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      The Buddy Holly Story

      PG Now Playing 1h 53m Biography List
      100% 31 Reviews Tomatometer 77% 5,000+ Ratings Audience Score A chronicle of the rise and brief career of rock 'n' roll star Buddy Holly (Gary Busey), who aspires to play music the way he wants it to sound. Holly and his band, the Crickets, are first invited to record in Nashville, where they encounter creative differences with the producing staff. Later they play a major booking at the Apollo Theater, scheduled there under the mistaken assumption that they're a black band. Holly's career eventually goes solo -- until the tragic day the music dies. Read More Read Less Now in Theaters Now Playing Buy Tickets

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (31) Critics Reviews
      Gary Arnold Washington Post The film is an entertaining chronicle of Holly's brief but productive and influential career as a pioneering rock 'n' roll composer and singer. May 23, 2019 Full Review Dave Kehr Chicago Reader The plotting of this 1978 biopic is contrived, and director Steve Rash's feeling for Buddy Holly's time and place is virtually nil, but Gary Busey's performance is astonishing-less as an interpretation than as a total physical transformation. May 23, 2019 Full Review Vincent Canby New York Times It's Gary Busey's galvanizing solo performance that gives meaning to an otherwise shapeless and bland feature-length film about the American rock-and-roll star who was killed in a plane crash in 1959. May 23, 2019 Full Review Rene Jordan El Nuevo Herald (Miami) The Buddy Holly Story is the best, because it dares to present the truth of social and rectorial opposition of Rock in the fifties. [Full review in Spanish] Jan 17, 2024 Full Review Jordan M. Smith IONCINEMA.com A factual disaster and still wholly entertaining as a sort of performative docudrama that blurs the lines between Holly and Busey. Rated: 2.5/5 Nov 3, 2020 Full Review Ted Whitehead The Spectator The film should please Buddy Holly fans and perhaps the young generation who are curious about rock's beginnings. Rave on. May 23, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Tony M The Buddy Holly Story tells the story of the late great Buddy Holly. My late Brother and I watched this together many times back in the days when we were learning to play guitar. This movie holds much nostalgia for me. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/03/23 Full Review Mark A Gary Busey's one great perfomance. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/03/23 Full Review aidan j A must watch for not only Buddy Holly fans, but fans of rock n' roll!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member This was an AWESOME movie! Wow! Gary Busey delivers an incredible performance as an actor, AND as a musician/singer. ❤ Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Great movie, loved every second of it and surprised some people don't. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member Might be the worst adaptation of a musical biography ever made. Over acting, over fake singing and playing, over simplification of the life story. God awful. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Buddy Holly Story

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis A chronicle of the rise and brief career of rock 'n' roll star Buddy Holly (Gary Busey), who aspires to play music the way he wants it to sound. Holly and his band, the Crickets, are first invited to record in Nashville, where they encounter creative differences with the producing staff. Later they play a major booking at the Apollo Theater, scheduled there under the mistaken assumption that they're a black band. Holly's career eventually goes solo -- until the tragic day the music dies.
      Director
      Steve Rash
      Distributor
      Columbia Pictures
      Production Co
      Innovisions
      Rating
      PG
      Genre
      Biography
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      May 18, 1978, Original
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Jul 8, 2014
      Runtime
      1h 53m
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