Tags: movies similar to La Bamba (1987) - full list
Mark | imdb: 7 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:49 |
The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.
Mark | imdb: 6.8 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 02:07 |
In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez, who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete.
Mark | imdb: 6.5 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:45 |
Joan Jett and Cherie Currie, two rebellious teenagers from Southern California, become the frontwomen for the Runaways -- the now-legendary group that paved the way for future generations of female rockers. Under the Svengalilike influence of impresario Kim Fowley, the band becomes a huge success.
Mark | imdb: 7.1 |
Genre | melodrama, drama, music, biography |
Country | United Kingdom, Canada |
Duration | 01:38 |
The drama tells the story of Lennon's teenage years and the start of his journey to becoming a successful musician. The story also examines the impact on his early life and personality of the two dominant females in his childhood
Mark | imdb: 6.4 |
Genre | fantasy, drama, music, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:42 |
The story follows 19-year-old Renee who has always loved fairy tales: the idea of a princess, a hero and a happily ever after. But Renee’s life is that of a darker tale: she’s a young woman battling addiction, depression and self-injury. In a creative blend of artistic fantasy balanced with harsh reality, the movie follows Renee on her courageous journey towards recovery.
Mark | imdb: 7.8 |
Genre | melodrama, drama, music, biography |
Country | USA, Germany |
Duration | 02:16 |
A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.
Mark | imdb: 7.4 |
Genre | melodrama, drama, music, biography |
Country | United Kingdom, USA |
Duration | 02:01 |
The life and death of the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven. Beside all the work he is known for, the composer once wrote a famous love letter to a nameless beloved and the movie tries to find out who this beloved was. Not easy as Beethoven has had many women in his life.
Mark | imdb: 7.8 |
Genre | drama, music, biography, history |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:35 |
In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.
Mark | imdb: 7.2 |
Genre | melodrama, drama, music, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:52 |
Legendary trumpeter Art Hazzard teaches young Rick Martin everything he knows about playing, so Rick becomes a star musician, but a troubled marriage and the desire to play pure jazz instead of commercial swing songs cause him problems.
Mark | imdb: 6.3 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:56 |
In the mid-80s, three women (each with an attorney) arrive at the office of New York entertainment manager, Morris Levy. One is an L.A. singer, formerly of the Platters; one is a petty thief from Philly; one teaches school in a small Georgia town. Each claims to be the widow of long-dead doo-wop singer-songwriter Frankie Lyman, and each wants years of royalties due to his estate, money Levy has never shared. During an ensuing civil trial, flashbacks tell the story of each one's life with Lyman, a boyish, high-pitched, dynamic performer, lost to heroin. Slowly, the three wives establish their own bond.
Mark | imdb: 5.7 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, USA |
Duration | 01:56 |
A drama based on Jimi Hendrix's life as he left New York City for London, where his career took off.
Mark | imdb: 6.7 |
Genre | drama, crime, music, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 02:02 |
NOTORIOUS is the story of Christopher Wallace. Through raw talent and sheer determination, Wallace transforms himself from Brooklyn street hustler (once selling crack to pregnant women) to one of the greatest rappers of all time; THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. Follow his meteoric rise to fame and his refusal to succumb to expectations - redefining our notion of "The American Dream."
Mark | imdb: 6.8 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 02:14 |
From director Clint Eastwood comes the big-screen version of the Tony Award-winning musical Jersey Boys. The film tells the story of four young men from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey who came together to form the iconic 1960s rock group The Four Seasons. The story of their trials and triumphs are accompanied by the songs that influenced a generation, including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Rag Doll,” and many more.
Mark | imdb: 6.1 |
Genre | drama, biography, sport |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:35 |
This is the story of a teenager named Gracie Bowen, who lives in South Orange, New Jersey, is crazy about soccer, as are her three brothers and former soccer star father. Although Gracie wants to join her brothers and father in the nightly practices, she is discouraged by everyone except her elder brother, Johnny. Her father does not believe that girls should play soccer and tells her that she is neither tough enough nor talented enough to play with the boys team. Undeterred, Gracie finds reserves of strength she never knew existed, and persists in changing everyone's beliefs in what she is capable of, including her own. She faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer. But as the beautiful and strong person that she has always been but she also brings her family together in the face of their own tragedy.
Mark | imdb: 5.2 |
Genre | drama, music |
Country | USA |
During the Great Depression, identical twins are separated at birth. One, Drexel Hemsley becomes a wildly successful '50s rock star, while the other, Ryan Wade, struggles to balance his passion for music and pleasing his parents, who want him to become a preacher. Finally, Ryan rebels against his parents' wishes and launches his own music career -- performing the hits of Drexel Hemsley. Ryan later learns the truth about Drexel when their fates tragically collide.
Mark | imdb: 4.8 |
Genre | drama, family, music |
Country | USA |
Duration | 02:00 |
Holly has everything it takes to be a star; the voice, the dream and the dedication, but she lacks the means to break away from her humble Texas upbringing. Then she gets the chance to attend an art and music school on the East coast and her future suddenly looks bright. But the road to stardom is a bumpy one.
Mark | imdb: 6.9 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | United Kingdom, USA |
Duration | 02:19 |
A chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.
Mark | imdb: 7.2 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland |
Duration | 01:43 |
The story of music legend Terri Hooley, a key figure in Belfast's punk rock scene. Hooley founded the Good Vibrations store from which a record label sprung, representing bands such as The Undertones, Rudi and The Outcasts.
Mark | imdb: 7.7 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 02:32 |
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered couping gospel and country together.
Mark | imdb: 6.3 |
Genre | melodrama, drama, music |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:31 |
David Sinclair seems to have everything going for him: he's smart, musically talented, and very successful. To top off his senior year in high school, his band is trying to get a recording session. Therefore, David's suicide leaves everyone, especially his best friend and band-mate, Chris, with a lot of questions.
Mark | imdb: 7.3 |
Genre | drama, music |
Country | USA |
Duration | 02:23 |
In 1965, passionate musician Glenn Holland takes a day job as a high school music teacher, convinced it's just a small obstacle on the road to his true calling: writing a historic opus. As the decades roll by with the composition unwritten but generations of students inspired through his teaching, Holland must redefine his life's purpose.
Mark | imdb: 7.3 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:55 |
In 1957, a son and mother flee the East and an abusive boyfriend to find a new life, and end up in Seattle, where the mother meets a polite garage mechanic. The boy continually gets into trouble by hanging out with the wrong crowd. The mom marries the mechanic, but they soon find out that he's an abusive and unreasoning alcoholic, and they struggle to maintain hope in an impossible situation as the boy grows up with plans to escape the small town by any means possible. Based on a true story by Tobias Wolff.
Mark | imdb: 5.4 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | United Kingdom |
Duration | 02:35 |
The story of the late jazz musician and classical pianist Nina Simone including her rise to fame and relationship with her manager Clifton Henderson.
Mark | imdb: 6.2 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | USA |
The most feared battle emcee in early-'80s NYC was a fierce teenager from the Queensbridge projects with the weight of the world on her shoulders. At age 14, hustling the streets to provide for her family, Roxanne Shanté was well on her way to becoming a hip-hop legend.
Mark | imdb: 7.3 |
Genre | drama, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:43 |
Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a hispanic neighbourhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional teaching methods to try and turn gang members and no-hopers into some of the country's top algebra and calculus students.
Mark | imdb: 6.6 |
Genre | drama, musical, music, biography |
Country | United Kingdom, USA |
Duration | 02:05 |
From Paris to Venice to Broadway to Hollywood, the lives of Cole Porter and his wife, Linda were never less than glamorous and wildly unconventional. And though Cole's thirst for life strained their marriage, Linda never stopped being his muse, inspiring some of the greatest sons of the twentieth century.
Mark | imdb: 6.5 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:49 |
Loosely traces the life of tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). He loves Musetta, in his home town of Naples, and then Dorothy, the daughter of one of the Metropolitan Opera's patrons. Caruso is unacceptable to both women's fathers: to one, because he sings; to Dorothy's, because he is a peasant. To New York patricians, Caruso is short, barrel chested, loud, emotional, unrefined. Their appreciation comes slowly. The film depicts Caruso's lament that "the man does not have the voice, the voice has the man": he cannot be places he wants to be, because he must be elsewhere singing, including the day his mother dies. Throughout, Mario Lanza and stars from the Met sing.
Mark | imdb: 6.3 |
Genre | drama, music |
Country | USA |
Duration | 01:57 |
Soon after the rising young singer-songwriter Beau Williams gets involved with a fallen, emotionally unstable country star Kelly Canter, the pair embark on a career resurrection tour helmed by her husband/manager James and featuring a beauty queen-turned-singer Chiles Stanton. Between concerts, romantic entanglements and old demons threaten to derail them all.
Mark | imdb: 5.8 |
Genre | drama, music, biography |
Country | United Kingdom |
Duration | 02:08 |
A portrait of Steven Patrick Morrissey and his early life in 1970s Manchester before he went on to become lead singer of seminal 1980s band The Smiths.