Movie review: ‘The Buddy Holly Story’

FloridaGator80
A promotional still photograph from the movie “The Buddy Holly Story.”

“Based-on” films are just that … “based-on.” Filmmakers compress storylines and streamline stories by changing “history.” But these films are not “history.” They are movies. Today, I’m writing about “The Buddy Holly Story.” As a film, “The Buddy Holly Story” is more than worth your time and Gary Busey is simply terrific and believable as the title character. However, if you’re looking for facts about the legendary musician, you’ll have to look elsewhere since “The Buddy Holly Story” is riddled with errors, both in compressing the singer’s personal timeline as well as stumbling on so many factual issues. It doesn’t matter, so set aside your disbelief because here’s a film worth your time.

‘The Buddy Holly Story’
(1978; 114 minutes; rated R; directed by Steve Rash and starring Gary Busey, Don Stroud and Charles Martin Smith)

REMEMBER: IT’S A MOVIE, NOT A DOCUMENTARY

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia and the updating of links on Feb. 3, 2026.)

It’s sad when moviegoers misunderstand the concept of a “movie” and its difference from a “documentary.” A documentary is supposed to be absolutely factual, while a film can be “based on” real events yet twist the truth or outright break it in order to tell a story. “The Buddy Holly Story” starring Gary Busey, who earned an Oscar nomination for it, is an excellent example.

No, “The Buddy Holly Story” isn’t a documentary and, in a broad-brush stroke, gets a bunch correct about the brief life of the musician (he died at 22). However, just as some actually believe that Oliver Stone’s “JFK” is a documentary, I guess some folks frame their idea about Holly’s true music career from this film. Well, with just one example, “The Buddy Holly Story” doesn’t even get the correct number of “Crickets” who were in Buddy’s actual band (there were four, not three, though only three are shown in the publicity photo on the Wiki page).

The reason to watch this film is for the performances, especially by Busey, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work in it. Everyone is energetic and attempts to elevate his or her character. You don’t always find that in a film, whether a “documentary” or a “based-on” movie. You can check later in this review for links to stories that outline the mistakes in “The Buddy Holly Story” and for now I’m focusing on the film, not the complete and fully true story of Charles Hardin “Buddy” Holley (yes, his last name had an “e” in it that was dropped for his music career).

“The Buddy Holly Story” kicks off with Busey and his band playing country at a roller skating rink in Texas. Of course (and the film is full of “of courses”), Busey has to kick into rock ’n’ roll to the delight of the “kids” and an abomination to all the adults. From there, the boys get a shot at Nashville, but and of course, they’re not country and learn a lesson from it. Next up, of course, is New York … since a demo tape from the roller rink was sent to them and Buddy and the band are a hit.

Of course, the record that is mistakenly released becomes popular, and things begin to move quickly from there. The band goes to New York and gets a session of Buddy’s own design handed to them after the head of the company caves. The band then gets embraced by the black community by playing the Apollo Theater in Harlem and then doing a bus tour with popular black groups and singers of the era.

From then on, Busey begins dating Maria Elena Santiago, who would become his wife (no surprise in the stereotypical rendering of his mooning over her in the film); the break-up of the band; and then he is basically forced back onto the road to perform live for an audience and out of the studio.

A saccharine possible reunion of the band closes out the film as Busey performs his last concert in Clear Lake, Iowa, and ultimately dies in the infamous airplane crash that also claimed the lives of Ritchie Valens and Jiles Perry “J.P. The Big Bopper” Richardson.

Here is my look at the main cast …

  • An Oscar and Golden Globe nominee for this movie, Busey just exudes the energy that Holly must have found within himself. Busey manages to convey earnestness, desire and an internal driving force that propels his career. He all too easily conveys each phase of the real singer’s life: from his early work to an early peak at home to finding a national stage via New York City. I can’t think of another actor at the time of the film who could have done better. Busey has had a varied career in Hollywood from being a mercenary killer in “Lethal Weapon” with Mel Gibson to a psycho traitor in “Under Siege” (click here to read my review) with Steven Segal to a veteran FBI agent in the original “Point Break” (click here to read my review) with Keanu Reeves. He’s even done horror with the werewolf flick “Silver Bullet” (click here to read my review) to even the campy “Sharknado” franchise. He’s notched more than 180 acting credits since his first in 1967 in an uncredited role as “Hippie with Loudspeaker” in the movie “The Love-Ins.”
  • Don Stroud plays “Jesse Charles” and is the band’s drummer. Stroud gives one of his best performances in “The Buddy Holly Story” and tries to balance music as well as wanting to get back home for a bit. His character is cooler than the third member of the band and offers a bit of friction for Busey. However, although is about his best work, Stroud isn’t an Oscar-class thespian and usually has punctuated lines that are a bit amateurish. I liked Stroud as the title character in the caper film “Murph the Surf” (click here to read my review) and he was a long-haired western killer in “Joe Kidd” with Clint Eastwood (click here to read my review) and has had 164 acting spanning six decades since the first in 1967, with many being episodes of just about any TV show you might care to name.
  • Charles Martin Smith plays stand-up bass player “Ray Bob Simmons” and, while he’s a better actor than Stroud, doesn’t have the same level of material with which to work in this one. Smith is the easygoing balance to the emotions of Busey and Stroud, but never makes his character stand out. Still, it was perfecting casting for this actor to be “Ray Bob.” Of course, Smith was nearly perfect as the nerd in the classic “American Graffiti” as well as its sequel. He’s also been on a variety of TV series episodes including “Psych” and “L.A. Law” as well as movies such as “The Untouchables” and his first was on an episode of that iconic TV show “The Brady Bunch.”

The others that round out a rather thin supporting cast include …

  • Maria Richwine was in her first acting role by playing Maria Elena Santiago, who would become Holly’s wife. She does a solid job and never overplays the role, but her character, just like for Smith, doesn’t get much of a chance to elevate itself in the film and she doesn’t have the acting chops to do it herself. However, Richwine, who would notch only 27 acting credits with the last being in 2017, went on to do work on a variety of TV shows. She died at 71 in 2024.
  • Conrad Janis plays record executive “Ross Turner” and is quietly solid as the New Yorker who gives Holly the chance needed to make a star. Janis, like several others in the cast, does a quiet job of being a key part of the story without overplaying the character. Janis, who had 102 acting credits at the time of his death in 2022 at the age of 94, did work on dozens of TV shows including that kitschy classic “The Love Boat” (click here for my look at that wonderful series) to every big-name series of the 1960s and 1970s including “The Jeffersons,” “Happy Days,” “Kojak,” “Mork & Mindy” and “The Golden Girls.” He died at 93 of organ failure in 2022.
  • I would have liked to see more of Albert Popwell as “Eddie Foster.” He plays an executive for the record company who, like Janis, recognizes the wonderful sound of Holly’s music. Popwell has a small part and does a good job in playing it cool. He was in several of the “Dirty Harry” films with Clint Eastwood (his best was a good-bad guy in “The Enforcer” – click here to read my review) and has 72 acting credits over five decades since his first in 1953. Popwell died at 72 in 1999 after a surgery.

Finally on cast notes, Fred Travalena plays “Madman Mancuso,” who is a manic DJ who falls in love with Holly’s first hit and plays it over-and-over-and-over in a bit that forces too much (from giving “The Crickets” their name to help make them famous). The incident never happened, however, and a couple of real DJs of the era did stunts by playing songs over-and-over, but not one of Holly’s efforts. Travalena died at 66 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2009.

I also enjoyed seeing Galiard Sartain as “The Big Bopper.” You can see him and hear his distinctive voice in both a big part in the teen-raunchy comedy “The Hollywood Knights” (click here to read my review) and, in a much smaller effort, as an Emeril-like chef in “The Big Easy” (click here to read my review). Sartain was also in “Mississippi Burning” and “Fried Green Tomatoes.” Sartain died at 81 in 2025 at his native Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Sometimes the compression of the timeline of Holly’s life makes for forced acting, such as when Stroud makes an unfortunate comment about Maria Elena and Busey explodes. Stroud then makes a comment about how moody the singer has become. A bit too forced, but almost unavoidable.

A most interesting note is that the music in “The Buddy Holly Story” is actually performed by the actors. So, you don’t get a large number of Buddy Holly songs, but the ones you hear are sung by Busey himself. Not bad, Gary … but, then again, you didn’t need me to remind you.

By today’s production standards, “The Buddy Holly Story” appears to be no better than your average TV movie. However, the film transcends the production with the work of the actors and that’s high praise for any film … as long as you always remember that’s it’s a “based-on” story.

BTW … here are some links if you are interested in comparing the real life and music career of Holly to the film:

“The Buddy Holly Story” was outside the Top 10 in 1978 with $14.3 million in ticket sales at the U.S. Box office, according to Wiki. The top three films were “Superman” with $134.2 million, “Grease” with $132.4 million and the classic comedy “National Lampoon’s Animal House” with $120.9 million. Here are the other films from 1978 that I’ve reviewed for my blog:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Busey’s first name is William; Janis’ birth name was Conrad Janowitz; Richwine’s birth name was Maria Eugenia Agudelo and she was a native of Cali, Colombia; and Sartain’s full birth name was Gailard Lee Elliot Sartain Jr.
  • Smith is the shortest of the trio at 5-foot-4, while Stroud is 6-foot-2 and Busey is 5-foot-10¾.
  • Busey was 33 when “The Buddy Holly Story” was filmed. Holly was 22 when he died.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “According to Little Richard, the Apollo theater performance by Buddy Holly and The Crickets in front of an all-black audience is pretty accurate. Holly and his band were booked ‘sight unseen’ because the owner thought they were black. The audience was shocked to see white performers on stage, but they embraced Holly and his band.”
  • One thing you didn’t see in the film was that Waylon Jennings, who would go on to pioneer “outlaw” country music, gave up his seat to Richardson because “The Big Bopper” was suffering from the flu. Waylon was in the band performing with him at the Clear Lake concert.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “Jesse Charles (Don Stroud) and Ray Bob Simmons aka Ray Bob (Charles Martin Smith) were used as the names of The Crickets. Their actual names (Jerry Allison) and (Joe B. Mauldin) could not be used for legal reasons.”
  • BTW … the other person to die in the airplane crash was pilot Roger Peterson. The fatal crash and its aftermath were honored in song with “The Day the Music Died” by Don McLean in 1971.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “In an interview for VH1’s Behind the Music, ‘The Day The Music Died,’ at the premiere screening of the film, Buddy’s widow, Maria Elena Holly, ran out of the theater crying when Busey, as Buddy, sang ‘True Love Ways’ during the final concert. ‘True Love Ways’ was Buddy’s personal love song for Maria.”

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