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Fame [1980] [DVD]
 
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Fame [1980] [DVD]

DVD ~ Eddie Barth
3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
RRP: £13.99
Price: £3.98 & eligible for Free UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Customers buy this item with Grease [DVD] [1978] DVD ~ John Travolta

Fame [1980] [DVD] + Grease [DVD] [1978]
  • This item: Fame [1980] [DVD] DVD ~ Eddie Barth

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    Eligible for FREE UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Grease [DVD] [1978] DVD ~ John Travolta

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    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    Eligible for FREE UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions


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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
This early effort by director Alan Parker is lively but jagged as it follows four students through their years in the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. Rather predictably, the kids fall into four clearly defined stereotypes: brazen, gay and hypersensitive, prickly, shy. Fame makes up for a disjointed presentation with a lot of heart and a great soundtrack (for which it won two Academy Awards). The hopes and disappointments, failures and successes of these teens are fodder for emotional scenes and exuberant dancing in the streets. It also turned out to be the first of many imitators and spawned a popular television series. (It was the breakout film for the short-lived feature-film career of Irene Cara, who sang the title song.) --Rochelle O'Gorman

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fame helped to launch the 1980s on a tide of aspiration, creating a successful television series, kick-starting the leg-warmer industry and inspiring us all with the idea that with talent, a lot of hard work, plenty of suffering and luck, anybody might, one day, become a star. Nostalgia inevitably endows Fame with its own golden glow for anyone in the region of 40. And as we drown in the karaoke-by-numbers of today's cynical television talent shows, its touchingly innocent quality makes for a poignant and telling contrast.

In truth, director Alan Parker's film is a collage of the disciplines on offer at New York's High School of Performing Arts. The characters are sketchy totems for the emotional and domestic conflicts that drive their dreams--Leroy, Doris and friends needed the television spin-off to give them substance--but Parker is brilliant at conveying the intensity and heartache of their collective journey, from the paralysing nerves of the auditions to the strain of maintaining a rounded education alongside the development of performance skills and the ultimate thrill of graduation. By the end, thanks to the familiarity of the thudding disco soundtrack, you really do want them all to "live forever".

On the DVD: Fame scores all over again on DVD with its widescreen format and a thumping soundtrack: the moment when the kids burst out onto the street and stop the traffic is a bit of 1980s cinema magic. Alan Parker leads the class reunion commentary, helped by many of the cast. The film is clearly still important to them all. Other extras include a visit to today's school (hardly changed in philosophy or the passion of its real-life students), a vintage featurette and face-to-face interviews which basically recycle the commentary. --Piers Ford

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Fame is the game, 2 Nov 2002
This review is from: Fame [VHS] [1980] (VHS Tape)
Fame seems the last thing on the minds of eight or so teenagers as they progress through New York's public stage school. What they want - really, really want - is to escape: from the marauding cockroaches, domineering or distant parents, oppressive religion and the the frustrations of sex. And performing is the way out.

Fame is a dazzling ensemble piece, weaving this way and that as the characters scratch their way through life's tougher choices and some raw song and dance numbers.

Fame can feel a little brash at times - but that's the way our limelight lovers survive - yet at times we are treated, really treated, to moments of intense sensitivity and earthy humour. Often the episodic nature of this film - some scenes are barely more than sketches - can leave the viewer frustrated, but within minutes the face of an appealing wannabe or some gutsy production number will leave you smiling.

Perhaps not Alan Parker's best, but this film takes you to the heart of New York and lets you stay there long after the last credit.

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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The most inspiring film of all time!, 1 Sep 2003
By A Customer
Fame inspired me to start stage school and two years on I am still loving every minute. You'll find yourself dancing around your living room to the classic soundtrack and songs that everyone knows and loves. This film combines great visuals, sounds and dance to make a movie you will never forget!
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars an amazing experience, 20 Jul 2003
It was my high school years and i was dying to dance. This movie reminds me how amazing to discover dancing, creating yourself by the music you feel in your heart. It was the way i express myself as the students in Fame. I can not imagine any other story could fire my feelings, set me free on the floor. Fame is one of the most important and successful youth films i have ever seen. Great music, great performance. You will find yourself dancing and feeling very strong faith in you.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Dated Fame
Seem to remember it being a lot better than it was on watching 20 or so years later. Enjoyable, but not much more.
Published 20 days ago by Aaron Cahill

2.0 out of 5 stars To be honest, i was a bit disapointed.
I bought this film on a whim because it was cheap in a shop, though looking forward to watching as i had heard it was a great film. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Orla McHugh

2.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing at best
I rented this film with expectations that if nothing else it might be quite good fun. It wasn't. It's not the worst film I've seen but it's the kind of thing that should have gone... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mr. Philip A. Martin

1.0 out of 5 stars One of the worst movies I've ever seen
Well, I bought this movie thinking that it would be great as it's meant to be one of the classics and has great reviews on Amazon. Read more
Published 23 months ago by A Rookahs

5.0 out of 5 stars Second to none
This movie which I went to see at the cinema on its original release in 1980 (possibly 1981), was for me a great film then and its a great film now. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Gminzie

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant movie
Fame is a brilliant movie. Why? The storyline attached to it, is an accurate and realistic portrayal of what reality is like for a group of students in a performing arts school... Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2007 by P. DATTA

5.0 out of 5 stars hommage to a diminuished sort of pedagogical ethos ...
The "Hot Lunch Jam" with piano-player Bruno and singer Coco in the cafeteria (1), the title song "FAME" immortalized in the streets of NYC, danced on top of taxi cabs in Times... Read more
Published on 8 Jul 2005 by FrizzText

5.0 out of 5 stars Misguided
The first review of this film shows that the viewer was a little misguided. This is a truly classic film but is not much like the TV series we all know and love. Read more
Published on 21 Dec 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I expected !
The winner of "Academy Award Best Song" and a well known Director "Allen Parker" encouraged me to buy this film even after reading from an amazon reviewer, who complained about... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Vital, even if slightly dated
There is such invigorating vitality over this picture. Sometimes it seems a bit dated (not many would go crazy over secondrate, late seventyish disco music like this today, and... Read more
Published on 31 Oct 2003 by Michael Bo

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