The Buddy Holly Story is a 1978 biographical film which tells the life story of rock musician Buddy Holly. It features an Academy Award-winning musical score and Oscar-nominated lead performance by Gary Busey.
The film also stars Don Stroud, Charles Martin Smith, Conrad Janis, William Jordan, and Maria Richwine, who played Maria Elena Holly.
It was adapted by Robert Gittler from Buddy Holly: His Life and Music, the biography of Holly by John Goldrosen, and was directed by Steve Rash.
Plot []
Buddy Holly, a teenager from Lubbock, Texas, emerges into the world of rock and roll with friends and bandmates, drummer Jesse Charles and bass player Ray Bob Simmons, forming a trio known as The Crickets.
The band's first break comes when it is invited to Nashville, Tennessee to make a recording, but Buddy's vision soon clashes with the producers' rigid ideas of how the music should sound and he walks out. Eventually, he finds a more flexible producer, Ross Turner, who, after listening to their audition, very reluctantly allows Buddy and the Crickets to make music the way they want.
Turner's secretary, Maria Elena Santiago, quickly catches Buddy's eye. Their budding romance nearly ends before it can begin because her aunt initially refuses to let her date him, but Buddy persuades the aunt to change her mind. On their very first date, Maria accepts his marriage proposal and they are soon wed.
A humorous episode results from a misunderstanding at a New York booking. Sol Gittler signs up the Crickets sight-unseen for the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, assuming from their music that they're a black band. When three white Texans show up instead, he is stunned. Unwilling to pay them for doing nothing, Gittler nervously lets them perform and prays fervently that the all-black audience doesn't riot at the sight of the first all-white band to play there. (In real life, that distinction belongs to Jimmy Cavallo and The House Rockers, who played at that venue in 1956.) After an uncomfortable start, Buddy's songs soon win over the audience and the Crickets are a tremendous hit.
After two years of success, Ray Bob and Jesse decide to break up the band. They feel overshadowed by Buddy and do not want to relocate to New York City, which Buddy believes is necessary to stay on top. Initially, he is saddened by their departure, but he soldiers on. Maria announces that she is pregnant and Buddy is delighted.
On February 2, 1959, preparing for a concert at Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly decides to charter a private plane to fly to Moorhead, Minnesota for his next big concert. The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens join him on the flight. Meanwhile, the Crickets, feeling nostalgic, appear unexpectedly at Maria's door, expressing their desire to reunite the band. They plan to surprise Buddy at his next tour stop. After playing his final song, "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, Valens, and the Bopper in a plane crash that night...and the rest is Rock and Roll.
Cast []
| 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 |