The Buddy Holly Story | | Cast : | Gary Busey | | Director : | Steve Rash | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Full Screen | | Released Date : | January 01, 1978 | | DVD Released Date : | June 07, 2005 | | Language : | Unknown (Dubbed), English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 21, 2005 | | Summary | "Story" is the operative word! | Content
 | A previous reviewer asked, in response to the fact that Buddy Holly's parents sued this film's producers due to their portrayal in this movie, "How could one capture accuracy in 3 minutes??" The Hollys did not sue about accuracy, they sued about inaccuracy. If you nurture your child's musical gifts from the earliest age, encourage him to perform before audiences, and instill him with confidence in his creative ability, and then see yourselves portrayed as cliche farm folk who tell their son to give up music and concentrate on a "real career," soley for purpose of telling a cliche rock 'n' roll story, I can imagine them being pretty annoyed. The Crickets were annoyed, too, at the portrait of Buddy Holly assaulting a record producer. This never happened and if it had, Buddy Holly would probably have gone to jail and would possibly never have recorded. This movie is loaded with silly high-drama moments and cliched portrayals. The true story was interesting enough, but these producers had to weave in every old angle from Judy Garland movies, to what end I really don't know. Gary Busey brings a lot of energy to the role, it's true. In singing and performing all the songs he does a creditable job. At the same time, on not one song does he get the lyrics right. These are not hard lyrics. I guess there must have been some copyright issue because the lyrics to every single song are changed from the original. I found "The Buddy Holly Story" depressing. I expected so much and it delivered so little. Compared to "La Bamba," "Backbeat," or "Ray" this is a terrible film bio. I give it three stars for Busey's performance, but that's about Gary Busey, not Buddy Holly. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 28, 2005 | | Summary | The Buddy Holly Story DVD | Content
| Service was very good and the DVD was excellent. No problems. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 02, 2005 | | Summary | THIS MOVIE IS GREAT EVEN IF IT PARTS ARE INACCURATE! | Content
| Ok, so Hollywood took some liberties here. Many complaints about this movie deal with the fact that there are many inaccuracies about Holly's life. Maybe so, but Gary Busey (in a well deserved Oscar Nominated role) captures the essence of Holly so effectively, it doesn't matter!!!!! Kudos also to Don Stroud and the marvelous Charles Martin Smith who portray the Crickets with equal finesse. So their names were changed for the movie from Jerry Allison and Joe Mauldin! Big Deal! As for the fact that Holly's parents sued the producers of the movie for inaccurately portraying them is absurd as well. Heck, they weren't on the screen more than 3 minutes...first in the church scene, then the Sunday dinner scene! How could one capture accuracy in 3 minutes?? Did this take away from Holly's legend? I DON'T THINK SO. Did it take away from his genius?? Never!! The music score (which won an Oscar) is outstanding and Busey really SHOULD HAVE WON over Jon Voight in Coming HOme, for his portrayal of Holly. Even HOlly's parents endorsed Busey's portrayal saying Busey captured Holly to a tee! Busey is amazing! The lovely actress who played his wife Maria Elena is incandescent. There is not one single flaw in this film!! It is an extraordinarily done biography which would have made Holly proud!! As I said before, the inaccuracies mentioned have not taken away one iota from the Holly mythos. Best Scene: Holly performing "True Love Ways" at the final concert; truly a heartbreaking moment! There is a dandy documentary on the making of the film with Busey and the film's director! There are trailers and subtitles as well. The picture and sound are great!! |
| Rating | | | Date | December 24, 2004 | | Summary | Oh,Boy!!!! | Content
| I think the most important thing about "The Buddy Holly Story" is it captures the essence of it's subject, the time it is depicting, and the burgeoning rock'n'roll movement. The most glaring innacuracy is the names of the other Crickets, Jerry Allison and Joe Mauldin, being changed. That quibble aside, this film is simultaneously important, yet thrilling, because it celebrates the artistry of rock's premiere pioneer(sorry, Elvis). Gary Busey doesn't merely portray Buddy Holly, he is possessed by the spirit of the man. Though he doesn't necessarily duplicate the vocals of Holly, he has the essence of them down pat. Credit too has to go to Don Stroud and Charles Martin Smith as the other Crickets. This trio actually feels like a working band. I read some of the other reviews that take issue with the film for it's inaccuracies. The truth of the matter is alot of the fabrications in the film were the result of legal wrangling and not a deliberate attempt to falsify the facts. The most important thing here is the film celebrates the man, his creative processes, and the music. If this film moves the uninitiated they can seek out the true story. In conclusion,"Hail! Hail! Rock'n'Roll!"(Oh, that's Chuck Berry.) |
| Rating | | | Date | September 07, 2004 | | Summary | The Buddy Holly Story | Content
| The Buddy Holly Story is OK if your just wanting to watch a movie. I feel this movie did not portray Buddy as he actually was. I felt they could of done a better job with it. It was not very accurate in the details like the band members names. Not bad for a movie but not very accurate. |
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