Customer Reviews
A What-a-caster?! - By: Adrian Stranik, 03 Apr 2009 
Buddy Holly is a young Texan rock `n' roll singer with bad eyesight & teeth like the grill of a crashed Buick who finds himself at odds with virtually everyone he comes acrossin his quest for a new sound. His church publicly denounce him, his parents dismiss his music as `kids' stuff, his first recording session becomes a punch up, his fiancé thinks his music is just a hobby & his band the Crickets are just a couple of `good `ol boys' just out for a good time.
In the midst of all this `encouragement' his boss at the local radio station threatens to fire him - but not before sending a recording to some `hut shut pre-dooser up theyerin Noo Yawk'. Within seconds Holly is catapulted to fame, fortune, marriage & death at twenty two - but not before he starts the ball rolling for the civil rights movement, changes the face of popular music & buys a Cadillac.
On the face of it Steve Rash's 1978 biopic seems to have gone out of its way to be inaccurate. It manages to render events that kinda/sorta happened into almost total fiction. The insult to Eddie Cochran warrants a governmental inquiry, the concept of a live version of That'll be The Day being his first hit single is wishful thinkingin the extreme & don't get me started on the omissions! No mention of the 1958 British tour - an event seismicin its impact on pop music forever afterwards - & no mention of his manger & producer Norman Petty - without whom the world may never have heard of Buddy Holly. They don't even get his guitar right - a Telecaster? A Bronco?! Evenin the final scene where he does finally yield a Stratocaster - an instrument integral to the Holly legend - it's a rosewood neck job with a large 70's head & with the tremolo arm left on.
For the average viewer this means nothing, but to rock `n' roll aficionados this is the cinematic equivalent of Da Vinci's `The Last Supper' depicted with a family bucket of KFC on the table.
Certainly Holly did change the face of popular music & he did buy a Cadillac (or two) but the racial divide smashing is based on his marriage to the Hispanic Maria Elena Santigo & a highly fictionalised account of his appearances at the Apollo Theatrein Harlem where he wins over an initially hostile & exclusively black audience. Here (andin subsequent stage productions) he is booked on the basis that, due to his sound, they thought he was black - then he `blows Negro minds' with his unique blend of rolling drums & jangly guitar after being warned that he would, at best, be killed by an outraged mob who had never witnessed a red neck `hot footing' their hallowed bandstand.
The reality is that The Crickets were booked - not because they sounded black - but because there was a Negro vocal group also called the Crickets creating said confusion. They did eventually win over a begrudging audience but it took a week long residency & some Bo Diddley numbers to do it.
Some kudos is due as the music is - unlike most musicals - played live & by the actors themselves (with a sneaky second guitar being played off screen - hence cut-aways & long shots during solos). Charles Martin-Smith (Bass) & Don Stroud (Drums) are adequate but everything rests on Gary Busey's singing & guitar playing which, frankly, belongs at chucking out time of a Thai karaoke night. The big final concert at the Clear Lake Auditorium with Coasters saxophonist King Curtis & a full orchestra virtually never happened. The actual show, which was at The Surf Ballroom, was apparently a shoddy affair with standard rock backing (albeit with the brilliant Tommy Allsup on lead guitar & country superstarin the making Waylon Jennings on bass). The stars on that final show ended up having to play drums for each other on account of the hired drummer recoveringin hospital from frostbite due to the horrendous travelling conditions.
In all fairness many of the inaccuracies were due to litigation considerations as virtually everyone connected to the subject refused to allow themselves to be portrayed or even have their names used - so it's something of a stroke of genius that The Buddy Holly Story takes those limitations & turns them into something of a virtue - resultingin an enjoyable film which is more of an affectionate tribute to notoriously fanciful 50's `candy coloured' biopics such as the Glenn Miller Story than a faithful rendering of the tragically short life a remarkable pioneer.
The Buddy Holly Story? No. A Buddy Holly Story? Pretty much.
Adrian Stranik
A touch of nostalgia - By: Walter de la Mare, 01 Apr 2009 
For all Buddy Holly fans, especially those who know the background to the Buddy Holly story, this film is pretty good. Gary Busey's acting is A-star - he portrays a good Buddy Holly; his performance of Buddy's songs is quite something. But you have to buy it to see it for yourself!
Missing frames! - By: Mr. Alan East, 06 Mar 2009 
Although this is a good biopic, & the soundtrack is great, the actual picture is very disappointing
The picture, apart from being video, judders every few seconds, as though a few frames are missing all through the film, very off putting. Surely a decent version print & master must be available, or is this filmin the Public Domain. Other releases of The Buddy Holly Story are no better! Beware.The Buddy Holly Story [1978] [DVD]The Buddy Holly Story - 50th Anniversary Release [DVD] [1978]
Buddy up with this great DVD. - By: Guitar Heroine, 05 Feb 2009 I shall start off by saying, I agree with everything the previous reviewer has said. To add to/expand on this, it was well acted & very convincing; if you didn't know the soundtrack is not Buddy Holly's original, you wouldn't easily guess.
You can really feel the whole era of the 50sin this film, & it's fascinating of course to think of the historical context, eg a white man breaking throughin a black man's musical world.
Buddy Holly changed the face of rock n roll, & of music per se,in such a short time; we can only imagine what wonders were left to unfold had he not been so tragically & suddenly curtailed.
A must for fans of the 50s, rock n roll & of Buddy Holly.
All Biopics should be made this way - By: Old Green Eyes, 20 Dec 2006 Genuine, warm-hearted account of the Great One's life. Gary Busey is brilliant (and one doesn't often say that about him) - bearin mind he did ALL his own playing & singing. The final concert section is as live & very evocative of the excitement Buddy's music generated. A great sense of the time created by attention to details, & the "story" driven on by sharp dialogue & a beautiful handling of Holly's all-too-short romance & marriage.Recommended without hesitation.
