La Bamba
Directed by: Luis Valdez
Written by: Luis Valdez
Starring: Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Danielle Von Zerneck
Release Date: July 24, 1987
Revisiting La Bamba for Reelscope’s Music Biopic Week reveals how director Luis Valdez merged theater, Chicano history, and rock ’n’ roll to honor Ritchie Valens. A fresh look at a beloved 1987 classic.
The Film That Never Really Left
Somehow, despite having seen La Bamba more than a dozen times, watching it again for this theme week felt brand new. I was 11 when the film hit theaters in 1987, and it lived on through endless cable viewings. But somewhere between adolescence and adulthood, it faded from my memory — until I came back to it with older eyes and found it richer than ever.
Ritchie Valens and the Music That Never Died
The film tells the story of teenage rock star Ritchie Valens, who died in the 1959 plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. Valens was only 17, yet in just a few months he changed music forever. Without Luis Valdez’s 1987 film, Valens might have remained a footnote. Instead, La Bamba turned his brief, bright life into a lasting legacy.
Luis Valdez: The Artist Behind the Art
Valdez’s own story could be a biopic. In the 1960s, he founded El Teatro Campesino (The Farmworkers Theater) with César Chávez, turning the struggles of migrant workers into living art. His theatrical background shapes La Bamba — its heightened emotion, its rhythmic dialogue, its celebration of community.
Valdez once said, “Learn by teaching and teach by learning.” That ethos flows through every frame of La Bamba — a film as much about the power of art as it is about music.
Brothers in Contrast: Lou Diamond Phillips and Esai Morales
One of Valdez’s great directorial gifts is his use of contrast. Lou Diamond Phillips plays Ritchie as quiet and reserved, while Esai Morales’s Bob is a storm of energy and hurt. Their dynamic — cinematic versus theatrical, reserved versus boiling over — creates the emotional heartbeat of the film.
Valdez uses this duality like a composer, balancing two conflicting notes until they resolve into harmony.
The Folk Roots of “La Bamba”
A 1987 Chicago Tribune article traced “La Bamba” to a Mexican folk dance dating back to the 1830s. Valens took that cultural inheritance and infused it with the electric spirit of rock ’n’ roll — a fusion so revolutionary that it still feels radical decades later.
When Los Lobos covered the song for the film, they did more than honor Valens — they reintroduced a Spanish-language anthem to mainstream radio. Nearly 30 years later, when “Despacito” hit number one, we were reminded that the cultural doors Valens kicked open are still opening today.
Dreams, Fears, and Theatrical Flourishes
Valdez’s use of dream sequences and symbolism can feel a bit stage-born, especially when visualizing Ritchie’s fear of flying. It’s a minor misstep in an otherwise deeply felt film — but one that adds texture to Valdez’s fusion of theater and cinema.
La Bamba isn’t perfect, but its imperfections are human, and that humanity is its greatest strength.
Relearning Through Art
Watching La Bamba as an adult, I understood what I couldn’t at 11 — how the film speaks to heritage, class, and the cost of dreams. Luis Valdez’s art comes from labor and community, from a childhood in the fields of California, not from Hollywood soundstages. His cinema is activism through beauty.
When I was young, I loved La Bamba for its songs and its style. Now, I love it for what it teaches me about art, identity, and how music can bridge entire worlds.
Legacy That Lasts
Like Ritchie Valens, Luis Valdez was a visionary who refused to be defined by limits. La Bamba is a tribute to his belief that stories from the margins can move the world. It’s a film that grows with you, that changes as you do — a biopic that is also a mirror.
Because of Luis Valdez, and the family who kept Ritchie’s spirit alive, the music will never stop playing.
