La Bamba (1987)

Some stars burn brightly for only a moment, but their music lives on for generations. Luis Valdez's "La Bamba" tells the story of rock 'n' roll pioneer Ritchie Valens, born Richard Valenzuela, featuring star-making performances by Lou Diamond Phillips as Ritchie and Esai Morales as his troubled older half brother, Bob. It traces the teenage Mexican American's meteoric rise from farm laborer in California to rock star, cheered on by his devoted mother (Rosanna DeSoto), who works tirelessly to keep the family afloat. Bob, a hard-drinking, restless biker, loves his brother but grows jealous of his success, especially after his own girlfriend (Elizabeth Peña) is drawn to the gentle Ritchie. Ritchie falls for a pretty classmate, Donna (Danielle von Zerneck), whose father disapproves of him because he's Mexican American, and turns his heartbreak into the hit ballad "Donna." Discovered by record producer Bob Keane (Joe Pantoliano), who shortens his name to Valens, Ritchie scores a string of hits, including "La Bamba," a traditional Mexican folk song he first hears on a trip with Bob to Tijuana. But he's haunted by recurring nightmares about planes, rooted in a midair crash he witnessed as a boy, which take on tragic meaning when he dies at just 17 in the 1959 plane crash that also claimed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Los Lobos perform his songs, including the film's No. 1 title track, and Brian Setzer and Marshall Crenshaw appear as Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly.