Fairly straightforward biopic of Ritchie Valens, who famously died at the age of 17 in the same 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Lou Diamond Phillips is convincing and charming in the main role. Esai Morales is less credible and somewhat overwrought as his troubled ex-con brother Bob. Rosanna DeSoto plays their devoted mother, who helps Ritchie make it big, while Danielle von Zerneck is Ritchie’s sweet girlfriend Donna Ludwig (subject of his hit single “Donna”).
The film balances the story of two brothers with the brief, swift rise to fame of Valens. It tackles issues of race, class and poverty. The sub-plot about Donna’s father forbidding her to date Valens is not satisfactorily resolved, and there’s rather too much about the troubles of Bob, his girlfriend and their baby. That said, the story is a good one and our prior knowledge of how it will end adds tragic significance to each scene as the film unfolds.
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