I’ve been watching a lecture on The Day The Music Died. Although the music from the La Bamba movie was everywhere back in 1987, I have never seen the film (or if I did, I don’t remember a thing about it)
Should I give it a watch? IMDB is kinda mixed about it. I’m sure a completely different movie would be made if it was made in 2021, but how does it hold up now?
I recall that I quite enjoyed it. Although Esai Morales as his brother was irritating. Allowing for the fact that Valens recorded his singles in July 1958 and was dead by February 1959, still only 17, it works pretty well.
Elizabeth Peña and Joey Pants are always good to watch. Brian Setzer briefly plays Eddie Cochrane which is a bonus.
It’s been a few years, but I have watched and enjoyed it a number of times. If you can stream it for free or for a few dollars, I would recommend it. The music is good; the lead actor is compelling.
We liked it so much we bought it.
It also had Marshall Crenshaw playing his idol Buddy Holly.
Excellent film! I have it on DVD. Luis Valdez is an excellent director and Los Lobos were great performing Ritchie’s songs for the film.
The whole family subplot and particularly the ne’er-do-well brother was something I found very irritating and distracting, to the point of ruining the movie for me.
The soundtrack was very good, thanks to Los Lobos and Brian Setzer.
Lou Diamond Phillips. The movie basically “made” his career so to speak. Everyone remembers him as that “La Bamba” guy. He did do a very good job in the movie. I found the movie enjoyable but I wouldn’t really call it a “Top 100” film.
It was okay but I never felt the need to watch it a second time. Or pretty much any much biography movie except “Coal Miner’s Daughter “ and “Amadeus”.
Amadeus is NOT a biography.
“Watch it, Jack. He killed Mozart.”
Proably not, but I happened to watch it yesterday so I through that in.
Basically this. A small movie but entertaining enough to sit through once.
It’s about as much a biography of Mozart as “Shakespeare In Love” is a biography of Shakespeare.
I primarily remember him as Chavez y Chavez from Young Guns.
That’s my feeling also. Ritchie was a kid–just 17–so there was going to be some reference to his family life. But there was a lot of (IMHO) unnecessary attention paid to the brother, to the point where one could reasonably wonder if this was a biopic of Ritchie Valens, the musician; or a loosely-based-on-real-life drama about the Valenzuela family.
It’s a good movie, and worth a watch, especially if you’re interested in the early history of rock-n-roll. But it might have been a better movie if less attention was paid to the troubled brother.