On B List of Movie Reviews
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The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
6/25
6/25:
Despite starting off slowly and looking dated, The Buddy Holly Story has the same arc as
La Bamba and Selena.
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Selena Quintanilla-Pérez were tragically killed at ages 22, 17, and 23,
respectively. Gary Busey deserves the Oscar nomination by delivering a one-man show; he's very believable
as Buddy Holly. This is the film that should define his career. Gary Busey did his own singing and played
the guitar.
I waited a very long time for the song "Peggy Sue" to come on, but it was saved for last which is fitting
enough. However, a bit more after that last concert in Clear Lake, Iowa, isn't shown, so you'll have to
watch the ending of La Bamba to get the rest of it. As a result,
Buddy Holly's wife found out through a TV announcement and suffered a miscarriage the next day. However,
they didn't get along, and their marriage was heading for divorce.
There are some things not mentioned in the film. Buddy Holly was born to a musical family. His last name was
actually "Holley," but it was misspelled as "Holly" on a contract. He had opened for Elvis Presley and played
with him a few times after that; musical career began for the former in 1954 while it was the following year
for the latter. Oh, the loss of Buddy Holly's front teeth? It never occurred prior to appearing on
The Ed Sullivan Show but at another time.
After what happened in Nashville, Buddy Holly and the Two Tones (or the Three Tunes) was banned from using
the same songs for five years, so that led to the name change: The Crickets (it's how the Beatles was
inspired in terms of what to call themselves), having absolutely nothing to do with what they heard
during one practice session in Lubbock, Texas, as shown in the film. By the way, "Buddy Holly and the Crickets"
never appeared on any label until 1962. Similarly, the names of two other bandmates, Ray Bob Simmons and Jesse
Charles, are made up when it should be Joe B. Mauldin and Jerry Allison.
All in all, thanks to Gary Busey's tour-de-force performance, The Buddy Holly Story is worth watching.