Amazon.com

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 ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Ole!
La Bamba is one of my top 25 favorite films. Lou Diamond Phillips comes across for real. I was surprised when I saw a picture of the real Ritchie Valens. I had forgotten what he looked like (when I was a teenager). Lou doesn't look like him, but who cares? This is a great suspension of disbelief.

Esai Morales doing a great job as the troubled brother Bob. it is easy to feel his pain. And it is almost impossible to tell the difference between Los Lobos' rendition of the title song and the original Ritchie version. The hint is in those couple of seconds of silence that Los Lobos does near the end. And then there are those excellent imitations of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Jackie Wilson and others.

The DVD has two feature-length commentaries that are worth listening to. Beyond this, I have also turned on the Spanish-language track and watched the film a few times that way. If you have some understanding of both languages, it helps to show how they get the nuances across it slightly different ways.

One of the best rock biopics ever.
I saw La Bamba the other night for the first time in many years, and was delighted to see how well it had held up. Of the many tragedies in the history of rock, there are few more bitterly poignant than that of Ritchie Valens, and director Luis Valdez makes us feel the full force of the tragedy. He makes us love not only Ritchie (Lou Diamond Phillips) but also his supportive mother Connie (Rosana De Soto) and his troubled brother Bob (Esai Morales), then ends the film as he should, on a note of raw, unmitigated grief. On the way to the tragic end, however, we also get marvelous recreations of vintage rock songs by Los Lobos, Brian Setzer, Marshall Crenshaw, Howard Huntsberry and others. Seeing La Bamba again brings up a smaller tragedy: why Phillips, Morales and De Soto didn't become bigger stars, as they clearly deserved to become from their performances in this movie. Only Phillips came at all close to stardom, and for every step forward he took--his change-of-pace villainous role in Courage Under Fire, his Broadway triumph in the revival of The King and I--he took two steps back with some straight-to-video flick. But in any case you can still see them in La Bamba, and laugh, cry, and applaud.

fantastic
I love this film!! after being introduced to it by my older sister i have never looked back!!! Lou diamond Phillips is amazing as Ritchie Valens and Esai Morales is equally great!!! the supporting cast helps what is already a fab film become a classic!! The soundtrack is great and the end music that they play in the final scenes makes it so emotional. The film really reminds us what a loss it is when someone as talented as Ritchie Valens was dies so young... The film has never stopped making me cry and i am sure i will continue to love this film.. it is a timeless piece which is a fitting tribute to one of Rock n Roll's finest!

Good but it has major problems too
Film needed more period flavor. What's with Ritchie's brother Bob's hairdo? Too 80's. Also, the film gets goofy towards the end with the Big Bopper going around saying "Hello Baby" to everyone and a weak performance by Marshall Crenshaw(Sp?) as Buddy Holly.

all musicians should see this
this movie is about late 50s rock n roller ritchie valens who along with buddy holly and the big bopper died in a plane crash ritchie was an amazing talent with a beautiful voice he was only 17 lu diamond phillips does such a wonderful job portraying how hard it was coming up as a latino in the 50s and how ritchie loved a whitegirl but her parents wouldnt let them be together but they found ways anyway and he was going to propise to her before he got killed this movie has alot of great moments and music by the band labamba youll end up crying once u realize what a musical loss ritchie valanz buddy holley and the big bopper were to that generation and generations after all musicians should buy this dvd right away if u havent seen it u owe it to these founders of rock n roll ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Ole!
La Bamba is one of my top 25 favorite films. Lou Diamond Phillips comes across for real. I was surprised when I saw a picture of the real Ritchie Valens. I had forgotten what he looked like (when I was a teenager). Lou doesn't look like him, but who cares? This is a great suspension of disbelief.

Esai Morales doing a great job as the troubled brother Bob. it is easy to feel his pain. And it is almost impossible to tell the difference between Los Lobos' rendition of the title song and the original Ritchie version. The hint is in those couple of seconds of silence that Los Lobos does near the end. And then there are those excellent imitations of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Jackie Wilson and others.

The DVD has two feature-length commentaries that are worth listening to. Beyond this, I have also turned on the Spanish-language track and watched the film a few times that way. If you have some understanding of both languages, it helps to show how they get the nuances across it slightly different ways.

One of the best rock biopics ever.
I saw La Bamba the other night for the first time in many years, and was delighted to see how well it had held up. Of the many tragedies in the history of rock, there are few more bitterly poignant than that of Ritchie Valens, and director Luis Valdez makes us feel the full force of the tragedy. He makes us love not only Ritchie (Lou Diamond Phillips) but also his supportive mother Connie (Rosana De Soto) and his troubled brother Bob (Esai Morales), then ends the film as he should, on a note of raw, unmitigated grief. On the way to the tragic end, however, we also get marvelous recreations of vintage rock songs by Los Lobos, Brian Setzer, Marshall Crenshaw, Howard Huntsberry and others. Seeing La Bamba again brings up a smaller tragedy: why Phillips, Morales and De Soto didn't become bigger stars, as they clearly deserved to become from their performances in this movie. Only Phillips came at all close to stardom, and for every step forward he took--his change-of-pace villainous role in Courage Under Fire, his Broadway triumph in the revival of The King and I--he took two steps back with some straight-to-video flick. But in any case you can still see them in La Bamba, and laugh, cry, and applaud.

fantastic
I love this film!! after being introduced to it by my older sister i have never looked back!!! Lou diamond Phillips is amazing as Ritchie Valens and Esai Morales is equally great!!! the supporting cast helps what is already a fab film become a classic!! The soundtrack is great and the end music that they play in the final scenes makes it so emotional. The film really reminds us what a loss it is when someone as talented as Ritchie Valens was dies so young... The film has never stopped making me cry and i am sure i will continue to love this film.. it is a timeless piece which is a fitting tribute to one of Rock n Roll's finest!

Good but it has major problems too
Film needed more period flavor. What's with Ritchie's brother Bob's hairdo? Too 80's. Also, the film gets goofy towards the end with the Big Bopper going around saying "Hello Baby" to everyone and a weak performance by Marshall Crenshaw(Sp?) as Buddy Holly.

all musicians should see this
this movie is about late 50s rock n roller ritchie valens who along with buddy holly and the big bopper died in a plane crash ritchie was an amazing talent with a beautiful voice he was only 17 lu diamond phillips does such a wonderful job portraying how hard it was coming up as a latino in the 50s and how ritchie loved a whitegirl but her parents wouldnt let them be together but they found ways anyway and he was going to propise to her before he got killed this movie has alot of great moments and music by the band labamba youll end up crying once u realize what a musical loss ritchie valanz buddy holley and the big bopper were to that generation and generations after all musicians should buy this dvd right away if u havent seen it u owe it to these founders of rock n roll ... Read more

Amazon.com

When Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens hopped a small plane after a Midwestern concert gig, early rock suffered one of its most striking tragedies. Holly's death in the plane's crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, was an obvious loss given the Texas rocker's international reputation. But Valens, a Pacoima, California, teenager, was much closer to the starting gate, his impact extending to just two national chart hits, the teen ballad "Donna" and his ebullient recasting of a Mexican wedding song, "La Bamba."

Director and playwright Luis Valdez, who had previously examined Southern California's Latino heritage through stage productions, brought a deep well of cultural identification and dramatic empathy to Valens's story. La Bamba thus probes Valens's underlying sense of cultural distance from the mainstream and acknowledges the inevitable racism of its setting, yet it's to everyone's credit that the movie avoids an excessive, revisionist emphasis; Valens's simple joy in music and the relative innocence of the era are felt, even though the script is careful not to sanitize earthier elements. Lou Diamond Phillips makes an impressive debut in the title role, matched by strong performances from Esai Morales and Elizabeth Peña, while the music gets kick started by the shrewd decision to draft Los Lobos to re-create Valens's music. Rock fans will also smile at savvy casting for Valens peers Eddie Cochran (Brian Setzer), Jackie Wilson (Howard Huntsberry), and Holly himself (Marshall Crenshaw). --Sam Sutherland ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Ole!
La Bamba is one of my top 25 favorite films. Lou Diamond Phillips comes across for real. I was surprised when I saw a picture of the real Ritchie Valens. I had forgotten what he looked like (when I was a teenager). Lou doesn't look like him, but who cares? This is a great suspension of disbelief.

Esai Morales doing a great job as the troubled brother Bob. it is easy to feel his pain. And it is almost impossible to tell the difference between Los Lobos' rendition of the title song and the original Ritchie version. The hint is in those couple of seconds of silence that Los Lobos does near the end. And then there are those excellent imitations of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Jackie Wilson and others.

The DVD has two feature-length commentaries that are worth listening to. Beyond this, I have also turned on the Spanish-language track and watched the film a few times that way. If you have some understanding of both languages, it helps to show how they get the nuances across it slightly different ways.

One of the best rock biopics ever.
I saw La Bamba the other night for the first time in many years, and was delighted to see how well it had held up. Of the many tragedies in the history of rock, there are few more bitterly poignant than that of Ritchie Valens, and director Luis Valdez makes us feel the full force of the tragedy. He makes us love not only Ritchie (Lou Diamond Phillips) but also his supportive mother Connie (Rosana De Soto) and his troubled brother Bob (Esai Morales), then ends the film as he should, on a note of raw, unmitigated grief. On the way to the tragic end, however, we also get marvelous recreations of vintage rock songs by Los Lobos, Brian Setzer, Marshall Crenshaw, Howard Huntsberry and others. Seeing La Bamba again brings up a smaller tragedy: why Phillips, Morales and De Soto didn't become bigger stars, as they clearly deserved to become from their performances in this movie. Only Phillips came at all close to stardom, and for every step forward he took--his change-of-pace villainous role in Courage Under Fire, his Broadway triumph in the revival of The King and I--he took two steps back with some straight-to-video flick. But in any case you can still see them in La Bamba, and laugh, cry, and applaud.

fantastic
I love this film!! after being introduced to it by my older sister i have never looked back!!! Lou diamond Phillips is amazing as Ritchie Valens and Esai Morales is equally great!!! the supporting cast helps what is already a fab film become a classic!! The soundtrack is great and the end music that they play in the final scenes makes it so emotional. The film really reminds us what a loss it is when someone as talented as Ritchie Valens was dies so young... The film has never stopped making me cry and i am sure i will continue to love this film.. it is a timeless piece which is a fitting tribute to one of Rock n Roll's finest!

Good but it has major problems too
Film needed more period flavor. What's with Ritchie's brother Bob's hairdo? Too 80's. Also, the film gets goofy towards the end with the Big Bopper going around saying "Hello Baby" to everyone and a weak performance by Marshall Crenshaw(Sp?) as Buddy Holly.

all musicians should see this
this movie is about late 50s rock n roller ritchie valens who along with buddy holly and the big bopper died in a plane crash ritchie was an amazing talent with a beautiful voice he was only 17 lu diamond phillips does such a wonderful job portraying how hard it was coming up as a latino in the 50s and how ritchie loved a whitegirl but her parents wouldnt let them be together but they found ways anyway and he was going to propise to her before he got killed this movie has alot of great moments and music by the band labamba youll end up crying once u realize what a musical loss ritchie valanz buddy holley and the big bopper were to that generation and generations after all musicians should buy this dvd right away if u havent seen it u owe it to these founders of rock n roll ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Oh you angels from on high!
This is a great movie. It's a fine Christmas movie, but it's just a great movie for any time. Where I come from, this story is called "Los Pastores." It's a lovely Hispano Christmas tradition--it goes with Posadas--where the whole town goes house to house with Mary & Joseph searching for a room at the inn--and in my part of the world folks have old handwritten scripts in endless archaic Spanish. It's funny, bawdy, and it used to be put on yearly in my town.

But no one is willing to memorize the enormous scripts any more. Kids don't want to rehearse three times a week for a month before Christmas. So lots of people have never seen Los Pastores, or even heard of it.

La Pastorela is Los Pastores with the best folks imaginable for every part. This is the story of a bunch of shepherds who go off looking for the baby Jesus. They get drunk. They get lost. Linda Ronstadt as the Archangel (I think it's Michael) helps them along. They encounter the devil with all his stinky minions.

I am still searching for my copy of this movie (I did finally locate one for a friend) and I haven't seen it in a few years, so this isn't a very specific review. But it's a truly great movie, for hispano-Americans or folks who enjoy them. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This is a filmed play, rather than a stage piece reimagined for the movies, which is probably why the general audience never cozied up to this intense picture. But Zoot Suit has a couple of significant attractions. First, it's a landmark Latino work from the pre-indie period, directed by Luis Valdez, an important figure in Chicano theater. Valdez based his acclaimed play on the zoot-suit riots of 1940s Los Angeles, when a group of young Chicano men were railroaded into jail on a murder charge. The director later found a mainstream audience with his juicy rock & roll bio La Bamba, and perhaps a bigger budget might have garnered Zoot Suit the same kind of acceptance. Daniel Valdez, the director's brother, plays the hero and also composed the flavorful songs; but the big draw here is the sensational performance of Edward James Olmos. A brooding actor just beginning his screen career, Olmos plays a flamboyant, hectoring, all-seeing figure called El Pachuco--a Greek chorus with attitude to burn. The wild contours of the zoot suit fit Olmos as snugly as his white shirt and black tie from Miami Vice. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (14)

A Chicano West Side Story -- entertaining and informative.
Director Luis Valdez has done an outstanding job in bringing us this highly entertaining and informative picture of life in LA in the 1940's. The music, song, dance, and story in itself will make you cry, laugh and want to swing along with the film. Edward James Olmos demonstrates his many talents as he sings, dances, and plays El Pachuco, trying to convince the hero (Daniel Valdez) to use violence rather than intelligence to overcome prejudice by "Anglos" toward the Latin culture. Great theatrical props and settings along with an in-show audience makes you feel truly part of the whole production. Loved it!

Zoot Suit
I saw this on the Independent Film many years ago, very good film, revolves around Gangs but gangs in the 1940's.

Also a film about Latinos (my people) and the problems they face in the inner city.

It's much better than those terrible soap opera's in Mexico, this film is a musical but it's also a drama focusing on different Hispanic characters.

Edward James Olmos career is synomonus with these type of films
most notable "American Me", "Stand and Deliver", "My family"
a great actor who is part of the real population.

Despite the great performances the film does suffer from
its story, you know several hot headed characters with their
attitude and lifestyles are only headed downhill and their
fates are predetermined.

Still "Zoot Suit" is a good film.

Chasing "The Capeman"
"Zoot Suit" was fighting and uphill battle for my appreciation. That's because I wanted it to be something else entirely. You see, I love the idea of filming live theatre. Purists and snobs will tell you that you lose something essential by taping a performance. Namely the immediacy of the live show--the audience's involvement, right there in the moment. But, on the other hand, that loss is inevitable and unavoidable. The camera is by its nature a detached observer. But it freezes in time what would otherwise be lost forever, unless of course it is revived. And revived is the perfect term because the work is on the brink of death until dedicated actors, directors and audiences are once again ready to breathe life into the piece. I have immense respect for the stage, but if I ever have the opportunity to write professionally I hope to start with screen or print because those two media are easily preserved. Which brings me at long last to my point, I rented "Zoot Suit" because it was close in theme to "The Capeman" which I want to see with all my heart. It has been gone from the stage for years, but is preserved in an almost inaccessible archive. "Zoot Suit" is here for all to see, and it is most certainly worth a viewing. It is much better than "West Side Story." Why is it that a play, which was first and foremost supposed to be an update of "Romeo and Juliet" has instead been elevated to being the end-all and be-all portrayal of street-gang life on the American stage? Anyway, rent it, watch it, enjoy it. Keep in mind that all three are separate plays and you will be much more apt to appreciate each in their own right. Just keep your fingers crossed that someone will take a risk and buy the rights to "The Capeman." I know I am.

Una pachanga musical!
Si usted es aficionado a la cultura chicana, la música swing de los años cuarenta, o de los artistas Edward James Olmos o Lalo Guerrero, ¡esta es la película para usted! La pantalla se enciende con una avalancha de música, baile y drama. La cinta lo lleva a experimentar una noche con el Teatro Campesino del dramaturgo Luis Valdez. ¡Luzca su mejor tacuche! ¡Dele brillo a esos calcos! Póngase abusado que la pachanga va empezar. ¡Simón, carnal!

Important historical drama, hampered by stilted production
This re-telling of the so-called "zoot suit riots" that rocked the Los Angeles homefront during World War II gets the facts right, but tells them rather poorly. Part of it is the super-stagey presentation, which basically is a filming of the play this was based on (right down to the shaking props and backdrops) and which takes little advantage of the possibilities of the film medium. Plus, Edward James Olmos is absolutely insufferable as the uber-symbolic Voice of The Barrio, although Daniel Valdez and Tyne Daly (!) are okay in their respective roles as a young man railroaded by the white establishment for a crime he did not commit, and as the commie agitator who comes to his defense. Anyone interested in the time period and in Chicano politics may benefit from watching this -- I rented it while doing some reseach on the "pachucho" R&B music scene -- but in dramatic and filmic terms, this is not a first-rate production. It's hammy and ham-fisted. Latter-day star spotting: El Teatro Campesion veteran Robert Beltran (of future "Star Trek Voyager" notoriety) has a bit role as a modern-day audience member... ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Ole!
La Bamba is one of my top 25 favorite films. Lou Diamond Phillips comes across for real. I was surprised when I saw a picture of the real Ritchie Valens. I had forgotten what he looked like (when I was a teenager). Lou doesn't look like him, but who cares? This is a great suspension of disbelief.

Esai Morales doing a great job as the troubled brother Bob. it is easy to feel his pain. And it is almost impossible to tell the difference between Los Lobos' rendition of the title song and the original Ritchie version. The hint is in those couple of seconds of silence that Los Lobos does near the end. And then there are those excellent imitations of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Jackie Wilson and others.

The DVD has two feature-length commentaries that are worth listening to. Beyond this, I have also turned on the Spanish-language track and watched the film a few times that way. If you have some understanding of both languages, it helps to show how they get the nuances across it slightly different ways.

One of the best rock biopics ever.
I saw La Bamba the other night for the first time in many years, and was delighted to see how well it had held up. Of the many tragedies in the history of rock, there are few more bitterly poignant than that of Ritchie Valens, and director Luis Valdez makes us feel the full force of the tragedy. He makes us love not only Ritchie (Lou Diamond Phillips) but also his supportive mother Connie (Rosana De Soto) and his troubled brother Bob (Esai Morales), then ends the film as he should, on a note of raw, unmitigated grief. On the way to the tragic end, however, we also get marvelous recreations of vintage rock songs by Los Lobos, Brian Setzer, Marshall Crenshaw, Howard Huntsberry and others. Seeing La Bamba again brings up a smaller tragedy: why Phillips, Morales and De Soto didn't become bigger stars, as they clearly deserved to become from their performances in this movie. Only Phillips came at all close to stardom, and for every step forward he took--his change-of-pace villainous role in Courage Under Fire, his Broadway triumph in the revival of The King and I--he took two steps back with some straight-to-video flick. But in any case you can still see them in La Bamba, and laugh, cry, and applaud.

fantastic
I love this film!! after being introduced to it by my older sister i have never looked back!!! Lou diamond Phillips is amazing as Ritchie Valens and Esai Morales is equally great!!! the supporting cast helps what is already a fab film become a classic!! The soundtrack is great and the end music that they play in the final scenes makes it so emotional. The film really reminds us what a loss it is when someone as talented as Ritchie Valens was dies so young... The film has never stopped making me cry and i am sure i will continue to love this film.. it is a timeless piece which is a fitting tribute to one of Rock n Roll's finest!

Good but it has major problems too
Film needed more period flavor. What's with Ritchie's brother Bob's hairdo? Too 80's. Also, the film gets goofy towards the end with the Big Bopper going around saying "Hello Baby" to everyone and a weak performance by Marshall Crenshaw(Sp?) as Buddy Holly.

all musicians should see this
this movie is about late 50s rock n roller ritchie valens who along with buddy holly and the big bopper died in a plane crash ritchie was an amazing talent with a beautiful voice he was only 17 lu diamond phillips does such a wonderful job portraying how hard it was coming up as a latino in the 50s and how ritchie loved a whitegirl but her parents wouldnt let them be together but they found ways anyway and he was going to propise to her before he got killed this movie has alot of great moments and music by the band labamba youll end up crying once u realize what a musical loss ritchie valanz buddy holley and the big bopper were to that generation and generations after all musicians should buy this dvd right away if u havent seen it u owe it to these founders of rock n roll ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Oh you angels from on high!
This is a great movie. It's a fine Christmas movie, but it's just a great movie for any time. Where I come from, this story is called "Los Pastores." It's a lovely Hispano Christmas tradition--it goes with Posadas--where the whole town goes house to house with Mary & Joseph searching for a room at the inn--and in my part of the world folks have old handwritten scripts in endless archaic Spanish. It's funny, bawdy, and it used to be put on yearly in my town.

But no one is willing to memorize the enormous scripts any more. Kids don't want to rehearse three times a week for a month before Christmas. So lots of people have never seen Los Pastores, or even heard of it.

La Pastorela is Los Pastores with the best folks imaginable for every part. This is the story of a bunch of shepherds who go off looking for the baby Jesus. They get drunk. They get lost. Linda Ronstadt as the Archangel (I think it's Michael) helps them along. They encounter the devil with all his stinky minions.

I am still searching for my copy of this movie (I did finally locate one for a friend) and I haven't seen it in a few years, so this isn't a very specific review. But it's a truly great movie, for hispano-Americans or folks who enjoy them. ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Ole!
La Bamba is one of my top 25 favorite films. Lou Diamond Phillips comes across for real. I was surprised when I saw a picture of the real Ritchie Valens. I had forgotten what he looked like (when I was a teenager). Lou doesn't look like him, but who cares? This is a great suspension of disbelief.

Esai Morales doing a great job as the troubled brother Bob. it is easy to feel his pain. And it is almost impossible to tell the difference between Los Lobos' rendition of the title song and the original Ritchie version. The hint is in those couple of seconds of silence that Los Lobos does near the end. And then there are those excellent imitations of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Jackie Wilson and others.

The DVD has two feature-length commentaries that are worth listening to. Beyond this, I have also turned on the Spanish-language track and watched the film a few times that way. If you have some understanding of both languages, it helps to show how they get the nuances across it slightly different ways.

One of the best rock biopics ever.
I saw La Bamba the other night for the first time in many years, and was delighted to see how well it had held up. Of the many tragedies in the history of rock, there are few more bitterly poignant than that of Ritchie Valens, and director Luis Valdez makes us feel the full force of the tragedy. He makes us love not only Ritchie (Lou Diamond Phillips) but also his supportive mother Connie (Rosana De Soto) and his troubled brother Bob (Esai Morales), then ends the film as he should, on a note of raw, unmitigated grief. On the way to the tragic end, however, we also get marvelous recreations of vintage rock songs by Los Lobos, Brian Setzer, Marshall Crenshaw, Howard Huntsberry and others. Seeing La Bamba again brings up a smaller tragedy: why Phillips, Morales and De Soto didn't become bigger stars, as they clearly deserved to become from their performances in this movie. Only Phillips came at all close to stardom, and for every step forward he took--his change-of-pace villainous role in Courage Under Fire, his Broadway triumph in the revival of The King and I--he took two steps back with some straight-to-video flick. But in any case you can still see them in La Bamba, and laugh, cry, and applaud.

fantastic
I love this film!! after being introduced to it by my older sister i have never looked back!!! Lou diamond Phillips is amazing as Ritchie Valens and Esai Morales is equally great!!! the supporting cast helps what is already a fab film become a classic!! The soundtrack is great and the end music that they play in the final scenes makes it so emotional. The film really reminds us what a loss it is when someone as talented as Ritchie Valens was dies so young... The film has never stopped making me cry and i am sure i will continue to love this film.. it is a timeless piece which is a fitting tribute to one of Rock n Roll's finest!

Good but it has major problems too
Film needed more period flavor. What's with Ritchie's brother Bob's hairdo? Too 80's. Also, the film gets goofy towards the end with the Big Bopper going around saying "Hello Baby" to everyone and a weak performance by Marshall Crenshaw(Sp?) as Buddy Holly.

all musicians should see this
this movie is about late 50s rock n roller ritchie valens who along with buddy holly and the big bopper died in a plane crash ritchie was an amazing talent with a beautiful voice he was only 17 lu diamond phillips does such a wonderful job portraying how hard it was coming up as a latino in the 50s and how ritchie loved a whitegirl but her parents wouldnt let them be together but they found ways anyway and he was going to propise to her before he got killed this movie has alot of great moments and music by the band labamba youll end up crying once u realize what a musical loss ritchie valanz buddy holley and the big bopper were to that generation and generations after all musicians should buy this dvd right away if u havent seen it u owe it to these founders of rock n roll ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Oh you angels from on high!
This is a great movie. It's a fine Christmas movie, but it's just a great movie for any time. Where I come from, this story is called "Los Pastores." It's a lovely Hispano Christmas tradition--it goes with Posadas--where the whole town goes house to house with Mary & Joseph searching for a room at the inn--and in my part of the world folks have old handwritten scripts in endless archaic Spanish. It's funny, bawdy, and it used to be put on yearly in my town.

But no one is willing to memorize the enormous scripts any more. Kids don't want to rehearse three times a week for a month before Christmas. So lots of people have never seen Los Pastores, or even heard of it.

La Pastorela is Los Pastores with the best folks imaginable for every part. This is the story of a bunch of shepherds who go off looking for the baby Jesus. They get drunk. They get lost. Linda Ronstadt as the Archangel (I think it's Michael) helps them along. They encounter the devil with all his stinky minions.

I am still searching for my copy of this movie (I did finally locate one for a friend) and I haven't seen it in a few years, so this isn't a very specific review. But it's a truly great movie, for hispano-Americans or folks who enjoy them. ... Read more

Amazon.com

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 ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Ole!
La Bamba is one of my top 25 favorite films. Lou Diamond Phillips comes across for real. I was surprised when I saw a picture of the real Ritchie Valens. I had forgotten what he looked like (when I was a teenager). Lou doesn't look like him, but who cares? This is a great suspension of disbelief.

Esai Morales doing a great job as the troubled brother Bob. it is easy to feel his pain. And it is almost impossible to tell the difference between Los Lobos' rendition of the title song and the original Ritchie version. The hint is in those couple of seconds of silence that Los Lobos does near the end. And then there are those excellent imitations of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Jackie Wilson and others.

The DVD has two feature-length commentaries that are worth listening to. Beyond this, I have also turned on the Spanish-language track and watched the film a few times that way. If you have some understanding of both languages, it helps to show how they get the nuances across it slightly different ways.

One of the best rock biopics ever.
I saw La Bamba the other night for the first time in many years, and was delighted to see how well it had held up. Of the many tragedies in the history of rock, there are few more bitterly poignant than that of Ritchie Valens, and director Luis Valdez makes us feel the full force of the tragedy. He makes us love not only Ritchie (Lou Diamond Phillips) but also his supportive mother Connie (Rosana De Soto) and his troubled brother Bob (Esai Morales), then ends the film as he should, on a note of raw, unmitigated grief. On the way to the tragic end, however, we also get marvelous recreations of vintage rock songs by Los Lobos, Brian Setzer, Marshall Crenshaw, Howard Huntsberry and others. Seeing La Bamba again brings up a smaller tragedy: why Phillips, Morales and De Soto didn't become bigger stars, as they clearly deserved to become from their performances in this movie. Only Phillips came at all close to stardom, and for every step forward he took--his change-of-pace villainous role in Courage Under Fire, his Broadway triumph in the revival of The King and I--he took two steps back with some straight-to-video flick. But in any case you can still see them in La Bamba, and laugh, cry, and applaud.

fantastic
I love this film!! after being introduced to it by my older sister i have never looked back!!! Lou diamond Phillips is amazing as Ritchie Valens and Esai Morales is equally great!!! the supporting cast helps what is already a fab film become a classic!! The soundtrack is great and the end music that they play in the final scenes makes it so emotional. The film really reminds us what a loss it is when someone as talented as Ritchie Valens was dies so young... The film has never stopped making me cry and i am sure i will continue to love this film.. it is a timeless piece which is a fitting tribute to one of Rock n Roll's finest!

Good but it has major problems too
Film needed more period flavor. What's with Ritchie's brother Bob's hairdo? Too 80's. Also, the film gets goofy towards the end with the Big Bopper going around saying "Hello Baby" to everyone and a weak performance by Marshall Crenshaw(Sp?) as Buddy Holly.

all musicians should see this
this movie is about late 50s rock n roller ritchie valens who along with buddy holly and the big bopper died in a plane crash ritchie was an amazing talent with a beautiful voice he was only 17 lu diamond phillips does such a wonderful job portraying how hard it was coming up as a latino in the 50s and how ritchie loved a whitegirl but her parents wouldnt let them be together but they found ways anyway and he was going to propise to her before he got killed this movie has alot of great moments and music by the band labamba youll end up crying once u realize what a musical loss ritchie valanz buddy holley and the big bopper were to that generation and generations after all musicians should buy this dvd right away if u havent seen it u owe it to these founders of rock n roll ... Read more