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
