The Buddy Holly Story

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The Buddy Holly Story

PG,

1978,

1h 53m,

Biography/

Music

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Watchlist

100%

32 Reviews

Tomatometer

77%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

32 Reviews

77%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

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.

Gary Arnold

Washington Post

May 23, 2019

The film is an entertaining chronicle of Holly's brief but productive and influential career as a pioneering rock 'n' roll composer and singer.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

May 23, 2019

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.

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Vincent Canby

New York Times

May 23, 2019

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.

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Sep 23, 2026

This 1978 biopic is almost square in its straightforward storytelling yet utterly engaging and oddly expressive of the creative spirit from an unlikely rebel.

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Jan 17, 2024

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]

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Jordan M. Smith

IONCINEMA.com

Nov 3, 2020

2.5/5

A factual disaster and still wholly entertaining as a sort of performative docudrama that blurs the lines between Holly and Busey.

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George L

Jul 5, 2017

While it may lack an overall focus, Buddy Holly at the very least is an enigmatic hero to follow, and his Story is far more interesting and powerful than just a handful of scenes. It's what's unseen that holds it all together.

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Steve Rash

Director

Gary Busey

Buddy

Don Stroud

Jesse

Charles Martin Smith

Ray Bob

William Jordan

Riley

Maria Richwine

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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
Producer: Fred Bauer
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Innovisions
Rating: PG
Genre: Biography, Music
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 18, 1978, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 8, 2014
Runtime: 1h 53m

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