It's now 1980 and Alan Parker directs a film with a vast ensemble cast of young actors and performers that will leave an indelible mark on the pop culture of the decade to come.
"Fame" (1980)
Directed by Alan Parker, Written by Christopher Gore, Produced by David De Silva & Alan Marshall, Music by Michael Gore, Cinematography by Michael
Seresin, Edited by Gerry Hambling, Starring Eddie Barth, Irene Cara, Lee Curreri, Laura Dean, Antonia Franceschi, Boyd Gaines, Albert Hague, Tresa Hughes, Steve Inwood, Paul McCrane, Anne Meara, Joanna Merlin, Barry Miller, Jim Moody, Gene Anthony Ray & Maureen Teefy.
Fame is a musical drama that chronicles the lives of a group of teenagers who attend The New York high school for the performing arts. The film is structured in five acts, Auditions, Freshman year, Sophomore year, Junior year & Senior year.
Producer David De Silva conceived the premise of the film in 1976. De Silva was inspired by the musical "A Chorus Line" and wanted to make a contemporary re-imagining of the classic tale of a group of performers chasing their dreams. He commissioned playwright Christopher Gore to write the script which was originally titled "Hot Lunch".
The script was successfully sold to the movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who brought Alan Parker on as director.
The first thing Parker did when he came onboard was to rewrite the script with Gore, aiming for a darker, gritty and more dramatic tone and to change the title.
They intended to film on location in the actual "New York High School for the Performing Arts" with its shabby fixtures and fittings and peeling paint but when Parker asked the New York Board of education simply answered "No!" .
Alan Parker accompanied by his producer Alan Marshall decided to go and meet the board face to face and appeal their decision. Parker wrote,
"I sat in front of a group of stern looking people as I unctuously spouted the ‘our film will be wonderful’ routine and that it would put the school on the map. The formidable head of the board — an obdurate, self-important woman with steel grey hair and half frame glasses — promptly told me that their school had been on the map for forty years and already had hundreds more applicants than they could admit, and so publicity was the last thing they needed.
“Does there have to be so much profanity?”,
snapped another board member, waving a well-thumbed copy of an early draft of our script.
“No one in our school system speaks this way. “
“Like fuck they do,” whispered Alan Marshall sitting beside me..
“It would be a quality film.” I assured the flinty harridan behind the long oak table, but it did nothing to mollify her disrelish.
She looked at me over her glasses and uttered a line I will always remember:
“Mr. Parker, I can’t risk you doing for New York High Schools the same thing you did for the reputations of Turkish prisons in your last film (Midnight Express).”
The film was shot on location in New York City, The production took over two empty school buildings they could modify, paint or un-paint to dress their sets.
When it came to casting the film, Alan Parker had promised to hold auditions at the High School of Performing Arts to the students when he was visiting the school and doing general reconnaissance but the Board of Education had advised the school and the students to not get involved with the film voicing concerns it would "negatively affect their studies."
It was then announced that filming would occur during the summer break when the students were not attending classes.
A casting call was put out to the Performing Arts school and the High School of Music & Art.
They also held an open casting call at the Diplomat Hotel on 43rd Street in Manhattan where more than 2,000 people auditioned for various roles.
Alan Parker along with his casting directors Margery Simkin and Howard Feuer spent four months auditioning and casting young performers for the film.
Only one current pupil from the school was cast in a lead role, Laura Dean, who plays Lisa Monroe.
I'm sure the School Board was thrilled that two of their teaching staff were cast in the film,
The school's drama teacher Jim Moody plays Mr. Farell and the school's music teacher Jonathan Strasser appears in the film as a conductor.
Principal photography began on the 9th of July 1979 and the film took 91 days to shoot.
Parker described shooting in New York City as,
"a less than pleasurable experience due to the intense summer weather conditions."
The film was made with a budget of $8.5 million ($32.5m in 2024) and was released on the 20th of June 1980.
I am surprised to read that the critical response at the time was very mixed.
but there seemed to be unanimous praise for actor Barry Miller who plays drama student Ralph Garci, Jack Matthews of the Associated Press wrote,
"Barry Miller bolts from the screen with a performance that will etch itself into the viewer's mind for a long time to come"
Many critics highlighted that when the students aren't "performing" in the film the pace drops and can get bogged down in what Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune called "melodramatic drivel" but Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three-and-a-half stars out of four writing,
"Fame is a genuine treasure, moving and entertaining, a movie that understands being a teen-ager as well as Breaking Away did, but studies its characters in a completely different milieu."
The film was also a HIT!
It took $42 million ($160m in 2024) at the box office against a budget of $8.5 million ($32.5m in 2024)
The film won awards,
Michael Gore won the Oscar for Best Original Score for the film and Michael Gore & Dean Pitchford won the Oscar for Best Original Song for the theme song "Fame".
The film won the BAFTA for Best Sound and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song – Motion Picture for the song "Fame".
The film was significant due to bringing Legwarmers into fashion throughout the 1980's and it also kick-started the Dance movie vogue that also was prevalent in the 80's with films such as Flashdance (1983), Footloose (1984), Breakin' (1984) and Dirty Dancing (1987).
Following the film's success of the film there was a television series spin-off, Fame, aired on the NBC network for two seasons from January 7, 1982, to August 4, 1983 but the series was nothing to do with Alan Parker directly neither does the stage show or the crappy 2009 remake.
In 2023, the film was selected for preservation to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress after being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Next in Alan Parker's filmography is a film called "Shoot the Moon from 1982 and I haven't seen it and before writing this I had never heard of it so I don't have an opinion on it.
Shoot the Moon (1982)
Directed by Alan Parker, Written by Bo Goldman, Produced by Alan Marshall, Cinematography Michael Seresin, Edited by Gerry Hambling, Starring Albert Finney, Diane Keaton, Karen Allen, Peter Weller & Dana Hill.
After years of marriage, the seemingly perfect relationship between accomplished writer George Dunlap and his wife, Faith, is rapidly deteriorating. While George becomes involved in an affair with the lovely Sandy, Faith begins a romance with handsome contractor Frank. These infidelities not only take a toll on George and Faith, they affect their four daughters, who start to resent their father in particular.
The same year "Shoot the Moon" was released Parker also made.
Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
Directed by Alan Parker, Screenplay by Roger Waters, Based on the album The Wall
by Pink Floyd, featuring animated segments directed by Gerald Scarfe, Music by Pink Floyd,
Bob Ezrin & Michael Kamen, Produced by Alan Marshall, Cinematography by Peter Biziou,
Edited by Gerry Hambling, Starring Bob Geldof.
Inspired by the Pink Floyd album "The Wall," successful but drug addicted musician Pink is looking back on his isolated childhood from the confines of a Los Angeles hotel room.
Through a swirl of flashbacks and chemical-induced hallucinations, Pink recalls his lonely upbringing, during which he built a symbolic wall to the world as he coped with his overbearing mother and the death of his father.
This is an odd fish of a project with a tumultuous development which seems very "on brand" for Rodger Waters.
When Waters and the guys in Pink Floyd were writing the album The Wall the intention was to make a film from it keeping a strong narrative throughout the album which does feel quite cinematic . The original concept was to make a concert film with Pink Floyd performing the album in concert with inter-cut animated sections by Gerald Scarfe and dramatic sequences with Waters playing the lead character "Pink".
Pink Floyd's record company EMI were not interested in making the film, as the suits did not grasp the concept or see the potential .
The story goes that Alan Parker who was a big Pink Floyd fan independently reached out to
EMI and asked if The Wall could be adapted into a film. EMI responded by suggesting that Parker talk to Rodger Waters about it.
Walters instantly wanted Parker to direct the project but Parker was more interested in producing and handing directing duties to artist/animator Gerald Scarfe and Parker's friend and cinematographer Michael Seresin.
Waters and Scarfe began developing the project and produced a special-edition book containing the screenplay and concept art to pitch the project to potential investors.
It was during this early stage of the production Rodger Waters was screen tested to play the role of Pink and they did not go well and the production was now looking for a leading man.
The production team was looking to replace Walters in the role of "Pink" with Bob Geldof who was at the time the front-man of new wave band the Boomtown Rats.
Now... New Wave was kinda pop rock with a punk ethos and the bands saw themselves as edgy and contemporary where Pink Floyd was viewed as the oldies, prog rock, the past. So I imagine Geldof required some convincing to get involved.
There is a bit of rock & roll folklore here...
Apparently!
Geldof and his manager took a taxi to an airport, and Geldof's manager pitched the project and the role to the singer. Bob continued to reject the offer and using very colourful language express his contempt for the project and Pink Floyd throughout the taxi ride. The pair in the cab were both unaware that the taxi driver was Roger Waters' older brother John, who told Waters about Geldof's opinions. But he was cast he did it and Roger was obviously OK with it.
Since Waters was no longer in the starring role, it no longer made sense for the film to include Pink Floyd concert footage, so the whole concert film aspect was dropped from the project. Which was good because all of the footage shot at the five "The Wall" concerts held at Earl's Court from 13–17 June 1981 that were specifically held for making the concert film was deemed unusable due to the lenses used to shoot. They had selected "Fast Lenses" which were needed to shoot in the low light environment of the stage but the image produced was too low resolution to be part of a movie to be projected on a cinema screen. What they needed to do was redesign the stage lighting to be conducive with filming.
When this error had been established and the decision was made to drop the live footage Michael Seresin quit the project leaving Alan Parker as director working with Gerald Scarfe.
Parker, Waters and Scarfe frequently clashed during production. Parker described the filming as "one of the most miserable experiences of my creative life."
Scarfe declared that he would drive to Pinewood Studios carrying a bottle of Jack Daniel's, because "I had to have a slug before I went in the morning, because I knew what was coming up, and I knew I had to fortify myself in some way." and Waters said that filming was "a very unnerving and unpleasant experience". It's amazing that this film got made at all.
Gerald Scarfe's artwork and animation really makes this film. His work is unnerving and iconic. Here is the animated section of the film called "The Trial".
The film was made for $12m ($39m in 2024) and took $22.3m at the american box office ($72.6m in 2024)
"Pink Floyd - The Wall" opened in One Cinema! on 6 August 1982 and took over $68,000 and entered the US box office chart at number 28... one cinema. The film later expanded to over 600 theatres on the 10th September, achieving No. 3 at the box office charts, below E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and An Officer and a Gentleman. If you add in worldwide box office and home video sales the film was a hit.
It also received positive reviews, The critical consensus reads,
"Pink Floyd's expression of generational angst is given striking visual form The Wall, although this ambitious feature's narrative struggles to marry its provocative images and psychedelic soundtrack into a compelling whole."
It also won 2 BAFTA's "Best Original Song" for the song "Another Brick in the Wall" and "Best Sound"
Next... having survived making "The Wall" Alan got a second chance at a project he had passed on five years earlier due to not being experienced enough as a filmmaker.
Birdy (1984)
Directed by Alan Parker, Screenplay by Sandy Kroopf & Jack Behr, Based on the novel "Birdy" by William Wharton, Produced by Alan Marshall, Music by Peter Gabriel, Cinematography by Michael Seresin, Edited by Gerry Hambling, Starring Matthew Modine & Nicolas Cage.
Birdy returns from the Vietnam War scarred from the horrific experiences of battle. He is so damaged by what he saw that he has shut himself off from reality completely, imagining that he is actually a bird. Birdy is confined to a mental hospital, where the doctors are at a loss as to how to treat him. In an attempt to help his best friend Al from high school and who was also in Vietnam visits him every day to try and get through to him.
As soon as William Wharton's 1978 novel "Birdy" was published Parker received the book from his agent, who advised him that the rights of the novel was about to be snapped up by Orion Pictures and he should put his name forward to direct. After Parker read the novel he said "the fact so much of the story happened inside the boy's head, and the poetry of the book was literary. To make it cinematic - I didn't know if I could make the jump." Parker then turned down the opportunity to direct the film adaptation. This was immediately after "Bugsy Malone" and while "Midnight Express" was in production so very early on in Parker's motion picture career.
In October 1982, the newly established film company A&M Films acquired the "Birdy" film rights from Orion and commissioned Sandy Kroopf and Jack Behr to rewrite the screenplay. Kroopf and Behr made changes from the novel, choosing to focus primarily on the friendship between Birdy and his best friend Al and they decided to set the story during the Vietnam War opposed to the novel, which is set during World War II.
In 1983, Parker received the script from A&M Films and, after reading it, signed on as director.
Parker and his casting director Juliet Taylor held open casting calls in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, New York City and Philadelphia to cast the film.
Matthew Modine originally auditioned for the role of Al but Parker decided to cast him as Birdy, believing that the actor possessed an "introverted honest quality" that best suited the character. Modine said,
"I was flabbergasted because I hadn't auditioned for Birdy. I had to really go through an extraordinary transformation in my mind of trying to bring this remarkable character to life. It was an incredible experience making the film."
Nicolas Cage was cast as Al.
He reflected, "I was terrified of the role of Al, because it was like nothing I'd ever done before, and I didn't know how to get to the places the role was asking me to go emotionally."
For scenes in which Al's face is disfigured and swathed in bandages, Cage lost 15 pounds and had two of his front teeth pulled out.
"I wanted to look like I was hit by a bomb," he said. "It gave me a feeling of something I had lost. I felt this was a once-in-a-lifetime part, and it deserved that much."
Principal photography began in Philadelphia on May 15, 1984. The script required that a total of 24 locations be used for filming in Philadelphia and Santa Clara, California.
The film was the first to be partially shot with the Skycam, a computer-controlled, cable-suspended camera system created by Garrett Brown, inventor of the Steadicam. The Skycam had 100-foot high posts with four hanging wires controlled by a computer, and a lightweight Panavision camera with 200 feet of film hung at the centre of the wires.
In a world before Drones The filmmakers used the Skycam to fully depict Birdy's point of view during a fantasy sequence in which he imagines himself as a bird flying.
The film's score was written, co-produced and composed by English singer and songwriter Peter Gabriel, and marked his first work on a feature film. During post-production, Parker had been using percussive tracks from Gabriel's solo albums as a 'Scratch' audio track while editing the film. He contacted the musician's manager David Geffen, who advised him that producing the soundtrack would be a slow process, as Gabriel was known for working at his own pace.
Gabriel watched a rough cut of the film and agreed to score "Birdy" while he was also working on his fifth studio album "So". In an interview with Spin in 1986, Gabriel said,
“Birdy was about the struggle of the spirit... It was about the interplay between the traumatised Birdy, the wounded victim, and his best friend, who’s ostensibly the tough one. But in the end, it’s Birdy who’s strong and his friend who’s cracking. When I saw the rough cut of the film, I knew I had to do it. It haunted me.”
Tri-Star distributed the film and it was given a limited release on 21st of December 1984, in cinemas in New York City, Los Angeles and Toronto. Way too late to garner the momentum to secure award nominations and cause them to delay moving the film into wide release. Its release was basically bungled by Tri-Star so it only took $1.4m at the North American box office against a production budget of $12m.
The film did receive mostly positive reviews from mainstream film critics.
The consensus summarises: "Aided by strong work from Matthew Modine and Nicolas Cage, Birdy finds director Alan Parker turning a supposedly unfilmable novel into a soaring -- and emotionally searing -- success."
Following its bungled release, the film premiered at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival, and on May 20, 1985, it won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury prize.
This film seems to be tragically overlooked and should be viewed as a bit of a hidden gem.
(End of Part Two)
