Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #707 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-09-22
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 128 minutes

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

Special Features
English
Region 2

Customer Reviews

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. But when i watched it i was quite disapointed. Not a huge amount happens, and i would have liked to have seen more singing and dancing. Also the storyline isn't great, they had too many main characters and therefore there wasnt enough time to form an attatchment to the characters or to develop they're story further. Altough it was a plesant watch, i wouldn't be in a hurry to watch it again.

Fame is the game
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.

The most inspiring film of all time!
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!