The late 1980s were ripe for a revival of Ritchie Valens’ music, and for the success of Luis Valdez’s hugely entertaining story of music and familia, “La Bamba.” Musically, the punks of the 1970s and early ‘80s looked back to the earliest rock-n-roll sounds for inspiration, which led in part to a modest rockabilly revival led by the Stray Cats (Guitarist and singer Brian Setzer would even play the role of Eddie Cochran in “La Bamba”). Oldies and solid gold radio formats were reaching a peak that would last until the 1990s. And cinematically, America was finally ready for a popular film that celebrated Latino music and culture.
Luis Valdez began his career by using the power of storytelling and live theater to organize and educate farm workers and the public in California. El Teatro Campesino was formed in 1965 and helped raise awareness of the Delano grape strike. In 1969, Valdez moved into filmmaking, directing and producing “I Am Joaquín,” based on an essential text of the Chicano movement, and taught at universities. His 1981 film “Zoot Suit,” based on his own Tony Award-nominated play, weaves together two real life incidents, the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial and the Zoot Suit Riots in Southern California.
Meanwhile, independent films like Robert Young’s “Alambrista!” and “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez” were also building notice for Chicano and Latino stories, as was the breakthrough feature by Gregory Nava, “El Norte,” which was nominated for an original screenplay Oscar.
Valdez has said “La Bamba” was green lit very quickly. Finding an actor to portray Ritchie was another matter. Casting about, the production team saw some 600 actors before looking in Dallas, Texas, where Lou Diamond Phillips was discovered.
Phillips, a Corpus Christi-raised talent, was trying out for the role of Bob, Ritchie’s older half-brother—a role that eventually went to Esai Morales, in an indelible and (according to the family) uncanny performance.
If Phillips could channel that urgent explosiveness of Bob’s character into positive energy, he’d be perfect for the role of Ritchie, Valdez presciently surmised.
However, Phillips is not Latino. He was born in the Philippines to mixed heritage, including a Filipino mother, and a father whose ancestry was Scots-Irish and some Cherokee.
“I knew we were going into a minefield of sorts,” Valdez said of his casting choice on the El Rey network program “The Director’s Chair.” Still, Valdez said, “The play’s the thing.”
Phillips had only a smattering of archive footage of Ritchie Valens to study; he took guitar lessons to more closely mime the parts onscreen. His portrayal of Ritchie Valens is both sweet and innocent, but also driven for success. For Ritchie Valens, his music and his family come first above all else. Phillips’s performance was blessed by the late rocker’s family, who were fully involved with the production of the film, even appearing onscreen in several scenes playing their own aunts or cousins.
In a similar manner, Bob Morales, Ritchie Valens’ half-brother, spent time with actor Esai Morales, whose haunting, intense performance may be the best in the film full of great acting. “That’s Bob,” family members would acknowledge on set after seeing a take.
It’s Bob’s counter to Ritchie that is the beating heart of “La Bamba” and gives the film its universal appeal. If “La Bamba” had simply been about the meteoric rise and tragic death of Ritchie Valens, it might not have been the success it was. But Luis Valdez’s script is about the push and pull of family dynamics, the light of Ritchie and the dark soul of Bob, who aspired to be an artist but struggled with alcohol and drugs.
When siblings are close—and close in age—there’s an intense love-hate relationship that forms. In “La Bamba,” you can see it when Bob begrudgingly but lovingly paints scores of concert posters for Ritchie, or when the brothers joyously perform together on stage at an early gig. Bob’s violent outbursts overshadow his good work, though, and as Ritchie’s star rises, Bob is overlooked with what today we might call “micro aggressions,” from even his mother Connie (beautifully played by Rosanna DeSoto), who cheers loudest for “my Ritchie.” Like Salieri to Mozart, we see Ritchie through Bob, and when Valens dies tragically on that fateful night in early 1959, it’s Bob’s reaction, and the heartbreaking embrace between him and his mother, that brings on the tears (with an able assist from Santo and Johnny’s “Sleep Walk,” one of several spot-on music cues in the film).
Finally, it cannot be overstated how important Ritchie Valens was to Chicano rock. “La Bamba” was the first Spanish-language hit to crossover to a wide audience on the Billboard chart. A decade later, Santana blew minds at Woodstock and blew away sales records with their debut album, followed closely by the 5x Platinum “Abraxas.” Los Lobos formed in 1973, and were tapped by the “La Bamba” team to re-record all of Ritchie Valens’ songs for the film’s soundtrack, scoring a number one hit single with the title song. Four months after “La Bamba” was released on screens, Linda Ronstadt’s “Canciones de mi Padre” became the biggest-selling Spanish language album of all time. In the early 1990s, Selena’s mix of Tejano sounds with pop and rock led to chart success for the singer whose life was, like Valens, cut short by tragedy.
There’s a moment on one of the two commentary tracks on the Criterion Collection’s essential new Blu-ray of the 1987 film “La Bamba” when Daniel Valdez, producer and brother of the film’s director, is listening back to the soundtrack. The music of Ritchie Valens is blasting over the radio. “This is not nostalgia, this is now.” Co-producer Taylor Hackford responds: “A good song is a good song.”
Today, the influence of Latin music on all genres is inescapable, but representation for Latinos on television and in film still lags severely behind, despite over-representing as a portion of the ticket-buying public. Come on, let’s go, indeed.
‘LA BAMBA’ on Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection’s new Blu-ray of “La Bamba” looks and sounds better than the movie ever has. Colors are bright and vibrant, and the soundtrack has been remastered in DTS surround. Included on the release is a brand new interview with Luis Valdez, wherein he shares stories of working with Cesar Chavez, and using theater, film and storytelling to educate community members. Archive features include an episode of “The Director’s Chair” with Valdez and Robert Rodriguez, making-of programs from 1987, and most fascinatingly, audition footage of Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosanna DeSoto and Elizabeth Peña.
