Review : "The Buddy Holly Story" (1978) - Movie by Steve Rash

In these times of biopics, it is interesting to dig down a bit into the past and see how these things were done then. In my opinion biopics are some of the most difficult kinds of movies to make, seen from almost every angle. There is usually not that much artistic freedom for the director, as most of the main characters are given, both in behavior and looks. particularly with artistic biopics, like those of musicians, another difficulty arises from the main character having to both look, act and play like the person they portray, making it close to impossible to satisfy all. If they stick too close to the true story, it will feel like a documentary and if they stray too much away from the story, they will get slammed for not presenting truth.

One way to do it is like they did with Freddie Mercury and Queen in Bohemian Rhapsody recently, which is to take an actor, who looks (or can be groomed) very much into looking and behaving like the main character and then add the real voice as voice overs or add voice from a third party, that is much better than the actor´s voice when needed. Another way is to completely not care about looks or voice, that much, and use five different actors for various stages in the characters life, like in "I´m Not Here" (Bob Dylan).

There is another option. Find a decent actor, who looks adequately enough to portray the character, but who can ACTUALLY play and sing. This is what you get with The Buddy Holly Story. Gary Busey, who is otherwise only known as a evil character in b-movies, got his lucky shot here. He is a musician in his own right and can actually sing and play the guitar (just look at the barre grips on the neck of the guitar, which actors who do not play guitar cannot possibly, perform or fit with the music). And he actually is not that far off from the looks of Buddy, when he gets his hair slightly curled and fit the right glasses. It is good enough for me.

As I hinted at in the start of the post, it is a fine balance to make a biopic, and this case the director is on his full length debut, which I guess helps Busey kick into his own gear more easily, as the director probably is fumbling a bit in the dark for any help getting to the "soul" of the character. This is exactly the point of the value of this flick. Busey enters the roll of Holly in such a believable fashion, not least because you know he is singing and playing his socks off, at each stage performance together with his two fellow musician actors. It gives it the most believable "being present" at the performance I can remember. But since he is a decent actor he can actually fit the playing and the acting together so that that crucial balance is near perfect. You will not get that in most other biopics of this kind.

The supporting actors are kept in "safe distance" to Busey, so that it all centers around Holly. I love that fact, because often times it will tilt into a story about the wife, the family, political stuff etc. Not here. We do get a bit of nudge towards religion and off course race hate, but it is nothing overwhelming but rather works to set the stage. You could say the movie a part from Busey, is sort of bland, and maybe it is, but it works in order to keep focus where it needs to be. Again, it is that old damn balance.

My general feel around biopics tends to be disappointment. This one is one of the exceptions though and it all hangs on Garey Busey´s remarkable and yet unencumbered performance. You do not get advanced cinematographic expressions to talk of, no political or racial judgments - just pure enjoyment of the music. That is how it should be.

8/10