From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Buddy Holly Story
The Buddy Holly Story
For the Buddy Holly album, see The Buddy Holly Story Running time 113 minutes
(album)
Country United States
For the musical about Holly, see Buddy - The Buddy Language English
Holly Story
Box office $14,363,400[1]
$6,400,000 (rentals)
The Buddy Holly Story
The Buddy Holly Story is a 1978 biographical film which
tells the life story of rock musician Buddy Holly.[2] It stars
Gary Busey, Don Stroud, Charles Martin Smith, Conrad
Janis, William Jordan, and Maria Richwine, who played
Maria Elena Holly.
The film was adapted by Robert Gittler from Buddy
Holly: His Life and Music, the biography of Holly by John
Goldrosen. It was directed by Steve Rash.
Plot
The film opens with Buddy Holly’s beginnings as a
teenager in Lubbock, Texas and his emergence into the
world of rock and roll with his fictional good friends and
bandmates, drummer Jesse Charles (Don Stroud) and bass
player Ray Bob Simmons (Charles Martin Smith), soon
to be known as The Crickets. Their first break comes
The Buddy Holly Story DVD cover
when they are brought to Nashville, Tennessee to record,
Directed by Steve Rash but Buddy’s vision soon clashes with the producers’ rigid
ideas of how the music should sound and he walks out.
Produced by Fred Bauer
Edward H. Cohen Eventually, he finds a more flexible producer, Ross Turn-
Frances Avrut-Bauer er (Conrad Janis), who, after listening to their audition,
Fred T. Kuehnert very reluctantly allows Buddy and the Crickets to make
Written by Novel:
music the way they want.
John Goldrosen While there, he meets Turner’s secretary, Maria Elena
Story: Santiago (Maria Richwine). His budding romance with
Alan Swyer her nearly ends before it can begin, when her aunt ini-
screenplay: tially refuses to let her date him, but Buddy persuades
Robert Gittler
her to change her mind. On their very first date, Maria
Starring Gary Busey accepts his marriage proposal and they are soon wed.
Don Stroud A humorous episode results from a misunderstanding
Charles Martin Smith
in one of their early bookings. Sol Gittler (Dick O’Neill)
Conrad Janis
Paul Mooney signs them up sight-unseen for the famous Apollo
Theater in Harlem, assuming from their music that
Music by Joe Renzetti they’re a black band. When three white Texans show up
Cinematography Stevan Larner instead, he is stunned, but unwilling to pay them for do-
ing nothing, he nervously lets them perform and prays
Editing by David E. Blewitt
fervently that the all-black audience doesn’t riot at the
James Seidelman
sight of the first all-white band to play there. (In real life,
Distributed by Columbia Pictures that distinction belongs to Jimmy Cavallo and The House
Release date(s) May 18, 1978 Rockers, who played at that venue in 1956.) After an un-
comfortable start and an initially hostile crowd, Buddy’s
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Buddy Holly Story
Actor Role
Gary Busey Buddy Holly
Don Stroud Jesse Charles (based on Jerry Allison)
Charles Martin Smith Ray Bob Simmons (based on Joe B. Mauldin)
William Jordan Riley Randolph (Lubbock D.J.)
John F. Goff T. J. (Nashville Producer)
Amy Johnston Cindy Lou
Conrad Janis Ross Turner
Albert Popwell Eddie Foster
Fred Travalena ’Madman’ Mancuso (Buffalo, New York D.J.)
Jack Denbo New York Cabbie
Maria Richwine Maria Elena Holly
Dick O’Neill Sol Gittler
Freeman King Apollo M.C.
Paul Mooney Sam Cooke
Jerry Zaremba Eddie Cochran
songs soon win them over and the Crickets are a tremen- Holly, who weighed 146 lbs at the time of his death. His
dous hit. Gitler books them to come back several times. accurate portrayal was aided by knowledge gained from
After two years, Ray Bob and Jesse decide to break up a previous attempt to film part of the Holly life story,
the band, feeling overshadowed by Buddy and not want- the ill-fated Three-Sided Coin, in which he played Crick-
ing to relocate to New York City. Initially, he is saddened ets drummer Jerry Allison (the film was cancelled by 20th
by their departure, but he soldiers on. When Maria an- Century Fox due to pressure from Fred Bauer and his
nounces that she is pregnant, Buddy is delighted. company, who had made deals with the Holly estate). The
On February 2, 1959, preparing for a concert at Clear screenplay of Three-Sided Coin (by Allison and Tom Drake)
Lake, Iowa, Holly decides to charter a private plane to fly revealed many personal details about Holly, and Busey
to Moorhead, Minnesota for his next big concert. The Big picked up more during off-set conversations with Allison.
Bopper and Ritchie Valens (who is reluctant to fly, but The film follows Buddy Holly from age 19 to 22 (1955
wins a coin toss with Tommy Allsup for the last seat) join to early 1959). Gary Busey was actually 33 when he played
him on the flight. Meanwhile, the Crickets, feeling nos- the role. Charles Martin Smith, who played Ray Bob Sim-
talgic, appear unexpectedly at Maria’s door, expressing mons, auditioned for the role of Buddy, but since Busey
their desire to reunite the band. They plan to surprise had been cast, the producers cast him as Simmons be-
Buddy at his next tour stop. After playing his final song, cause they liked his audition.
"Not Fade Away", Holly bids the crowd farewell with
"Thank you Clear Lake! C’mon. We love you. We’ll see you
next year". A caption then reveals the deaths of Holly,
Awards
Valens, and the Bopper in a plane crash that night...and The film won the Academy Award for Best Adaptation
the rest is Rock and Roll. Score. Busey was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading
Role, and Tex Rudloff, Joel Fein, Curly Thirlwell and Wil-
lie D. Burton for Best Sound.[3]
Cast
References
Production
[1] "The Buddy Holly Story, Box Office Information".
The actors did their own singing and played their own Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/
instruments live during the filming, with guitarist Jerry movies/?id=buddyhollystory.htm. Retrieved
Zaremba overdubbing the guitar parts. Busey, in particu- January 27, 2012.
lar, was admired by critics for recording the soundtrack [2] New York Times
music for the film live and losing a considerable amount [3] "The 51st Academy Awards (1979) Nominees and
of weight in order to portray the skinny Holly. According Winners". oscars.org. http://www.oscars.org/
to Busey’s biography, he lost 32 pounds to look more like
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Buddy Holly Story
awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/51st-
winners.html. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
External links
• The Buddy Holly Story at the Internet Movie Database
• The Buddy Holly Story at AllRovi
• The Buddy Holly Story at Rotten Tomatoes
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Buddy_Holly_Story&oldid=473474074"
Categories:
• American films
• English-language films
• 1978 films
• 1970s drama films
• American biographical films
• American drama films
• American rock music films
• Buddy Holly
• Columbia Pictures films
• Films set in the 1950s
• Films set in New York
• Films set in Texas
• Musical films based on actual events
• Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners
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