RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Fame
Fame

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Fame (1980)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
90 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:21

Fresh:19

Rotten:2

Average Rating:7/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins

Genre: Musical & Performing Arts

Synopsis: In Alan Parker's FAME, teenagers selected for New York City's High School for the Performing Arts push their talents to the limit to make it big in show business. This episodic tale follows savvy... In Alan Parker's FAME, teenagers selected for New York City's High School for the Performing Arts push their talents to the limit to make it big in show business. This episodic tale follows savvy Coco (Irene Cara), timid Doris (Maureen Teefy), gay Montgomery (Paul McCrane), macho Raul (Barry Miller), soulful Bruno (Lee Curreri), and others as they struggle to achieve their dreams of stardom while coping with the universal teenage problems of loneliness, insecurity, and embattled, mercurial identity. Cara, electric as the budding songstress Coco, shines brightest in the infectiously exuberant young cast. The film, which won Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song, overflows at each corner of its loosely unfolding narrative with inspired music and dance numbers that seem to burst forth spontaneously out of sheer irrepressible emotion. With FAME (later developed into a hit television series), Parker finds a happy medium between the wildly diverging tones of his previous two features, the goofy kids-as-gangsters musical BUGSY MALONE and the harrowing prison thriller MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, and in doing so creates an enjoyable, glittering portrait of guileless teenage ambition. [More]

Starring: Eddie Barth, Irene Cara, Lee Curreri, Billy Hufsey

Starring: Eddie Barth, Irene Cara, Lee Curreri, Billy Hufsey, Barry Miller, Paul McCrane, Maureen Teefy, Richard Belzer, Meg Tilly, Laura Dean

Director: Alan Parker

Director: Alan Parker
Screenwriter: Christopher Gore
Producer: Alan Marshall
Composer: Michael Gore

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Jun 3, 2003

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Fame

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/09/08
Variety
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/24/03
Channel 4 Film
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/15/05
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Sadly, everything is predictable, which is to the detriment of the mostly fine, young talent that appears in this ineffective retread. I hope that their fame, unlike this film, isn't fleeting.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment 1 Comment
10/23/09
Elias Savada
Elias Savada
Film Threat

No review available.

comment 1 Comment
06/04/04
Sarah Chauncey
Sarah Chauncey
Reel.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/17/01
BBC

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

No review available.

comment Comment
04/06/08
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

No review available.

comment Comment
01/31/04
Dan Jardine
Dan Jardine
Apollo Guide

No review available.

comment Comment
07/02/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

A rambling, emotionally involving, and exuberent movie with flashes of cinematic poetry.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
06/07/03
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

No review available.

comment Comment
12/05/03
James Hill
James Hill
BET.com

One of the finest dramas ever about teen life

comment Comment
01/09/03
James Sanford
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette

Nearly thirty years after its debut, Alan Parker's Fame remains, in its way, even fresher than its glossy 2009 remake

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
10/26/09
Jason McKiernan
Jason McKiernan
Filmcritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
10/17/02
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

No review available.

comment Comment
07/29/05
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

Not always believable, but energetic and enjoyable.

comment Comment
11/05/02
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Infectious and moving and sometimes bittersweet.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
09/06/03
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

No review available.

comment Comment
10/25/02
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for Fame

April 03, 2009: Trailer Bulletin: Fame Opens in new window
They can sing and dance, but can they make you remember their names, thereby living forever? Watch the first trailer for MGM's "Fame" reboot and see what you think. More...

February 20, 2009: Meet the Cast of the Fame Remake Opens in new window
Curious about the upcoming "Fame" remake? Satisfy your curiosity with new interviews with the cast and behind-the-scenes footage. More...

December 01, 2008: Five Fame Faculty Added Opens in new window
Megan Mullally, Kelsey Grammer, Charles S. Dutton, Bebe Neuwirth and Debbie Allen have joined the cast of "Fame." More...

October 10, 2008: Fame Remake Rounds Out Cast Opens in new window
MGM has decided who's gonna live forever: Kristy Flores, Paul Iacono, Paul McGill, Naturi Naughton, Kay Panabaker, Kherington Payne, Collins Pennie, Walter Perez and Anna Maria... More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…
32% 32% Terminator Salvation
36% 36% Angels & Demons
95% 95% Star Trek
25% 25% Four Christmases

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
88% 88% Inglourious Basterds
78% 78% The Hangover
49% 49% Taking Woodstock
26% 26% The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
47% 47% The Girl From Monaco

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Sam Worthington

Sam Worthington

A video interview with the Avatar star!

Sorcerer's Apprentice

Sorcerer's Apprentice

Throwing fireballs with Nicolas Cage!

Golden Globes

Golden Globes

Up in the Air leads with 6 noms!

RT on DVD & Blu-Ray

RT on DVD & Blu-Ray

Inglourious Basterds & The Hangover

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Trailer Bulletin: Robin Hood Source: ComingSoon.net
48
  • Mel Gibson Plans a Mexican Vacation Source: Variety
6
  • New Iron Man 2 Clue Posted Source: Screen Rant
24
  • Gibson and DiCaprio are Going Norse Source: HitFix
57
  • Lord of the Rings Coming to Blu-ray April 6 Source: Hollywood Reporter
8
  • Tobey Maguire Rumored for The Hobbit Source: Latino Review
42
  • Mila Kunis Talks Aronofsky's Black Swan Source: Collider.com
12
  • Visiting the Set of The Sorcerer's Apprentice Source: ComingSoon.net
7
  • Weekly Ketchup: James Cameron Plans a Fantastic Voyage
99
  • James Cameron Talks Avatar Sequels Source: Collider.com
8
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Avatar Live Up To The Hype?
236
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Girlpower Rules Again with Princess at #1
69
  • Awards Tour 2009: Golden Globe Noms Here!
68
  • Awards Tour 2009: Inglourious Basterds Lead Critics Choice Noms
42
  • The Gimmicks That Changed Cinema: Part 1
37
  • Awards Tour 2009: Avatar Best Picture at NYFCO!
37
  • Weekly Ketchup: James Cameron Plans a Fantastic Voyage
33
  • The Effects of Where the Wild Things Are
30
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Critics Consensus: Princess, Invictus Are Certified Fresh
21
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
23
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
23
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Fame at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Fame at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
Best Sci-Fi This Decade
Best Sci-Fi This Decade External Link

Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.

40 Worst Films of the 2000s
40 Worst Films of the 2000s External Link

Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.

10 Questions For Zac Efron
10 Questions For Zac Efron External Link

The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.

Best Decade Ever!
Best Decade Ever! External Link

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure External Link

In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.