I never knew Buddy Holly but if he were alive today I would definately go see him after seeing this movie of his career. His music would have surpassed Elvis Pressley if he had live . The movie was a short biography of his musical career and all I can say it was a fantastic movie and the music was fabulous
December 8, 2008 |  | Compelling, Fascinating Portrait of Buddy Holly |  |
Despite that a lot of factual information was omitted from this portrait of Buddy Holly, this movie is a compelling, insightful portrait of the mesmerizing character of Buddy Holly himself. Sure, there are glaring omissions concerning the real Crickets and Norm Petty, the 'manager' that helped Buddy get his start--nevertheless, the portrait Gary Busey paints of Buddy is a fascinating, driving and complex picture of an immensely talented, driven, and totally amazing young man who had an unerring faith in his own ability and unsurpassed talent and conviction that he understood and heralded what would become known as rock and roll....the faults in this movie can be overlooked--it is easy enough to find the truth in the in depth biographies of Buddy Holly available. It is far harder to find that fascinating grain of persona and truth that this portrait provides; that is what makes the errors/omissions forgivable. Gary Busey's performance as Buddy garnered him an Academy Award nomination--and provided millions of new fans a look at the driven, multi-faceted, extremely talented and amazing young rocker, Charles Hardin 'Buddy' Holly.
This movie is a triumph. The essence of Buddy Holly is portrayed in a magnetic, unsurpassed depiction. The ultimate portrait is a compelling, fascinating look at a young man whose life ended far too soon--and whose talent, foresight and legend created rock music as we knew it in the late 1950's and as we know it today.
October 13, 2008great movie. saw most of it on tv and wanted to get it. got me more interested in the great buddy holly
September 18, 2008Having been a professional musician for 47 years, this film takes me back to a wonderfully innocent era. The opening scene had me in tears - my very first gigs were at the local skating rink sock hops. I really didn't think Busey would be able to pull this off, but it has got to be one of his finest performances - my other favorite being his portrayal of the road manager in "A Star Is Born". The best thing about this film is is that Busey is actually doing the playing and singing....no cheesy lip-sync...and does a damn fine job even if he doesn't sound that much like Buddy.
January 25, 2008| | | Great movie, great music! | |
This is a keeper! If you like good music, or good acting or just feeling good, this is the movie for you. Gary Busey plays Buddy Holly with style, and he sings and plays all by himself. All music in the movie is live, by the way. The rest of the cast is brilliant too.
This movie claims to be more or less the true story about Buddy's rise to fame, and terrible death, and from what I can see it's pretty accurate. The DVD quality isn't the best, but it's definitely on the top half of the scale. Remember, it's from 1978 and was a low budget flick. Get it while you can!
November 13, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(50 reviews)