Psycho's Movie Reviews #97: FAME (1980)

Fame is a 1980 American teen drama film directed by Alan Parker. Set in New York City, it chronicles the lives and hardships of students attending the High School of Performing Arts (known today as Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School), from their auditions to their freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years.

Producer David De Silva conceived the premise in 1976, partially inspired by the musical A Chorus Line. He commissioned playwright Christopher Gore to write the script, originally titled Hot Lunch, before selling it to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). After he was hired to direct the film, Parker rewrote the script with Gore, aiming for a darker and more dramatic tone. The script's subject matter received criticism by the New York Board of Education, which prevented the production from filming in the actual High School of Performing Arts. The film was shot on location in New York City, with principal photography beginning in July 1979 and concluding after 91 days. Parker encountered a difficult filming process, which included conflicts with U.S. labour unions over various aspects of the film's production.

MGM released Fame using a platform technique which involved opening the film in several cities before releasing it nationwide. The film grossed over $42 million worldwide against a production budget of $8.5 million. It initially received a mixed response from reviewers who praised the music, but criticized the dramatic tone, pacing and direction although the film has been reappraised over the years. The film received several awards and nominations, including two Academy Awards for Best Original Song ("Fame") and Best Original Score, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song ("Fame"). Its success spawned a media franchise encompassing several television series, stage musicals and a remake released in 2009.

Plot:

In New York City in the late 1970s, a group of teenagers audition to study at the High School of Performing Arts, where they are sorted into three different departments: Drama, Music, and Dance. Accepted in the Drama department are Montgomery MacNeil, a closeted homosexual; Doris Finsecker, a shy Jewish girl; and Ralph Garci, who succeeds after failed auditions for Music and Dance. In the Music department, Bruno Martelli is an aspiring keyboardist whose electronic equipment horrifies Mr. Shorofsky, a conservative music teacher. Lisa Monroe is accepted in the Dance department, despite having no interest in the subject. Coco Hernandez is accepted in all three departments because of her all-around talent. Leroy Johnson goes to the school, performing as part of a dance routine for an auditioning friend, but the dance teachers are more impressed by his talents than his friend's.

Freshman year

The students learn during their first day of classes that academics are weighed equally with performance. In the lunchroom, Doris becomes overwhelmed by the energy and spontaneity of the other students ("Hot Lunch Jam"). She befriends Montgomery, but worries that she is too ordinary against the colorful personalities of the other students. As the year progresses, Coco tries to convince Bruno to book performing gigs with her. Leroy clashes with his English teacher Mrs. Sherwood over his refusal to do homework. It is later revealed that he is illiterate. Bruno and his father argue over Bruno's reluctance to play his electronic music publicly. Miss Berg, the school's Dance teacher, warns Lisa that she is not working hard enough. Michael, a graduating senior, wins a prestigious scholarship and tells Doris that the William Morris Agency wants to send him out for auditions for television pilots.

Sophomore year

A new student, Hilary van Doren, joins the school's Dance department and becomes romantically involved with Leroy. Bruno and Mr. Shorofsky debate the merits of traditional orchestras versus synthesized instruments. Bruno's father plays his music ("Fame") outside the school, inspiring the student body to dance in the streets. As an acting exercise, the students are asked to divulge a painful memory. Montgomery discusses discovering his homosexuality, while coming out in front of his classmates; Doris relates her humiliation at being forced by her stage mother to sing at a child's birthday party; and Ralph tells of learning about the death of his idol Freddie Prinze. Miss Berg drops Lisa from the Dance program, and after seemingly considering suicide in a New York City Subway station, Lisa drops her dance clothes on the subway tracks and decides to join the Drama department.

Junior year

Ralph and Doris discover their mutual attraction, but their growing intimacy leaves Montgomery feeling excluded. Hilary brings Leroy home, much to the shock of her father and stepmother. Ralph's young sister is attacked by a junkie and Ralph lashes out at his mother's attempts to comfort the child by taking her to the local Catholic church, instead of to a doctor. Doris begins to question her Jewish upbringing, changing her name to "Dominique DuPont" and straining the relationship with her mother. During a late-night showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the 8th Street Playhouse, Ralph encourages Doris to smoke marijuana. Intoxicated, Doris takes part in the stage show during the film's "Time Warp" musical number. The next day, she realizes that as an actress she can put on any personality she wants, but is sobered upon running into Michael, who is struggling as an actor and waiting tables.

Senior year

Ralph performs comedy at Catch a Rising Star, where he garners some initial success, but falls into a hard-party lifestyle which upsets Doris. Given a prime spot at another comedy club, he bombs after clashing with both Doris and Montgomery over his new lifestyle. Disgusted with himself, Ralph believes his career is over, but is comforted by Montgomery, who tells him that failure is a part of the entertainment business. Hilary, now pregnant, plans to have an abortion and move to California to take a position with the San Francisco Ballet company. Coco is approached in a diner by a man claiming to be a director; she naïvely goes to his apartment for a screen test, but discovers that he is an amateur pornographic film director. He manipulates her into taking her shirt off, as he films her sobbing. Leroy is offered a position in Alvin Ailey's dance company, but must graduate first in order to be accepted. After receiving a failing grade, he confronts a grieving Mrs. Sherwood outside her husband's hospital room, but upon realizing that she has her own problems, he comforts her. During graduation, the student body showcases their talents by performing an original song ("I Sing the Body Electric"). The opening lines are sung by Lisa, Coco, and Montgomery. Intercut with the performance are scenes of Leroy dancing and Bruno playing with a rock band, finally sharing his music with others.

Production

Development & Writing:

In 1976, talent manager David De Silva attended a stage production of A Chorus Line and noticed that one of the musical numbers, "Nothing", had made a reference to the New York City High School of Performing Arts. The musical inspired him to create a story detailing how ambition and rejection influence the lives of adolescent students. In 1977, De Silva travelled to Florida, where he met playwright Christopher Gore. He paid Gore $5,000 to draft a script titled Hot Lunch, and provided story ideas involving the plot and characters. De Silva took the project to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which acquired the script for $400,000.

Director Alan Parker received the script after the release of his previous film Midnight Express (1978). He met with De Silva in New York City where the two agreed that Parker would draft his own script, with Gore receiving sole screenwriting credit. Parker also enlisted his colleague Alan Marshall as a producer. Gore travelled to London where he and Parker began work on a second draft, which was significantly darker than what De Silva had intended. De Silva explained, "I was really motivated and interested in the joy of what the school represented for these kids, and Parker was really much more interested in where the pain was in going to the school, and so we had our little conflicts based on that area."

Parker signed on as the film's director in February 1979, and relocated to Greenwich, Connecticut to begin pre-production. While working on the script, he interacted with many of the students attending the Performing Arts school. Several of them invited Parker to attend a midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) at the 8th Street Playhouse. Parker attended a weekend screening with Marshall, and the enthusiastic crowd inspired him to write a similar scene for the film, during which the character Doris Finsecker dances along to the "Time Warp" musical number. During filming, Parker noticed that a pornographic film showing on 42nd Street was titled Hot Lunch, and was informed that the title was "New York slang for oral sex." In response, MGM offered several working titles before Parker named the film Fame after the 1975 song performed by David Bowie.

Casting:

Although Parker had promised to hold auditions at the High School of Performing Arts, the school was initially advised by the Board of Education to prevent the students from working on the film, fearing it would affect their studies. It was later announced that filming would occur during the summer when the students were not attending school. Parker distributed casting call advertisements at the Performing Arts school and the High School of Music & Art. He and casting directors Margery Simkin and Howard Feuer spent four months of the film's pre-production auditioning young performers. They held an open casting call at the Diplomat Hotel on 43rd Street in Manhattan where more than 2,000 people auditioned for various roles.

Of the many students that Parker met at the Performing Arts, only Laura Dean, who plays Lisa Monroe, was cast in a principal role while others were cast as extras. The school's drama teacher Jim Moody plays as Mr. Farell, and its music teacher Jonathan Strasser appears as a conductor. Music composer and actor Albert Hague secured the role of music teacher Mr. Shorofsky, as Parker wanted a veteran musician to play the part.

Irene Cara, a former student of the school, was cast as Coco Hernandez. Parker was not impressed with Cara's musical audition, until after her recording sessions with the film's composer Michael Gore. Gene Anthony Ray, who plays Leroy Johnson, was also a Performing Arts student but had been expelled from the school for disruptive behavior. Simkin had discovered Ray breakdancing on a street corner in Harlem before asking him to audition for a role in the film.

Lee Curreri, who was cast as Bruno Martelli, learned of the production while attending the Manhattan School of Music. During his audition, Paul McCrane performed an original song he had written, "Is It Okay If I Call You Mine?". He was cast as Montgomery MacNeil, and the song inspired Parker to include it in the film. Barry Miller, who achieved critical acclaim for his supporting role in Saturday Night Fever (1977), was cast as Ralph Garci, an aspiring actor and stand-up comic of Puerto Rican descent.

Maureen Teefy, an established actress of Irish descent, was cast as Doris Finsecker, a shy and uptight Jewish girl.[13] De Silva disagreed with her casting, stating, "... I'd envisioned Doris as a 16-or 17-year-old Barbra Streisand from Brooklyn, and when Parker cast this Irish actress that was a trouble ... that was my only reservation; I really had envisioned she was a young Barbra Streisand, a Jewish girl." Parker and the casting department had difficulty finding an actress for the role of Hilary Van Doren. Antonia Franceschi, who was previously a background dancer in Grease (1978), secured the role based on the strength of her audition. Meg Tilly appears in her acting debut as a dancer. In his first credited screen role, Peter Rafelson, son of Bob Rafelson, plays as a musician and vocalist.

Filming:

Principal photography began on July 9, 1979, with a budget of $8.5 million. Parker described shooting in New York City as a less than pleasurable experience due to the intense summer weather conditions. He also faced difficulties with U.S. labour union representatives who disapproved of the British crew members working on the film without permits. In order to gain work permits, Parker made an agreement with the unions that allowed local laborers to work on the film.

During filming, the crew and several cast members objected to cinematographer Michael Seresin and camera operator John Stanier's European style of single-source lighting, which involved the use of incense burners. In response, representatives of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) halted the production, and forbade Parker from using smoke on the set.

The filmmakers had originally planned to shoot the film at the Performing Arts school, but were denied by the Board of Education over the content of the script. After consulting with Nancy Littlefield, the head of the New York City Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting, Parker was granted a meeting with the Board's members, who explained that they were concerned with the script's profanity, sexual content and depictions of drug use, as well as his depiction of Turkish prisons in Midnight Express. After the filmmakers expressed interest in moving the production to Chicago, Littlefield reviewed abandoned-city properties and discovered two unused schools, Haaren High School and Performance Space 122. Both schools were converted and used for all the interior scenes. MGM spent approximately $200,000 transforming Haaren High into a sound stage, with carpentry shops and production offices. The location was used to shoot the film's finale, a graduation ceremony. The sequence was filmed in four days, and employed 400 extras and 150 student musicians.

The exterior of the school was shot using the left wing of the then-abandoned Church of Saint Mary the Virgin building almost directly opposite the real school on West 46th Street in Times Square. The Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight screening sequence was filmed at the 8th Street Playhouse located on 52 West 8th Street, New York. Sal Piro, president of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club, appears as an emcee at the screening. Parker later hired Steadicam inventor and operator Garrett Brown to film Doris and Ralph's dialogue scene in a New York City Subway station. Montgomery MacNeil's apartment was located on 1564 Broadway, at West 46th Street in Manhattan.

The "Fame" musical number was filmed on 46th Street in three days, with eight choreographed routines, 150 student background actors and 50 professional dancers. The dancers performed to the Donna Summer song "Hot Stuff", as the song "Fame" had not yet been written. Before the sequence was filmed, Stanier left the production for personal reasons. During filming, Seresin chose to operate the camera himself for several hours before International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) representatives visited the set, and advised Parker that a cinematographer was forbidden to operate a camera, and that the production would be shut down permanently if he did not hire an operator from their union. The following day, the New York Police Department demanded that the cast and crew take a 4:00 p.m. curfew due to complaints of traffic blockages. In addition, the dancers demanded extra pay for performing stunts on top of taxicabs. Principal photography concluded after 91 days.

Music:

The music was composed by Michael Gore. Parker had originally approached Giorgio Moroder, who had previously worked on Midnight Express, and Jeff Lynne, the lead performer of Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), both of whom had declined. The musical numbers were performed practically on set, as Parker wanted to avoid dubbing during post-production. The song "Hot Lunch Jam" was heavily improvised. Parker explained, "This song evolved from an all day session involving groups of kids from all disciplines, as we cobbled together the song with everyone chipping in their contributions." The filming of the "Fame" musical number inspired Gore to write an original song inspired by Donna Summer. He and lyricist Dean Pitchford spent one month writing the lyrics. Pitchford improvised the lyrics "I'm gonna live forever", inspired by a line of dialogue from the 1964 play Dylan. During the recording sessions, Luther Vandross acted as the song's contractor, in charge of the backup vocals. He improvised the lyrics "Remember, remember, remember", and performed it with backing vocalists Vivian Cherry and Vicki Sue Robinson. The song was later incorporated into the filmed dance sequence during post-production.

Parker wanted the film to end with a huge musical number that would showcase every character. While drafting the script during pre-production, he was partially inspired by the ELO song, "Eldorado". Parker turned to Gore and Pitchford, requesting that they write a song would combine the film's three musical elements: gospel, rock and classical. The resulting song, "I Sing the Body Electric", was named by Pitchford after the same-titled poem from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" collection.

Release/Reception/Box Office:

Fame premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre on May 12, 1980. MGM issued a platform release which involved opening the film in select cities for limited showings, before releasing it nationwide. The studio was concerned with the film's cast of then-unknown actors, and felt that the limited theatrical run would generate strong word-of-mouth support from critics and audiences. On May 16, 1980, Fame premiered at the Cinerama Dome Theatre in Hollywood, and opened in limited release in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles. MGM spent more than $2 million on an advertising campaign which placed emphasis on the film's music. The studio also allowed select theatre chains to give out free tickets for special screenings. Fame was released nationwide on June 20, 1980, distributed by MGM through United Artists. In the United States and Canada, it grossed $21,202,829, and was the thirty-second highest-grossing film of 1980. By April 1981, the film had grossed $20.4 million overseas and was expected to gross $29 million, giving it a worldwide gross of between $42-$50 million.

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Fame holds an approval rating of 81% based on 32 reviews, with an average score of 7.2/10. The website's consensus reads, "Just because Fame is a well-acted musical doesn't mean it flinches against its surprisingly heavy topics." Although initial reactions among film critics were mixed, Barry Miller received critical acclaim for his performance. Jack Matthews of the Associated Press wrote "Barry Miller bolts from the screen with a performance that will etch itself into the viewer's mind for a long time to come" Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, writing, "When the kids perform, the movie sings, but their fictionalized personal stories are melodramatic drivel." Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader wrote, "The film is cut at such a frenzied pitch that it's often possible to believe (mistakenly) that something significant is going on." Variety magazine wrote, "The great strength of the film is in the school scenes – when it wanders away from the scholastic side as it does with increasing frequency as the overlong feature moves along, it loses dramatic intensity and slows the pace." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three-and-a-half stars out of four writing, "Fame is a genuine treasure, moving and entertaining, a movie that understands being a teen-ager as well as Breaking Away did, but studies its characters in a completely different milieu." William Gallagher, in his review for the BBC, wrote, "Alan Parker manages to make this a fairly horrible story even while it remains entertaining. You come away from it with all your preconceptions about the glamour of showbusiness wiped away and you can't help but admire the characters who get through."

My Review:

Fame is, at least to me, not a flawless film and it is easy to see why people wouldn't like or connect with it, but I found it to be a good, entertaining film. It is true that Ralph is given too much prominence and he is never really likable while some of the other characters are barely fleshed out and that the ending is far too abrupt and riddled with loose ends that were crying out to be tied up. Some of the dialogue is also a little rambling in places and with a structure that could have been tighter than it was. Fame, while very of the time, is very competently made with the style of filming appropriate for the type of film and what themes are explored, that some of the song and dance numbers are shot like a music video didn't come across as that much of a problem personally. The songs are terrific, the timeless title song, the infectiously catchy Hot Lunch Jam and the poignant Out Here on My Own are the highlights though the ending number I Sing the Body Electric is fun enough too. The score also won an Oscar along with the title song and deserved it thoroughly. The choreography is toe-tapping and spirited, especially in I Sing the Body Electric. The story captures the high school performing arts atmosphere really well, how fulfilling and fun yet punishing and competitive it is and has themes that anyone would relate to, ones that were relevant then and while not as much reasonably relevant now. While the characterisation is not perfect, there are a few good characters like Leroy and Coco. The performances show the actors very into their roles and enjoying them, Barry Miller does overact but if there was a favourite in the cast it would be Irene Cara, who had the best singing voice of the cast and the one with the best songs. In conclusion, has some imperfections in the writing department but musically especially the film while an acquired taste was personally entertaining.

Alan Parker's Fame is part gritty realism and part musical. When it's the former, it's a thoroughly engrossing character-driven tale, following the students' highs and lows during their four years at the New York High School of the Performing Arts; when it's the latter, it's freaking hilarious, the film verging on the absurd as the kids burst into energetic song and dance at the drop of a single musical note, the frenetic gyrating and warbling at complete odds to the more sedate drama. It's a good job I like absurd.

A canteen musical scene sees the students striking up a song, combining their talents perfectly despite no prior practice, with even the dinner ladies getting in on the action, but the funniest moment has to be when the father of keyboard geek Bruno (Lee Curreri) blasts his son's music from speakers mounted on his taxi: like the Pied Piper, he draws the kids onto the streets, where they prance and pirouette, climbing on top of, and dancing on, stationary cars. It's all so silly, but played perfectly straight - I loved it!

With fashion, music, and the city of New York having changed so much over the past four decades, the film has obviously dated, but that's a big part of its charm: it's a time capsule, capturing the energy and vibrancy of the disco/funk era, and of the city in which it is set; 7.5/10.

{Of course though, the theme sung by Irene Cara is the best thing about this film; a few years back me and my parents watched the live show of this in Blackpool - from what I remember it was really good}.