Search - The Buddy Holly Story/La Bamba on DVD

Craig S. (InnerMacro) from WAUSAU, WI
Reviewed on 10/14/2023...

I never knew Gary Busey was a musician before an actor . . . he does surprisingly well as Holly given what he is known for in movie roles in the 80s and 90s. Of the two films, the Holly Story was more engaging, but given that Valens' life was tragically cut short at only 17, La Bamba really does not have a lot of material to base a movie upon. Lou Diamond Phillips is charismatic as Valens, while Esai Morales convincingly plays a relatively one-dimensional character. La Bamba feels more like a checklist of things known about Valens, and it covers the bases pretty well, but lacks depth beyond Morales' jealousy subplot. The ending of Buddy Holly was a bit of a let down - we see a re-creation of his last concert at Clear Lake that goes on for several minutes . . . and then the movie quickly ends with a caption about his death that doesn't really do justice to his legacy. What? La Bamba at least follows until the point of the plane taking off before ending, and also addresses how cold and sick many of the band members were during this poorly planned tour. Neither movie is exactly what you might want, but they are paired well in this DVD set as dimensions that can help form the total story.

1 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

For anyone who cares...

Crazy Reviewer | United States... | 08/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I love La Bamba and the Buddy Holly Story is okay. This is a less expensive way to get them both. Both titles are listed as Widescreen on Amazon, as well as on the box and the slipcases for each DVD. The Buddy Holly Story, however, is a fullscreen DVD. La Bamba IS widescreen. I'm not sure if The Buddy Holly Story that is sold individually is labeled incorrectly or if it is just the one in this set."

Double features ripping us off?

Adrian G. Ramirez | 01/19/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I have quite a large dvd collection (for a college student) that is somewhere between 300 and 400 movies and I've grown quite tired of picking up a double or triple feature set that purports all the movies to be in anamorphic widescreen and then when I put the movie in am disappointed that only one movie is and the other movies have "been formatted to fit this screen"

I'm sure the companies that put these films out don't stalk me to find out what my TV setup is like so I'll put this out there for them to read: I try to buy movies that are formatted for my screen - they say so on the back, it's called "anamorphic widescreen". If I wanted a horrendously cropped piece of crap I'd watch a laserdisc of "Let It Be".

As an avid movie watcher it tends to frustrate me when companies think they can do this to consumers - essentially a very backhanded bait and switch where they don't even tell you they've switched... Don't get me wrong, I love deals like this (2 movies for 6 bucks!) but I already owned La Bamba and wanted to get this for the Buddy Holly Story... Now I'm stuck with a cropped Holly DVD and 2 identical copies of La Bamba!

Do your research before you decide to buy a double feature from any of the major companies - sadly this is hard to do when (like me) you're always finding yourself at the store with the last copy of something like this on the shelf and can't go home to check online... On a good note, not all of the double/triple features are like this. Paramount tends to go a good job as well as MGM (and they put each movie on its own disc!)"

TWO GOOD MOVIE FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!

! MR. KNOW IT ALL ;-b | TRI STATE AREA | 08/25/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I found this two disc edition with "The Buddy Holly Story" and "La Bamba" for $ 9.99. They are both good movies,but "La Bamba" is a much better movie than "The Buddy Holly Story". "La Bamba" has a lot more character development and by the time the doomed young Valens meets his fate,it hits home just how sad and tragic this infamous plane crash was! Introducing Lou Diamond Phillips as Ritchie, he takes the role seriously and plays the part well. It is a tale about two brothers as much as it is a story about the young rock star's quick climb to stardom and tragic fall from the sky. Esai Morales plays Ritchie's half brother with gusto and it is this relationship that makes the film really shine. Ritchie's half brother is the opposite of the goodie two shoes Valens,but he is not really evil. It is a very interesting and touching story. "The Buddy Holly Story" is good,but the story never really goes anywhere,but lead us to the inevitable end. Busey does get brownie points for doing his own singing. It's a good film,but watching it back to back with "La Bamba" it pales in comparison. The Two DVD's are presented in widescreen,but "Holly" movie had a "this has been formatted to fit you TV screen" warning before the movie?? The transfers look very good and the soundtrack was rocking!"