Ep. # 17 - La Bamba with Vance Piper

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It’s Rock N’ Roll week on Fabulous Film & Friends, and we’re going to bop our way through the 1987 Lou Diamond Phillips starring Luis Valdez directed low budget sleeper hit La Bamba!  

My guest is Cinematographer and Camera guru Vance Piper returning once again after his riveting first podcast on Triple FFF where we talked about the making of The Terminator. La Bamba, like the Terminator, was another Adam Greenberg lensed production and Vance served as his 1st Assistant Camera. 

Before we hit the dance floor, The synopsis:

La Bamba is the story of the meteoric rise and tragic fall of Chicano rock n’ roll sensation Ritchie Valens, whose life and career was cut short when the plane carrying him, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper JP Richardson crashed near Clear Lake Iowa, the site of their last concert, an event known as The Day The Music Died.  

 It should be noted that this podcast discussion marks the first time I’ve watched the movie, and while it’s not a candidate for “Face Your Fears” it’s in another category called “I DON’T WATCH BIOPICS.” 

 Biopics for me are like horror movies, they are not a genre that I seek out, especially with figures from the age of historical film archives and media.  Biopics often seem to me like SNL sketches with actors in cheap and garish make up and party costumes, which begs the question “Why even bother?” We’ve got endless amounts of video and film footage of most important figures from the 20th Century onward. I don’t need an actor or director’s dramatization. I can can watch a well-crafted documentary. And in the case of an Ali or a Walk the Line, where as good and charismatic as Will Smith is, he’s but a drop of spittle compared to the real Muhammed Ali. As good as Joaquin Phoenix is as an actor and he’s a freakin’ powerhouse, he still seemed like Alden Ehrenreich dressing up as Han Solo for Halloween when it came to filling Johnny Cash’s enormous shoes. 

But La Bamba has more up its sleeve than just biopic tropes.