Movie · 1980 · Drama, Music · 2h 13m · R · English
Curator score: 4.2/10 (52.2K ratings)
If they've really got what it takes, it's going to take everything they've got.
Overview
A chronicle of the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.2/10
IMDb: 6.6/10
Letterboxd: 3.46/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
Metacritic: 58
TMDB: 6.4/10
Director
Alan Parker
Production
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Cast
Irene Cara, Barry Miller, Maureen Teefy, Paul McCrane, Lee Curreri, Gene Anthony Ray, Antonia Franceschi, Laura Dean, Boyd Gaines, Albert Hague, Tresa Hughes, Anne Meara, Joanna Merlin, Jim Moody, Debbie Allen, Richard Belzer, Eddie Barth, Steve Inwood, Frank Bongiorno, Bill Britten
Curator Review
Verdict
A vivid, messy coming-of-age musical-drama that captures the hunger, vanity, and vulnerability of young performers. It’s best when it leans into the ensemble’s emotional truth and New York grit, but the loose structure and uneven character arcs can make it feel more like a slice of a TV season than a fully shaped film.
Best for
viewers who like ensemble dramas
fans of performance-school stories
people drawn to 1970s/80s New York atmosphere
audiences who enjoy earnest, emotionally raw musicals
Skip if
you want a tightly plotted story
you dislike episodic or uneven narratives
you prefer polished, contemporary musical style
you need strong closure for every character
Overview
Fame is less a conventional musical than a restless portrait of ambition. It follows a group of students at a performing arts high school, but the real subject is the cost of wanting recognition so badly that it becomes part of your identity. The film’s energy comes from its mix of optimism and bruising realism, with moments that feel genuinely lived-in rather than neatly scripted.
Worth noting
Alan Parker keeps the movie moving through rehearsal rooms, hallways, auditions, and city streets, giving it a raw, almost documentary pulse. That looseness is part of its charm, though it also means some storylines feel undercooked or abruptly dropped. If you’re expecting a glossy backstage crowd-pleaser, this can be disorienting; if you like messy ensemble films with emotional bite, it lands much better.
Bottom line
What lingers is the sense of youth as both promise and pressure. The movie understands how art can be a lifeline, a fantasy, and a source of humiliation all at once. Even when it stumbles, it stays emotionally alert to the thrill of trying to become somebody before the world decides who you are.
Top Letterboxd reviews
𝒜𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒹𝒶 𝒦.🏳️🌈 (5★) · 612 likes
Fame Perfectly encapsulates that feeling of being young and wanting to make your dreams come true.
Alan Parker assembled a cast of virtual unknowns and made them shine in this beautiful and heart wrenching story of teens searching for acceptance and stardom. Every character is given time to develop and grow and by the end you feel like you know these people personally and sympathize with them in their struggles. The atmosphere and the energy Parker captures within the high… more
Iman Vellani (4.5★) · 449 likes
Umm Victorious cosplayed as All That Jazz??
I went to an arts high school in Markham, Ontario, and okay, it was quite literally nothing like this, BUT, Fame manages to nail something much deeper about coming of age alongside the art form you’re exploring that reallyyyyyyy struck a chord with me.
Fyi I watched this on a plane and was extra vulnerable to feeling feelings—many of which I haven’t felt since I was sixteen. Okay, for example—you know that aching, gnawing appetite to be… more
Leticia Fernandes (4.5★) · 401 likes
I MUST REMEMBER THIS FEELING AND USE IT IN MY ACTING
Dave Jackson (3.5★) · 234 likes
Fame is not what I expected. I expected a glitzy, cheesy, sparkly musical with big numbers and hammy choreographed dances. Instead, Fame is a strangely disjointed and surprisingly gritty film. It has no central protagonist (except for maybe the sleazy streets of New York) and instead follows a variety of students as they succeed and fail throughout three years of study in a performing arts-centric high school. Nothing is wrapped up neatly and we sometimes go for long stretches without… more Fame is not what I expected. I expected a glitzy, cheesy, sparkly musical with big numbers and hammy choreographed dances. Instead, Fame is a strangely disjointed and surprisingly gritty film. It has no central protagonist (except for maybe the sleazy streets of New York) and instead follows a variety of students as they succeed and fail throughout three years of study in a performing arts-centric high school. Nothing is wrapped up neatly and we sometimes go for long stretches without… more