La Bamba

The life of rock & roll legend Ritchie Valens bursts across the big screen in this celebrated, music-filled movie with star-making performances by Lou Diamond Phillips as Ritchie and Esai Morales as his half-brother, Bob.  La Bamba depicts the 17-year-old Mexican-American’s rocket rise to fame in the late 1950s, from struggling field laborer to big-time music star with a string of hit singles (including Donna, Come On Let’s Go, and of course, La Bamba) that helped him become one of the first Latinos to successfully cross over into mainstream rock.  Valens’ life and meteoric career were tragically cut short by a plane crash that also took the lives of Buddy Holly and the The Big Bopper, an event that has come to be known as “The Day the Music Died.”   Fueled by Valens’ hit songs performed by the Grammy-winning Los Lobos (who also have a nifty cameo as a Tijuana band that gives Valens a piece of crucial musical inspiration), as well as a slew of classic ‘50s tunes, La Bamba recreates the thrilling early days of rock and pays homage to the enduring legacy of a remarkable talent whose music crossed all borders. (Dir. by Luis Valdez, 1987, USA, 108 mins., Rated PG-13)