Lou Diamond Phillips

When “La Bamba” premiered in the summer of 1987, the expectations for its success were low. The film was based on the life of Ritchie Valens, the Mexican American teenager (birth name: Richard Steven Valenzuela) who was one of the first Latinos in rock ’n’ roll. It covered his beginnings as a farmworker in Delano, his bond with his contentious big brother, Bob, and the complexities of having to hide his background to make it in the music business with hits like the title tune. At its core, it was the story of two brothers working to achieve the American dream, a dream that was usually reserved for White Americans.

Valens died in 1959, just a year after being signed to Del-fi Records, in a plane crash that also killed two other stars, Buddy Holly and J.P. Richardson, better known as the Big Bopper.

The short-lived career of a Latino teenager didn’t exactly bring Hollywood executives running. What were dubbed “ethnic” stories weren’t considered box office draws. An early article in the Los Angeles Times paraphrased marketing specialists who privately feared that “La Bamba” — written and directed by a Latino playwright, Luis Valdez, and starring an unknown actor of Filipino descent, Lou Diamond Phillips — would fall “fatally short” of expectations and would “sour” Hollywood on other films about Latinos.

Yet the biopic, made for just $6.5 million, went on to gross more than $54 million. Adjusted for inflation, that’s more than $120 million.

“‘La Bamba’ became the flagship of what many thought was going to be a Latino wave in Hollywood,” Phillips said by video chat. “But it never took hold enough to where it became a mainstay.”

Valdez added, “In that sense then, ‘La Bamba’ is unique and fresh because not very much has been around to compete with it.”

With “La Bamba” playing on HBO Max, Valdez reunited with Phillips to discuss the film, and its impact, 34 years later. (These are edited excerpts from the conversation.)

Q:

“La Bamba” is still considered one of the must-see Latino stories in cinematic history. How does it feel that a film you

created over three decades ago is still so influential?

Valdez: It feels both good and bad, in a way. It’s good that the movie is relevant, that it’s up to date and that people can enjoy it because of what it is. At the same time, there should be dozens of movies like “La Bamba” representing the Latino experience. Not just the Latino experience, but the minority experience as a whole in America. Because I think what makes the movie strong is that it references a new consensus in America, what it means to be American. It most definitely has multicultural roots, but it subscribes to the same basic universal concerns in every person’s life: the family, work, hope, ambition, dreams, desires, and it’s relevant in that sense, because those things never go away. Those are human and eternal.

Phillips: I agree with what Luis said. We would like to have been further along at this point in time. What we have seen, I think, for the last 20 years is a very vocal African American community and very motivated and determined producers, directors and writers. When you have Tyler Perry, Ava Duvernay or Shonda Rhimes, you had these creators who became touchstones to opening up your own shop. Luis was the pioneer in that. He just didn’t get enough people to follow up in his footsteps.

Q:

Señor Valdez, you mentioned that the film was an American story. It inspired many first- and second-generation American Latino kids to dream

Luis Valdez • writer and director of “La Bamba”