The Buddy Holly Story
Directed by Steve Rash
Written by Alan Swyer and Robert Gittler from a book by John Goldrosen
1978/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing; Amazon Prime
I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died – “American Pie” by Don McLean
This rather standard biopic is elevated by Gary Busey’s amazing performance and the great music of Buddy Holly.
Charles Hardin becomes “Buddy Holly” (Busey), to the great consternation of his parents, in his home town of Lubbock, Texas. He plays in a trio with a bass fiddle player (Charles Martin Smith) and a drummer (Don Stroud). Later in the film the back up band will be named “The Crickets”. Buddy Holly marches to his own drum and is all about his music. The trio gets its first break when a disk jockey records a set they play at the roller skating rink and circulates it as a demo.
Eventually, this brings the boys to Nashville where producers are shocked to discover they are a white band. Eventually they go to New York and get booked at Harlem’s Apollo Theater under the same assumption. They are warmly accepted and go on tour with Sam Cooke and other Black artists of the day.
In New York, Buddy falls in love at first sight with a record studio executive’s secretary Puerto Rican Maria Elena. They marry. Buddy’s star continues to rise. The backup band longs to be home in Lubbock and leaves him as a solo act. Then, the studio executive talks him into going on a winter tour of the Midwest with the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. The tragedy to come is not covered in the film.
Gary Busey and all the other actors in the film did their own singing. And they are fantastic! Busey is perhaps more raucous than Holly was in real life but he is on fire. And I love Holly’s music so I enjoyed the film very much.
