La Bamba

Description

Product Description

The life of rock & roll legend Richie Valens bursts across the screen in this celebrated, music-filled movie with star-making performances by Lou Diamond Phillips as Richie and Esai Morales as his half-brother, Bob. LA BAMBA depicts the 17-year-old Mexican-American’s rocket rise to fame, from field laborer to rock star with a string of hit singles and a date with destiny. Fueled by Valens’ hit songs performed by the Grammy(r)-winning Los Lobos as well as 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.

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Lou Diamond Phillips leaves a haunting impression as the late 1950s pop idol Ritchie Valens, who made the Latino influence in rock & roll conspicuous through his hit songs. Filmmaker Luis Valdez (Zoot Suit) creates a nimble, exciting, and sympathetic portrait of the boy driven to rise above obstacles of race and family legacy, and Esai Morales is equally fine as Ritchie’s envious, searching brother. Great support from Elizabeth Peña and Danielle von Zerneck as Valens’s sister and mother, respectively, and Joe Pantoliano is solid as the singer’s straight-talking manager. Valdez brightens up the third act with a rock & roll show featuring, among others, Brian Setzer as Eddie Cochrane. Marshall Crenshaw turns up as Buddy Holly getting on that plane with Valens, and Los Lobos (who actually performs Valens’s music on the soundtrack) has a nifty cameo as a Tijuana band that gives Valens a piece of crucial inspiration. –Tom Keogh