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"Born
to poverty. Destined for stardom. He lived the American Dream" |
Reviewed by
Cass Nunn |
Director
Luiz Valdez
Cast
Lou Diamond Phillips,
Esai Morales,
Rosanna DeSoto,
Elizabeth Pena,
Danielle Von Zerneck,
Joe Pantoliano
Music
Miles Goodman and Carlos Santana,
& Richie Valens |
| Screen
Format/s |
1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen |
| Audio
Track/s |
DD 5.1
English
DD 2.0 French, German Italian, Spanish. |
| Subtitle/s
|
English,
French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Greek,
Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish and
all Audio Commentaries. |
| Region Code
|
2/4 |
| Chapters
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28 |
| Disc Format
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DVD5 |
| Running
Time |
104 minutes |
| Extras |
- Theatrical
Trailer
- Cast Biographies
- Featurette: Remembering Ritchie
- Music video’s: La Bamba and Lonely Teardrops
- Audio Commentary: Luis Valdez (director, Stuart Benjamin (Exec Producer), Lou Diamond
Phillips (Actor), Esai Morales (Actor).
- Audio Commentary: Taylor Hackford (producer), Daniel Valdez (assoc. producer) |
| Classification
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M15+ |
| Distributor
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CTHE |
| Release
date |
24th April 2001 |
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I find that many of my reviews start of with some
kind of reference to the when the films were originally released and whether I did or
didn’t see them, or did or didn’t like them.
Again I find that my opening comment is to say that when I was a teenager this was one
of the biggest things amongst us little girlies. I can also say that I still have the
soundtrack on CD from way back when it was at it’s peak and most popular. That’s
not to say that I don’t still play it every now and then but it certainly copped a
workout in its day.
La Bamba is based on the life story of Ritchie Valens who many of you would associate
with a plane crash that killed some of the most successful musicians in its time. The same
plane crash referred to in the song "American Pie".
There’s not a lot of point going into too much detail here but basically the film
is a description of the Rise of Ritchie Valens to fame he had never imagined. Ritchie (Lou
Diamond Phillips) was most terrified of flying and even when it came to his concert days
he still preferred to travel by bus than get on a plane.
The film explores his life on many levels, where he suffered from racism from his
girlfriend’s family who were white Americans and didn’t like the idea of their
daughter dating a Hispanic. As the film also shows the majority of the Hispanics at the
time lived in a hard labour era. But this never stopped Ritchie from having a dream. He
played guitar and he sang with passion.
After he was discovered and his hit songs made into radio land his career took off with
a mighty swing and in the late 50’s he was revered with the likes of buddy holly and
The Big Bopper.
We all know how the story ends though.
I found the film to be quite intriguing at times and yet at other times it was a little
slow. None the less entertaining and interesting from a world history perspective, even if
the story has been trumped up a little purely for the purpose of making a good film.
So how does this transfer hold up?
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VIDEO
The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is nice but there are some
small problems, which seemed to pop up.
The transfer is reasonably sharp but never really making
the grade into greatness. While the film is 14 years old I have seen better detail on film
of a much older vintage. Shadow detail is quite good but at times shows some loss of
detail, which I am more inclined to attribute to source material than the transfer. Grain
was a problem during the dream sequences but again this is not a problem with the transfer
more the source material and the effect intended for these sequences.
The colour palette was inconsistent throughout. While it
was obvious that the intention was to create a 50’s feel to the film there was
considerable difference in the tone of the colours from the beginning of the film right
through to the end. Generally the colour had a muted feel to it but at time picked up some
extra brightness.
There were no MPEG artefacts, and only some minor
shimmering and ailiasing. Film artefacts however were prevalent throughout and at times
became quite annoying with scratches and dust marks popping up regularly |
 ... |
AUDIO
The English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track gave the film a
big lift and certainly makes a difference from the flat sound of the old soundtrack I have
for this film. Dialogue was always clear and easy to understand and there are no
significant sync problems. I did find at times though that it was easy to tell when Lou
Diamond Phillips was lip syncing and not really singing but it wasn’t really too bad.
The surround channels are used quite frequently to support
the score and give added effect to directional sound. Similarly the LFE channel is felt
quite often but never really makes a huge impression.
The score from Carlos Santana, Miles Goodman and of course Los Lobos was quite
sensational. The Latin feel to the music was never really forced on you but was felt
throughout the film and the use of the Latin acoustic guitar was very well done. Los lobos
of course sang the Ritchie Valens numbers and again did a fantastic job. The score had
some incredible feeling and passion to it that really gives the film the big lift it
needed. |
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EXTRAS
- Theatrical Trailer: Full Frame Dolby 2.0
- Cast Biographies: Bios for Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai
Morales, Elizabeth Pena, Joe Pantoliano and Rosanna De Soto.
- Featurette: Remembering Ritchie: a short 6-minute insight
into Ritchie with some interesting input from his real life girlfriend Donna Ludwig. Music
video’s: La Bamba and Lonely Teardrops
- Audio Commentary: Luis Valdez (director, Stuart Benjamin
(Exec Producer), Lou Diamond Phillips (Actor), Esai Morales (Actor): This would have to be
one of the most interesting commentaries I’ve heard and maybe this could be
attributed to having four commentators who all seemed equally excited about the film. They
provide some great insight into the making of the film including the cast of extras and
some of Lou Diamond Phillips tasks to be able to live up to being Ritchie Valens.
- Audio Commentary: Taylor Hackford (producer), Daniel Valdez
(assoc. producer): not as good as the other commentary but still providing a lot of
information about the making of the film and its conception.
OVERALL
I love this film and have loved the music for many years, go out and buy it!
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| PICTURE
QUALITY |
8/10 many
source inherited problems. |
SOUND
- Quality
- 5.1 WOW Factor |
8/10 enjoy the music!
7/10 a good feeling to it. |
| EXTRAS |
7/10 some great stuff. |
| OVERALL |
8/10 enjoyable and great
listening. |
Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Pioneer 737
Receiver: Yamaha RX-V595a
Speakers:-
Fronts: B&W 602 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Wharfedale Diamond R6
Sub: M&K v75
- Reviewed 1st July 2001
* jpeg files for internet promotion use
only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by CTHE |
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