Summer 1957, Northern California. Richie Valenzuela, a sixteen-year-old Mexican American, works on a farm and dreams of making it big in rock and roll. His life changes when his troubled half-brother Bob comes home after a jail stint, and the family moves to Southern California. There Richie meets Donna Ludwig, joins a local band and signs with a small label that suggests a stage name. Success arrives quickly, but so do family tensions, and the story stays close to the bond between Richie and Bob.

How it was made

La Bamba was written and directed by Luis Valdez, who drew on the brief career of singer Ritchie Valens, killed in 1959. Taylor Hackford is credited as producer, and Carlos Santana composed the music. Valens' songs were performed by Los Lobos, at the request of the Valenzuela family, and the band appears in a scene shot in a Tijuana ballroom. Lou Diamond Phillips leads the cast alongside Esai Morales and Elizabeth Peña. Adam Greenberg handled cinematography and Don Brochu edited. The film opened wide in the United States on July 24, 1987, and grossed about 52.7 million dollars over twelve weeks.

Reception and legacy

Critics were generally favorable, with Metacritic assigning a weighted score of 65 out of 100 from 12 reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave it an average grade of A. It earned a nomination for favorite movie at the Kids' Choice Awards. The title comes from a traditional Mexican folk song that Valens turned into a rock and roll version. The Library of Congress later selected the film for the National Film Registry, and the Criterion Collection released a special edition in 2023.

Stills

Trailer

Clicking loads the video from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode). Open on YouTube

Trivia

Los Lobos on the soundtrack

The Valenzuela family specifically asked for Los Lobos to be involved, and the band performed all of Valens' songs.

A Brian Setzer cameo

Musician Brian Setzer appears briefly onstage as Eddie Cochran.

Original Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.