I vote yes. I got into Gary Busey through Buddy holly and seing the movie. Gary Busey is my favorite actor and Buddy Holly my favorite singer so i say yes.

Ok, well holy **** is this the wrong question to ask pretty much anyone here....But, while we have all ranted about what crap The Buddy Holly Story is, not too many mentions of Gary Busey. As I have said, if there werent so many stupid ass mistakes in that movie, I would think it was a great film...and a large part of my opinion is Gary Busey. For the part he was givin, even though we all know that wasnt how Buddy acted, he did a great job...His stage mannerisms were fairly close to the real Buddy Holly, he can sing(although he murdered all the songs with the word scrambling), and he pulled off the accent(was he a Texan? I've heard he was from Oaklahoma).Plus, he apparently improved a fair bit(and good improv too)because he kept forgetting his lines or becoming disoriented in the songs.Case in point, Gary Busey is a great actor. Although, I still stand strong in saying that he cant call himself a Buddy Holly fan, because he knowingly falsley protrayed him, and tried to cover up all the "pure and innocent mistakes". So Gary, although you should have gotten the Oscer for that performance, face it, you were playing a fictional character, not Buddy Holly.

I think Gary did a good job in the film. I know the film has very few facts in it, but what he did was good, except for singing the lyrics wrong. For an actor, he is a pretty good singer and musician. (this is all just my humble opinion-don't hurt me) And I heard he was a Texan. I could be wrong, of course.

Julie

Gary Busey is Texan, I believe born somewhere actually close to Lubbock. However, I didn't find his accent as pronounced as Buddy's is, from what I've heard on tapes. Gary Busey did a good job as Buddy, if we forgive him for mangling some words in the songs. He does look a lot like Buddy, I can't imagine him being cast first as J.I. in Not Fade Away. The improvisation that he did was very good, and I'm not upset with Gary Busey for all the theactrical liscences that they took with the film. It bugs me in the voiceover on the DVD that he brushes them aside, calling them minor mistakes, but no, Gary Busey did Buddy justice. If only we could have a real story to go with that great acting....cause that's all it was. Acting, not portraying a real life.

Well as far as looking the part, I think there could have been better....yes, Busey does look like Buddy, the glasses and skinniness do that for him, but look at him with out that glasses....omg...you could search for days and still not find Buddy Holly in that face...Plus, didnt he have to get his hair curled and dyed everyday(and a very bad curl job alot of the time)to try and replicate Buddys hair? So, if we look at the raw and unpolished Gary Busey, he looks absolutly nothing like Buddy Holly ....but I suppose all dressed up, hes satisfactory...I personally think Rivers Cuomo from Weezer would do a better job of looking the part, you put pictures of them side by side and half the time you cant tell the difference!

Okay, hold the phone, let's get some facts squared away first: Gary Busey was born in Goose Creek, Texas, which is near Baytown, Texas, about 20 miles east of Houston, Texas... That's in far East Texas on the Gulf Coast, which is many hundreds of miles away from Lubbock, practically all the way on the other side of the state. Like a different country.

Gary was still a small kid when his family moved up to Oklahoma, so Gary grew up as an Oklahoman---his accent, mannerisms, and craziness is more like that of an Oklahoma cowboy than a Texan. What I'm saying is that Gary was born East Texan but he was raised an Okie.

Many of those who worked with Buddy Holly back in the 50's were, in fact, from Oklahoma---which is a hell of lot closer to Lubbock than is Goose Creek. So Gary may have carried this Okie influence into his Buddy Holly role. In any event, you could see that Gary had studied Buddy Holly material intensely in preparation for his role.

But there's one main problem with Busey as Buddy: While they share a common height---5'11-1/2"---Busey is built like an armored personnel carrier compared to Buddy. Or, rather, let's say that Buddy was a frail as a twig compared to Busey.

That's something you'll notice about Buddy when you watch his performances---the guy looks like he's defying gravity most of the time. Buddy didn't look like he had any weight on him, his mannerisms were light and fast, almost like an empty suit with human hands and head.

Gary Busey, on the other hand, had to lose a LOT of weight to play the part of Buddy Holly. Even then, you could tell that Busey was big enough and brawny enough to kick Don Stroud's ass (Stroud is that massive guy who played the part of Jesse, the drummer). I mean, Gary Busey was a meaty, muscular guy with huge forearms, who walked heavily, moved heavily, who looked like he was in a constant battle with gravity.

To me, casting Gary Busey to play Buddy Holly was like casting Arnold Schwarzenegger to play PeeWee Herman. Sure, Busey moved in and charmed a lot of people with his portrayal of Buddy---but, to me, it never seemed real, never seemed natural. Busey always looked like a linebacker trying to play a cheerleader, if you know what I mean.

If there's one actor that I was really mad that was cast, it was Don Stroud. I did not like him as the drummer at all. Charles Martin Smith I think was a very good bass player, and was like Joe B. (I know, Ray Bob) but Don Stroud just really bugged me. He didn't fit in at all.
Busey had just finished some movie before the Buddy one, it was a surfing movie or something that required Gary to be quite buff, and so part of the costume challenge was to disguise the muscle that Busey had.
Watching the movie, Busey can convince me that yes, he is Buddy Holly (if we forget about basically the whole plot.) But then a see a real picture of Buddy, and I realize the differences.
Dave Matthews (I believe that's the guy I'm trying to think of) would have been a good Buddy too, there's this one video where, well, he looks like Buddy, end of story. But yes, Weezer, well, they could pass for Buddy anyday.

Screwy double post.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Charles Austin,

I think the person you were thinking of buddy_blue is Matthew Good, from the Matthew Good Band. And yes, he could pass for a good Buddy Holly, although mabey a little less frail than Buddy.I too, was pissed off that Don Stroud was cast as J.I, for several reasons. First of all, take a good look at Jerry Allison. When I first saw him I mistook him for Ritchie Valens. Hes got darker skin, pretty much black hair, and hes nearly as skinny as Buddy. Don Stroud, on the other hand, is as white as can be, has blonde hair, and a meaty build. Plus, I dont think he protrayed J.I at all as he was.He seemed cockey, conceited, and upset that Buddy was gettin all the glory instead of the band as a whole. And to top it all off, the stupid bastard cant play the drums!! I would love to have seen what the real Jerry Allison thought of that performance!

Yeah, I did mean Matthew Good, but I mean, Matthew Good, Dave Matthews, I was close. lol.
I saw this one video by Matthew Good, and I think it was quite soon after I got into Buddy Holly, becasue I can't remember the name of the song nor what he was singing about, all I remember is the background of the video was quite dark, but there were images there too, like planes and stuff, and Matthew Good, looking like Buddy Holly, behind a mic with his guitar.
I really didn't like Don Stroud cast as Jerry Allison. Charles Martin Smith was very good, in my opinion, as was Gary Busey. But Stroud looked older, acted older, and just didn't seem to be part of the band. That's the other thing in the movie that I missed: the actors were off by a long short of feeling like a band. Because music binds you, and I know that Buddy, J.I, and Joe B were tighter than tight. They didn't show that in the movie though, which I think is very important in Buddy Holly's life. He had an amazing band, and this was because of their amazing friendship.
And it can be done, tightness like this portrayed by actors, because I have seen it done, in the film by Tom Hanks called That Thing You Do. Old but excellent movie.

I agree, Charles Martin Smith did a great job of potraying Joe.B.He always seemed kind of in the background, kind of innocent and very much like a doormat when compared to Buddy or J.I...and all you have to do is look at pictures to know thats true. Although I still think that he, nor Don Stoud look anything like the original Crickets. Mabey thats because once again, the hair color was wrong, but at least for Joe B. they got a short guy to play the part. I also agree with you when you say that Don Stoud looked and acted older, although in my opinion, they all did. They were all in their thirties, trying to play teenagers and a 22 year old. And yes, they all made it convincing enough, but theres still that unmistakible maturity that comes with age that kind of overrides the acting. And thats yet another reason why Gary Busey looked nothing like Buddy Holly, there was an age difference of 13 years! One thing that always catches my eye when I see Gary Busey is his mouth and teeth. Thast probably the department in which he is least like Buddy. I dont think I really need to explain why do I?. No, didnt think so....I too agree with you on the feeling like a band thing. The apparently had six weeks to get their crap together and learn their instruments, but thats a far as it goes. Alot of the time, particularly at the beggining of the film, the performances felt forced. Yes, it looked like they were all having fun, but you can see Smith and Stroud struggling to keep up with Busey. Buddy Holly and The Crickets were completly insync with eachother, and that came not only from long time friendship, but from a long time of being a band. These guys were actors, not musicans and boy can you tell. But of course, I think Busey stands out in being the most convincing musican, becasue apparently he had been in a band before, and of anyone he looked like he knew what he was doing. I think they would have done better to just leave the Crickets out, because Busey completly steals the show from them.

I thought the film could have been a lot better with Holly's voice dubbed in. I guess I'm just a purist when it comes to Buddy's music. I saw the movie with my then girlfriend, and a girl who was sitting alone in front of us started to cry when Busey sang "True Love Ways" I wanted to just jump over the seats and have a good cry with her. My girlfriend didn't get it at all. To her it was just another love song. Can you imagine "True Love Ways" just another love song? It's like calling the Pope "just another Catholic".

Every time I hear Maybe Baby, I think of Gary Busey with chewing-gum teeth

Didn't Buddy actually do that, only in England and not in NY like the move portrays?

lol, I think we all have that vision when we hear Mabey Baby, Julie. Actually, and my brother literally slapped me for this, (I asked him to lol) ocasionally, when Im just kinda listening and not really paying attention and singing along, I'll sing the scrambled lyrics Busey made up in his disorientation instead of the real words! But yes, Buddy did use the gum only in England, becasue to my understanding, he promptly saw a dentist after the incident. I dont see why he needed the gum though, it was only his caps, not his real teeth, noone would have really noticed....yet another thing I'd like a picture, Buddy with that gum...although, when you see pictures of him before the cap job...mabey the gum was best lol.

Actually, as the story is recounted by Joe B., when he knocked out Buddy's caps, there were just holes where his teeth should have been. Don't ask me how that works.
I found the real story in a bio book that I just recently got, check it out in the topic Buddy Holly Fight.