I first saw this when I was in my teen years, before I realized Holly's true biography. I'm surprised this film was made and released. I don't know if the Holly family, or estate, was consulted, but there's hardly anything historically accurate in this entire film except the character Buddy Holly is based on a real person, and he married Maria Elena. The names of the bandmates were fictional... for some reason. Buddy and two musician friends did actually go to Nashville and record, but it was nothing like what the film portrayed. There was no "Coral Records, or "Ross Turner" and Holly's music was never released without his knowledge.
What's sad is, Holly's actual life was MUCH MORE interesting than this complete fictional account that was invented for this film. Busey and the others play their roles well, but they could have had Holly- the main character- with a fictional name, too. The production couldn't even give Buddy the correct period guitar to play in the film.
If you watch this with the knowledge that hardly anything that happens is what really happened, it might be enjoyable. But, I'm not sure how because it's supposed to be about real people and a biopic! I enjoyed it before I realized that the story line was someone's fantasy.
What's sad is, Holly's actual life was MUCH MORE interesting than this complete fictional account that was invented for this film. Busey and the others play their roles well, but they could have had Holly- the main character- with a fictional name, too. The production couldn't even give Buddy the correct period guitar to play in the film.
If you watch this with the knowledge that hardly anything that happens is what really happened, it might be enjoyable. But, I'm not sure how because it's supposed to be about real people and a biopic! I enjoyed it before I realized that the story line was someone's fantasy.