Movie #84 - La Bamba

"Born to poverty. Destined for stardom. He lived the American Dream."

1987 was a good year for movies that had a musical flare to them. This was the same year that Dirty Dancing was popular, and not surprisingly, both are clever time pieces. This movie follows the life of Ritchie Valens, a young Mexican-American teenager who quickly rose to stardom in the 50's rock & roll era.

Despite the predictable ending to this tragic true story, the portrayal of Valens' short life was entertaining. Lou Diamond Philips does a great job in capturing the youthful exuberance of Valens' life and the constant struggle that he endures dealing with his drunken, abusive older brother Bob (depicted by Esai Morales) really made this film a strong story to watch.

In the end, the music became the major selling point of this film. Many of the artists shown in this movie had their songs re-recorded, including all of the Valens' music. All of his songs were redone by the Mexican band Los Lobos. The updated La Bamba hit was actually a number one hit on the charts in 1987 - a true tribute that the music of the 50's is still relevant and that the updated version is quite good.

There are some cameos in this movie that make the film work as a time piece. Rick Dees plays a radio host of that era and Joe Pantoliano is Valens' record producer - back before Joey Pants had the attitude that is seen in many of his more recent roles in action films. From the musical side of things, Brian Setzer of the Brian Setzer Orchestra does a great Eddie Cochran for the soundtrack.

At the end of the movie, Valens' life ends tragically along with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Its crazy to see how the true story actually ends and to know how easily Valens' would've lived - watch the movie if you don't know what I am talking about. I've read in some conspiracy stories that Elvis' record company sabotaged the plane so that they could remove some of the competition that was threatening Elvis' overall popularity - however, that would be an extreme conspiracy ranking up there with Area 51 and the JFK assassination.

What's funny about this movie though, is that Philips did such a solid performance in portraying Valens, he parlayed this role into some stronger supporting roles in Young Guns shortly thereafter. This is not the first time the death of an artist was made into a movie - other good examples include Gary Busey as Buddy Holly (1978) and Jennifer Lopez as Selena (1997).