Fame is a American
musical film conceived and produced by David De
Silva, directed by
Alan Parker, and
written by Christopher Gore.
The film follows a group of students through
their studies at the New
York
High
School of Performing Arts (which later merged with the High
School of Music and Art to become the Fiorello H.
LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and
Performing Arts). The film is split into sections
corresponding to auditions, freshman, sophomore, junior and senior
years. The film ranked number 42 on
Entertainment Weekly's 2006 list
of the "50 Best High School Movies".
The film has spawned a
television
series and
spin-off, a
stage musical, and a
2009 film remake.
Title
The
original screenplay was titled Hot Lunch and this was the
title for the film until part-way through shooting when Director
Alan Parker noted a pornographic film
showing on 42nd Street
with the same title. For the rest of the
shooting schedule of 14 weeks the script was just labelled "title".
Plot
Auditions
The film opens with students auditioning for admittance. Those
admitted include:
Several of the teachers are also introduced:
- Miss Berg - Dance (Joanna Merlin)
- Mr. Farrell - Drama (Jim Moody)
- Ms. Grant - Dance (Debbie
Allen)
- Mrs. Sherwood - English (Anne
Meara)
- Mr. Shorofsky - Music (Albert
Hague)
Freshman year
Students learn on the first day of classes that academics are
weighted equally with performance. Leroy clashes with Mrs. Sherwood
in English class. Doris is overwhelmed by the energy and
spontaneity in the lunchroom and flees, meeting Montgomery.
As the year progresses, Coco tries to convince Bruno to book
performing gigs with her. Doris and Montgomery become friends, and
Doris worries that she's too ordinary against the colorful
personalities of the other students. Leroy and Mrs. Sherwood
continue to clash over Leroy's refusal to do homework (Leroy is
illiterate and ashamed to admit it).
Bruno and his father argue over Bruno's reluctance to play his
music publicly. Coco tells Bruno of her belief that she's "
doing my last dance on this dark little
planet" so it has to be spectacular. Miss Berg warns Lisa she
is not working hard enough. Graduating senior Michael (
Boyd Gaines) wins a prestigious scholarship and
tells Doris that the
William
Morris Agency wants to send him out for auditions for
television pilots.
Sophomore year
New student Hilary van Doren (
Antonia
Franceschi) joins the school, and she and Coco clash over
Leroy. Hilary seduces him. Bruno and Mr. Shorofsky debate the
merits of traditional orchestras versus synthesized instruments. As
an acting exercise, students have to divulge a painful memory.
Ralph tells of learning about the death of
Freddie Prinze. Doris relates her humiliation
at being forced by her
stage mother to
sing at a child's birthday party. Montgomery discusses discovering
his
homosexuality, in the process
coming out to the school, for which he is
teased by Ralph wearing
The Rocky Horror Picture
Show-style
drag. Bruno's
father plays Bruno's music (the title song
Fame) outside the school,
inspiring the student body to dance in the streets. Miss Berg drops
Lisa from the dance program, and Lisa, after initially apparently
considering
suicide, instead drops her dance
clothes on the subway tracks and declares "Fuck it, if I can't
dance I'll change to the drama department."
Junior year
Ralph and Doris discover their mutual attraction, but their growing
intimacy leaves Montgomery feeling
excluded. Hilary brings Leroy home to shock her father and
stepmother. Ralph's young sister is attacked by a
junkie and Ralph lashes out at his mother's attempts
to comfort the child by taking her to the local
Catholic church, instead of to a doctor.
Doris also begins to question her
Jewish
upbringing, changing her name to "Dominique DuPont." She and Ralph
attend a screening of
The Rocky Horror Picture
Show at the 8th Street Playhouse, and during the "
Time Warp" Doris rips off her blouse and
joins the stage show. She becomes giddy the next day as she
realizes that as an actress she can put on any personality she
wants, but is sobered upon running into Michael, struggling as an
actor and waiting tables.
Senior year
Ralph follows in the footsteps of his idol Freddie Prinze and
performs
stand-up comedy at
Catch a Rising Star and garners some
initial success. He falls into a hard-party lifestyle and strains
his relationship with Doris. Given a prime spot at a comedy club,
he bombs after clashing with both Doris and Montgomery over his new
lifestyle. Disgusted with himself, he believes his career is over,
but Montgomery comforts him by telling him that bombing is part of
the entertainment business. Hilary is offered a spot with the San
Francisco ballet and, to take it, has an
abortion. Coco is approached in a diner by a sleazy
guy claiming to be a director. She goes to his apartment for a
"
screen test" and he forces her to
undress in front of the camera. Leroy is offered a spot in
Alvin Ailey's dance company, but to be accepted
he must graduate. He finds Mrs. Sherwood outside her husband's
hospital room and lashes out at her. She lashes back and,
chagrined, he comforts her.
At graduation, the student body performs the finalé, "I Sing the
Body Electric". The opening lines are sung by Lisa, Coco, and
Montgomery.
Locations
The film was not filmed at the actual
High School of Performing
Arts due to worries by the school board, instead the externals
were shot using a former church on the opposite side of the same
road.
A
disused school, Harlem
High
, was converted as a replacement and used for the
majority of internal scenes including the finalé.
Music
The
score of the film won the
Academy Award for Best
Original Score.
Awards and nominations
Academy Awards
BAFTA Awards
Golden Globes
Franchise and spin-offs
Fame spawned a television series of the same name,
a spin-off TV series, and a musical that has played on London
's West
End
since 1995. MGM/UA has since produced a
remake of this film, released in
2009. The remake received mixed to generally negative reviews in
contrast to the original, with the Razzies even currently
considering it the worst film of the year.
MGM owns the
Fame franchise,
References
- "The 50 Best High School Movies", Entertainment
Weekly #897 September 15, 2006
- Commentary by Alan Parker, Fame DVD release 2007
- Fame the Musical official site
External links
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