The Buddy Holly Story

Energetic but superficial musical-biography on the life and career of late-'50s rock & roll singer Buddy Holly, who eventually perished in an infamous plane crash. A triumph for a surprisingly-lean Gary Busey in the lead as Holly, quietly driven, focused and enigmatic, but the script by Robert Gitler is nothing more than a shallow examination of stardom, full of sub-plots that go no place and supporting characters who serve little purpose. Director Steve Rash helps create moments that pop--and he's a spirited filmmaker--but the second-half of the picture really falls off. Overall a decent film, and certainly competent (that dreaded word), but nothing to get excited about, and that's a shame. ** from ****

The Buddy Holly Story. Is one of the best Rock N Roll bio pictures out there. That said there really is a lot of Hollywood nonsense in there. The film makers skipped important things and left a lot of people out such as Norman Petty. Petty Helped the Crickets get started out and he became their manager when That'll be the Day became a gold plated hit. But what this movie does capture is the feel of the era. Gary Busey is at his best playing Buddy Holly with a intensity that comes through quite naturally. A lot of People who Knew Holly swore Busey was channelling Holly's spirit. The music was well done and the acting is pretty good. But we all know how the story ends. This Movie gives us all clues into How the story began. And afterwards we all wonder what might've been.

A fine film about the late great Buddy Holly. Watch it for no other reason than to see the scene where Buddy sings "True Love Weighs." Gary Busey did his own singing and that particular scene is fantastic. Overlook the various minor inaccuracies in this picture.

Gary Busey's best performance in a nicely-flowing biography. Since had a musical background, he was able to do his own songs and it really works. It's always good to see that fine actor, Don Stroud (one of the crickets) and Charlie Martin Smith as well. An 8 out of 10. Best performance = Gary Busey. Thankfully, Mr. Busey was Oscar-nominated for this, losing to Jon Voight in COMING HOME. A fairly low-budget flick that doesn't disappoint, with GREAT SONGS by Mr. Holly. I hope this made plenty of dough. Busey was never this popular again for varying reasons, but thankfully he has this one great one on his resume.

What a great film! I never knew much about Buddy Holly, but was familiar with his lively and fun music. This is a wonderful biography of someone who helped change the music in the 1950's. Although I never cared for Gary Bussey, he was fabulous as Buddy Holly! I don't know how accurate the movie is, but assume at least for the most part it is accurate, which makes the movie all the more interesting. The music throughout the movie just adds the pizazz to this biography. I don't think I would change a thing in this film, it was all good! What a difference in the stars from the 50's to todays music stars. How can you compare someone like Buddy Holly to Justin Timberlake? or any of the other popular singers of this generation?

At times, you forget that you are watching Gary Busey play Buddy Holly and start to think that you are really watching Buddy Holly! Besides the terrific acting, Busey is really singing and playing the guitar when on stage. The movie is made as real as a documentary. Like snap shots from his life, the Buddy Holly Story is just that, Buddy Holly's story.