La Bamba

Note: the July 28 screening has been canceled.

Dir. Luis Valdez. 1987, 108 mins. 4K DCP. With Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosanna DeSoto, Elizabeth Peña, Danielle von Zerneck, Joe Pantoliano. One of the best things to emerge from 1980s Hollywood’s obsession with the 1950s, La Bamba was a rare big studio release that told the story of a Mexican American that was actually written and directed by a Mexican American. Trailblazing stage and screen artist Luis Valdez dramatizes the year-and-a-half during which teenager Ritchie Valens (Diamond Phillips in a star-making performance) went from Mexican farmboy to SoCal pop sensation. Shortly after breaking through with the aching ballad “Donna” (written for a high-school sweetheart, played by DeSoto) and B-side “La Bamba” (a Mexican standard given a rock ‘n’ roll update), Valens died tragically in a plane crash—an event eerily foretold by a fear of flying he’d only recently overcome. Carlos Santana and Miles Goodman provide the original score, while Chicano band Los Lobos perform all of Valens’s songs; their version of “La Bamba” went to #1 on the U.S. charts, just the fourth fully non-English song to do so. (Released July 24, 1987)

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.