Review of La Bamba (1987) by Laurent K — 29 Mar 2009

When you consider the utter crap that gets passed off as decent pop music in the modern age, you have to envy audiences of the late fifties who were treated to the delightful sounds of Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley and the subject of this biopic Richey Valens.

Valens was tragically killed in a plane crash at the age of just seventeen as he was on the verge of superstardom. What he left behind however are four or five songs (most famously Oh Donna, Come on, let's go, La Bamba and We belong together) which are as catchy and emotionally powerful as when they were first released some fifty years ago.

This film which deals with his poverty-stricken upbringing is riddled with cliches in terms of both character and plotting but is filled with a great sense of energy and a wonderfully charismatic performance by Lou Dimond Philips in the main role.

The film is at it s best in the musical segments which are wonderfully recreated to give a sense of the time in terms of both audience, the studio system and the sheer joy of creating music.

There is also a terrible sadness to the film throughout knowing that just as the character is starting to make it in the big time he will have his life tragically cut short.

The film's dramatic conflicts including Richey's relationship with his brother become a little repetitve and seem drawn out just for the sake of creating conflicts within the story.

Though some of the action feels like filler, there are also some standout dramatic moments which are handled with wonderful subtelty such as the sad ending.

There is no knowing how big or great Richey would have gone on to become, but this film will certainly give you a sense of just hos good he was.