Musical biography of Ritchie Valens, a poor Mexican-American who became a rock’n’roll sensation at age 17 in the 1950’s. Lou Diamond Phillips portrays Valens whose musical career ended when he was killed in the plane crash that also claimed the life of Buddy Holly. The music of Valens is performed by Los Lobos on the soundtrack.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Stream, rent or buy via
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
302471
Language
English
Audience classification
MA
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Biographical films
Crafts & Visual Arts → Artists - Biography
Feature films → Feature films - United States
Music & Performing Arts → Rock music
Music & Performing Arts → Singers - Biography
Sound/audio
Captioned
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)