La Bamba
Born into poverty. Destined for stardom. He lived the American dream.
Los Angeles teenager Ritchie Valens becomes an overnight rock 'n' roll success in 1958, thanks to a love ballad called "Donna" that he wrote for his girlfriend.But as his star rises, Valens has conflicts with his jealous brother, Bob, and becomes haunted by a recurring nightmare of a plane crash just as he begins his first national tour alongside Buddy Holly.
- Director
- Luis Valdez
- Signature
- Drama · Craft · Tension
- Worldwide
- $54M
Who's in it
Cast
The billed ensemble, with character names. Open any performer for their Nutevio filmography.
24 billed performers
The Nutevio profile
Movie DNA
How La Bamba actually feels to watch, measured on the twelve traits our editors track across every Nutevio title.
Perfect if you enjoyed
Story overview
What It's About
Spoiler-free. Read the analysis below for the full argument.
Los Angeles teenager Ritchie Valens becomes an overnight rock 'n' roll success in 1958, thanks to a love ballad called "Donna" that he wrote for his girlfriend. But as his star rises, Valens has conflicts with his jealous brother, Bob, and becomes haunted by a recurring nightmare of a plane crash just as he begins his first national tour alongside Buddy Holly.
Where to watch
Streaming
Availability verified against regional listings.
Checking regional listings…
The numbers
Box Office & Release
La Bamba returned 8.3× its budget worldwide.
- Budget
- $7M
- Opening weekend
- —
- Domestic gross
- —
- International gross
- —
- Worldwide gross
- $54M
- Release date
- Jul 24, 1987
- Runtime
- 1h 48m
- MPAA rating
- —
- Language
- English, Spanish
- Country
- United States of America
Figures from the verified production record. Fields we cannot source are left blank rather than estimated.
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