Why is there such a barrier to putting an American label on what is considered an “ethnic” story?
It inspired many first- and second-generation American Latino kids to dream big. Señor Valdez, you mentioned that the film was an American story. He just didn’t get enough people to follow up in his footsteps. When you have Tyler Perry, Ava DuVernay or Shonda Rhimes, you had these creators who became touchstones to opening up your own shop. What we have seen, I think, for the last 20 years is a very vocal African-American community and very motivated and determined producers, directors and writers. We would like to have been further along at this point in time. It most definitely has multicultural roots, but it subscribes to the same basic universal concerns in every person’s life: the family, work, hope, ambition, dreams, desires, and it’s relevant in that sense, because those things never go away.
#La bamba mbox office movie#
Because I think what makes the movie strong is that it references a new consensus in America, what it means to be American. Not just the Latino experience, but the minority experience as a whole in America. At the same time, there should be dozens of movies like “La Bamba” representing the Latino experience. It’s good that the movie is relevant, that it’s up-to-date and that people can enjoy it because of what it is. VALDEZ It feels both good and bad, in a way. An early article in The Los Angeles Times paraphrased marketing specialists who privately feared that “La Bamba” - written and directed by a Latino playwright, Luis Valdez, and starring an unknown actor of Filipino descent, Lou Diamond Phillips - would fall “fatally short” of expectations and would “sour” Hollywood on other films about Latinos. What were dubbed “ethnic” stories weren’t considered box office draws. The short-lived career of a Latino teenager didn’t exactly bring Hollywood executives running. Richardson, better known as the Big Bopper. Valens died in 1959, just a year after being signed to Del-Fi Records, in a plane crash that also killed two other stars, Buddy Holly and J.P. At its core, it was the story of two brothers working to achieve the American dream, a dream that was usually reserved for white Americans. It covered his beginnings as a farmworker in Delano, Calif., his bond with his contentious big brother, Bob, and the complexities of having to hide his background to make it in the music business with hits like the title tune. The film was based on the life of Ritchie Valens, the Mexican-American teenager (birth name: Richard Steven Valenzuela) who was one of the first Latinos in rock ’n’ roll. When “La Bamba” premiered in the summer of 1987, the expectations for its success were low.
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