Word: bamba
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Lines ad, the happy vacationers cavorting on the beach are over 60. In the McDonald's commercial, the Lothario with an eye for the female customer is 75 if he's a day. And the lady who takes the Subaru for a joyride to the pulsing music of La Bamba must be pushing...
...Norte is not just a parable for immigrant visions crushed by reality. It is a caustic metaphor for Hispanic-American filmmakers lusting to conquer Hollywood. Years of slammed doors have tempered hope with skepticism, even when one smash movie has opened doors a crack. La Bamba, a low-budget bio-pic of Chicano Rock 'n' Roller Ritchie Valens, was last summer's surprise hit, earning $55 million at the North American box office. Maybe Hispanic film artists would prefer to believe in La Bamba's rags-to-riches story. But they know how even that film ends: with a fatal...
...million and grossed $17.4 million. "In a business where only three out of ten films show a profit, Hispanic films return more on the dollar than their mainstream counterparts." If Hispanic films produce black ink -- and they have -- studios will take an educated gamble on making more. As La Bamba's director, Luis Valdez, notes, "There are more projects in the works now than in the rest of the '80s combined...
...Stand and Deliver is more than a simple parable of effort rewarded. Even more than La Bamba, it has sent a jolt of hope and renewed self-esteem through Hispanic communities across the country. As the news about the film has spread, Olmos and Escalante have become role models for millions of Hispanic Americans, living proof that with the requisite amount of what Escalante calls ganas (desire), they can lift themselves out of the barrio and become teachers, mathematicians, movie stars -- anything they want. Olmos is "very inspirational, a real hero to the Hispanic community," observes Producer Moctesuma Esparza...
...sort that is now in evidence (the teen movie, the rock song) may exist in an hourglass, may in fact be irrelevant. The U.S. Border Patrol works through the night to arrest the flow of illegal immigrants over the border, even as Americans stand patiently in line for La Bamba. While Americans vote to declare, once and for all, that English shall be the official language of the U.S., Madonna starts recording in Spanish...