The Buddy Holly Story

The Buddy Holly Story is a 1978 American biographical musical drama film directed by Steve Rash which tells the life and career of rock and roll musician Buddy Holly. It features an Academy Award-winning musical score, adapted by Joe Renzetti and Oscar-nominated lead performance by Gary Busey. The film also stars Don Stroud, Charles Martin Smith, Conrad Janis, William Jordan, and Maria Richwine, who played Maria Elena Holly. It was adapted by Robert Gittler from Buddy Holly: His Life and Music, the 1975 biography of Holly by John Goldrosen, and was directed by Steve Rash. Plot In 1956, Buddy Holly and his friends, drummer Jesse Charles and bass player Ray Bob Simmons, regularly performed at a local roller rink in Lubbock, Texas, as The Crickets. A local radio station broadcasts the show. Holly plays a country song, then switches to a rock and roll song, exciting the teens but drawing the ire of the radio station's sponsor. Station manager Riley tells Holly that Coral Records vice president wants the band to make a recording in Nashville, Tennessee. At the recording studio, Holly walks out when his rock-and-roll vision clashes with the producers, who want The Crickets to play country music. Later, Riley says he sent a tape of the Cricket's roller rink performance to New York City music producer Ross Turner. Believing the demo tape is a master copy, Turner releases it without realizing the band has not yet signed a contract. The record is a hit and Holly can now pursue music full time. In New York City, the Crickets meet with Turner; after initial resistance, he agrees that Holly can make music how he wants.