His story will have you singing, laughing, crying, cheering, and stomping your feet
A chronicle of the rise and brief career of rock 'n' roll star Buddy Holly, who aspires to play music the way he wants it to sound. Holly and his band, the Crickets, are first invited to record in Nashville, where they encounter creative differences with the producing staff. Later they play a major booking at the Apollo Theater, scheduled there under the mistaken assumption that they're a black band. Holly's career eventually goes solo -- until the tragic day the music dies.
- Bleak ending
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Character
Classical in form, earnest, nostalgic and resolved.
- classical in formformally daring
- earnestironic
- contemporarynostalgic
- resolvedopen-ended
- effortlessdemanding
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- CinemaSerfon TMDB · Aug 20247/10
Aside from a passable resemblance to the man himself, Gary Busey also sounds a bit like Buddy Holly in this biopic of a man who blazed a trail through the American music industry. Despite the popularity of his toe-tapping "Peggy Sue" type numbers, he still faced quite an uphill battle to convince the powers that be that his quirky style of lyric writing and performing was not quite as Satanic as some of the more establishment figures thought. With his two best pals - the "Crickets" never far away, we follow the tumultuous process as they fall in and out and Holly falls for the love of his own life - Maria (Maria Richwine). Busey does well here as he portrays a man in love with his music, his audience and the idea of opportunity whilst conflicted with a desire to stay at home and be with his family. Like so many who become alive on stage, there are huge amounts of nerves and a sense of uncertainly about his abilities and popularity - especially when he begins to become idolised and goes solo. There are plenty of opportunities to get into his songs here, and those of the Big Bopper and Eddie Cochran and the film not only serves to illustrate just how pioneering Holly was, but also ju
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Cast
- Gary BuseyBuddy Holly
- Don StroudJesse Charles
- Charles Martin SmithRay Bob Simmons
- Conrad JanisRoss Turner
- William JordanRiley
- Maria RichwineMaria Elena Holly
- Amy JohnstonCindy Lou
- Dick O'NeillSol Gittler
- Fred TravalenaMadman Mancuso
- Neva PattersonMrs. Holly
Crew
- Steve RashDirector
- Robert GittlerScreenplay
- Stevan LarnerDirector of Photography
- Joe RenzettiOriginal Music Composer
- David E. BlewittEditor
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Pairings
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