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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»1970s Movies»Movies 1978
    Movies 1978 Movies B Music on Film & TV 2 Mins Read

    Buddy Holly Story, The (1978)

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    A first-rate, realistic film biography of Buddy Holly – the talented rockabilly composer-musician who introduced such 1950s hits as That’ll Be The Day and Peggy Sue.

    buddyhollystory5Lanky, toothsome Gary Busey, in the title role, lights up the screen with his energetic musical and dramatic performance. The story follows Holly’s career beginning as a roller rink musician in Texas to his death at the age of 22 in a plane crash.

    Best of all is the way the film captures the joy and enthusiasm of early rock & roll and its effect on young people.

    Gary Busey and the movies Crickets do their own singing and playing, generating their own very palpable raw energy. Although Holly had many Crickets throughout his career, here Don Stroud and Charles Martin Smith portray a composite of all of them.

    buddyhollystory6The film is not entirely true to the details of Holly’s life, though. For example, Norman Petty, who was Holly’s producer, does not appear as a character (the production couldn’t reach an agreement with Petty) and the final scene will disturb Holly fans: In reality, Holly played his last concert with The Crickets, whereas in the film he discards them and performs his last show with a full orchestra, seemingly Vegas bound.

    Busey never matched his marvellous performance as the legendary rock & roller in this well-made biopic.

    Charles Hardin ‘Buddy’ Holly
    Gary Busey
    Jesse
    Don Stroud
    Ray Bob
    Charles Martin Smith
    Ross Turner
    Conrad Janis
    Riley
    William Jordan
    Maria Elena Santiago
    Maria Richwine
    Cindy Lou
    Amy Johnston
    Sol Gittler
    Dick O’Neill
    Madman Mancuso
    Fred Travalena
    Mrs Ella Holly
    Neva Patterson
    Mr Lawrence Holly
    Arch Johnson
    T.J.
    John Goff
    Mrs Santiago
    Gloria Irizarry
    Engineer Sam
    Jody Berry
    Wilson
    Jim Beach
    The Big Bopper
    Gailard Sartain
    Eddie
    Albert Popwell
    Sam Cooke
    Paul Mooney
    Luther
    Matthew ‘Stymie’ Beard
    King Curtis
    Craig White
    Eddie Cochran
    Jerry Zaremba
    Mr Parker
    Paul Carmello
    Richie Valens
    Gilbert Melgar

    Director
    Steve Rash

    Video

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