La Bamba (1987) * * *

Directed by:  Luis Valdez

Starring:  Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Joe Pantoliano, Rosanna De Soto, Elizabeth Pena, Danielle Von Zerneck

Ritchie Valens was a Southern California high schooler who had recorded three top 40 hits in 1958 and died in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper on February 3, 1959.    If the film is to believed, Valens had a fear of flying which stemmed from a childhood friend killed by falling plane debris.   Valens wasn't present when his friend was killed, but he imagines it in flashbacks as if he were.    It seems almost fitting that he would die in a plane crash.

La Bamba is named after Valens' signature hit, which is sung in Spanish even though Valens himself didn't speak Spanish.     He died as his career was taking off.     How long would his career have lasted?    Would he have been able to make the transition from 1950's teen idol to a rocker who played at Woodstock?    We will never know.     La Bamba makes the most out of Valens' short life with a spirited performance by Lou Diamond Phillips as Valens.  

Valens was born Richard Valenzuela and moves to the San Fernando Valley with his mother and older half-brother Bob (Esai Morales).    They live in the barrio, but Ritchie sees a way out with his music.    He joins a local band, but he is discovered by local record producer named Bob Keane (Pantoliano) who wants him to be a solo artist.    During the recording of what would be his first hit, "Come On Let's Go", Richard Valenzuela is christened "Ritchie Valens" by Keane.  "You could've been Ricky Zuela," Keane says. 

Sooner than you can say "Come On Let's Go", Ritchie becomes a rising star.    He meets and falls in love with Donna, a local girl with a father who isn't fond of Hispanics.    It is she who inspires Ritchie's next hit, "Donna".    Ritchie's sudden fame doesn't sit very easily with his alcoholic older brother, who resents his good fortune.   Bob believes their mother loved Ritchie more and occasionally acts out with loutish behavior towards his pregnant girlfriend Rosie (Pena) and Ritchie himself.    I don't know if this plotline was based on fact or if it was inserted in for dramatic purposes, but it adds an element of drama to La Bamba.

Phillips doesn't sing in the film (Valens' songs are performed by Los Lobos), but he performs convincingly and with energy.    His youthful look belies the fact that in real life he is older than Esai Morales, who plays his older sibling.    Morales is also strong as a young man who can't help but put his pain on full display for all to see.   He tries in vain to make something of himself by winning a local art contest, but he is more content to be pissed off at Ritchie even though he loves him.
Joe Pantoliano is his usual solid self as Keane, who knows what it takes to make it in the music business and wants to steer Ritchie in the right direction. 

La Bamba is told joyfully and with style by writer-director Luis Valdez.   I'm quite certain many elements were altered for elevated drama, but it works well enough anyway.    It's tough to resist a film that is ultimately about a life ending just when it seemed it was getting started.