Rated M 15 +
Length 128 minutes
Directed by Alan Parker
“Baby look at me, and tell me what you see” is the opening line to the song “Fame”, the most well known song from the movie of the same name. It took me 23 years to finally watch this movie in full and I must admit I didn’t really like what I saw. The 128 minutes it took to SHOW the four years of schooling for a GROUP of students at The School of the Performing Arts in New York felt like an eternity. The husband fell asleep again.
Fame centers around seven main students attending the Performing Arts School. There’s Doris (Maureen Teefy), Ralph (Barry Miller) and Montgomery (Paul McCrane) who are all studying acting. Lisa (Laura Dean), Coco (Irene Cara) and Leroy (Gene Anthony Ray) are dancers and Bruno (Lee Curreri) studies music. The film begins with the auditions of the students who will soon be accepted into this prestigious school in NYC. There are some amusing moments here watching untalented wannabes strutting their stuff (particularly Leroy’s friends audition).
Leroy is accepted even though he only auditioned to help his friend obtain a place. Leroy struggles with the academic component of the school as he can’t read. Ralph auditions for all three areas and is finally accepted in to the Drama department. Ralph idolizes Freddie Prinze and has a tendency to tell untruths. Doris is very shy and is dominated by her mother. Bruno only seems to want to play music in his basement. Montgomery is trying to deal with the fact that he is gay and in love with his analyst. Coco is in love with Leroy but he has fallen for Hilary (a new dance student who joins them during their Sophomore year). Lisa is kicked out of the Dance school for not being good enough.
Fame moves from the Freshman year of these students until they all graduate. We see them deal with many issues during this time but in the end they all successfully finish their education. Don’t you love happy endings? For a musical there isn’t a lot of singing though. “Hot Lunch Jam” and “Fame” are the highlights as well as a musical finale at the graduation ceremony. Most of the characters in this movie are flawed and it was hard to like any of them. Leroy is far too self centred and Ralph becomes a drug affected stand up comedian who is rude to all the people who care about him.
All this movie does is SHOW what life is like in a performing arts school. They perform and then they learn all the other educational basics (English, Maths etc). There you go!! It shouldn’t really take over two hours to tell you that. The hair styles and fashion are considerably dated now as well. Nobody wears leg warmers anymore do they? Everybody said that Afros went out in the seventies, well this movie will SHOW you that they are alive and kicking in the eighties as well.
In conclusion, if you like films like “Centre Stage” and “Flashdance” then you may enjoy Fame, but if these films aren’t your cup of tea then don’t bother. There are plenty of good special features to enjoy after watching the film.

THE EXTRAS

? Scene Selection is available.
? Class Reunion Commentary There is a commentary available for the film.
? Vintage featurette - “On the set of Fame”. We learn that this is Alan Parker’s first film in America and we also hear from the main actors about their characters. The choreographer Louis Falco also talks about the film. This runs for about 12 minutes.
? Fame Field Trip A look at the actual school in NYC. We hear from the school’s principal at Fiorello H. La Guardia High School (The Fame School). The school takes in about 750 students per year (into Art, Dance, Music and Drama). There is a look at the auditions, teachers and students. This doco runs for about 10 minutes as well. FYI - Australia has it’s own fame school (The Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School) if you are interested in attending such a school.
? Interview Gallery There are 12 different interviews from Alan Parker, Maureen Teefy, Lee Curreri, Gene Anthony Ray and Laura Dean about the film. It is interesting if you want to see what they look like now. A lot of the actors in this film actually went to the High School.
? A Trailer of the film is included (2 minutes long)
? A list of awards the film received.

CONCLUSION

Fame centers around seven main students attending the School of Performing Arts in NYC. There’s Doris (Maureen Teefy), Ralph (Barry Miller) and Montgomery (Paul McCrane) who are all studying acting. Lisa (Laura Dean), Coco (Irene Cara) and Leroy (Gene Anthony Ray) are dancers and Bruno (Lee Curreri) studies music. The film begins with the auditions of these students and ends at their graduation. There are some songs to enjoy and fashion to cringe at along the way.