 |
Succeeded by Bad by Michael Jackson |