Racism, corruption and underworld violence abound as junior record company producer Coleman Buckmaster (Harvey Keitel) hypes his down’n’dirty R&B charges, The Group (played by members of Earth, Wind & Fire) to stardom from their humble beginnings in a scuzzy dancehall – not so much Studio 54, more Studio Filthy Floor.
But evil and gang warfare lurk just around the corner . . .
Directed by Sig Shore of Superfly fame, the movie had one foot in the then waning blaxploitation camp and the other in the soon-to-be-massive New York disco scene.
Buckmaster is eager to record with The Group but his rigidly commercial label (A-Kord Records) wants him to produce a hit single for the hideously insipid Carpenters-like wholesome family trio The Pages, comprising smarmy pedophile step-dad Franklyn (a perfectly vile Bert Parks), bitchy, neurotic daughter Velour (Cynthia Bostick), and hedonistic smack addict son Gary (former 50’s juvenile sitcom staple Jimmy Boyd).
Praised for its gritty, documentary feel on its release – it remains one of the best warts-and-all depictions of how a talented producer can take a terrible song and turn it into infectious AM radio pop – the film hasn’t dated particularly well, and scenes like Keitel visiting his down-at-heel former jazz pianist father (Murray Moston) and giving him a bag of cocaine as a gift now appear unintentionally hilarious.
Coleman Buckmaster
Harvey Keitel Carlton James
Ed Nelson Velour Page
Cynthia Bostick Franklyn Page
Bert Parks Gary Page
Jimmy Boyd Mike Lemongello
Michael Dante Early
Maurice White The Group
Earth Wind & Fire Warren Barfield
Ron Gorton Ellen
Valerie Shepherd Player
Herb Downer Amanda
Francesca De Sapio Mantan
Charles McGregor Ferrara
Fred Versacci Big John Little (DJ)
Murray the K Buckmaster’s Father
Murray Moston
Director
Sig Shore
Video
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Directed by Sig Shore of Superfly fame, the movie had one foot in the then waning blaxploitation camp and the other in the soon-to-be-massive New York disco scene.
Coleman Buckmaster
