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Fame: The Original Movie

  R HD Closed Captioning

Alan Parker

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Plot Summary

Follow the heartaches and triumphs of a group of talented students as they struggle to graduate from New York's prestigious High School for the Performing Arts. A box office smash, this feature spawned a hit soundtrack and TV series, received six Academy Award nominations, and won Oscars for Best Score and Best Song for its title song, "Fame." The dynamic ensemble cast features Irene Cara, Anne Meara ("Awakenings"), Debbie Allen, and actor/comedian Richard Belzer (TV's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," TV's "Homicide: Life on the Street"). Directed by Oscar-nominee Alan Parker ("Evita," "The Commitments").

Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews

TOMATOMETER

80%
  • Reviews Counted: 30
  • Fresh: 24
  • Rotten: 6
  • Average Rating: 6.9/10

Top Critics' Reviews

Rotten: Every once in a while what appears to be the entire student body pours out into the street to do song-and-dance numbers, some of which are cheerful enough, but all of which break faith with the film's realistic premise. – Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine, Sep 8, 2010

Fresh: Alan Parker has come up with an exposure for some of the most talented youngsters seen on screen in years. There isn't a bad performance in the lot. – Variety Staff, Variety, Sep 8, 2010

Fresh: A genuine treasure, moving and entertaining. – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, Sep 8, 2010

Fresh: The song and dance scenes are hard to beat in terms of sheer energy and atmosphere, but the dramatic storylines leave several loose ends. – Anna Smith, Empire Magazine, Sep 8, 2010

Read More About This Movie On Rotten Tomatoes

Customer Reviews

The Original, The Best!!!

One of the best movies of all time. The best musical of all time. Fame kept it raw and real. Everyone finds someone in the movie that they can relate with on some level. The ending performance shows all of the characters come full circle with themselves and is completely awesome. A must see, and if you've already seen it, a must have!

a quick fix

well if you're expecting the same GREAT film from the 80's we all fell in love with... this will be a tad disappointing-- a lot of scenes edited out of here (about 20 mins worth)... and it creates a choppy story line that used to be a good flow... thankfully the songs are here for the "sing-a-long" types out there. so like a say, i quick fix, but not all of it is here...
i kept waiting for specific scenes... i feel let down. it did, however, bring back a lot of memories for me though, of my college days... -Geo

Hasn't gotten better with time

I watched this movie when it first came out, but had since forgotten almost all of it except vague impressions that it was perhaps a little depressing. So I downloaded it--I'm a musician and thought I'd like it--and watched it. It hasn't gotten any better with age. It's a dark, depressing movie that leaves me feeling down. It shows characters embroiled in their personal battles, but highlights so much of the negative and so little of the positive. The scenes are disconnected because it tries to show four years of high school in one movie. There's very little flow and way too little characterization. Too much time is wasted on things like the Rocky Horror Picture Show scenes while many other aspects of the plot are left unfinished. I know it was a defining film that launched a successful TV show and is soon to be remade in a new film, but I really don't like this one at all.

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Fame: The Original Movie
View In iTunes
  • $14.99
  • Genre: Drama
  • Released: 1980

Customer Ratings