Trivia for
La Bamba (1987)

photos

board

trailer

details

• Many family members from the production team, and Luis Valdez's and the Valenzuela family, appear in this film.
  
  
• At the first family party, the old lady sitting by Ritchie and the man is Ritchie Valens' mother, Connie Valenzuela.
  
  
• In the movie, Esai Morales plays Bob, the older brother of Ritchie Valens, played by Lou Diamond Phillips. In reality, Phillips is older than Morales.
  
  

• According to Lou Diamond Phillips in the VH1 documentary "Behind The Music: The Day The Music Died" (1990), Ritchie Valens' sister was on the set the day they filmed the "coin toss" scene where Ritchie wins (or rather, loses) the chance to fly on the plane with Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. As the scenes were being shot, Ritchie's sister began to weep uncontrollably and when Phillips tried to console her, she hugged him and sobbed, "Why Ritchie? Why did you get on the plane?"
  
  
• The three actors who played Ritchie, Buddy and The Big Bopper were all much older than the stars they played: Lou Diamond Phillips was 25 playing teenage Ritchie Valens, Stephen Lee was 31 playing the 29-year-old Big Bopper and Marshall Crenshaw was 33 playing 22-year-old Buddy Holly.
  
  
• Original title was "Let's Go".
  
  

Related Links