Fame

Fame is not only a drama, but also combines great dancing and singing into a mixture of high energy that was to set the world alight.

By singing, I don't mean a musical such as "Grease" or "West Side Story", but it mainly takes place at a performing arts school. With great performances from a fresh and unknown cast, gritty realism, drama and the pressures to succeed, coupled with an iconic soundtrack, "Fame" has definitely earned itself a spot in the all-time movies hall of fame.

Irene Cara is most definitely the star, and she sings the title track "Fame" and another song on the soundtrack called "Out Here On My Own". They were both nominated for Grammys, the first and only time two songs by the same artist from the same movie were both in the same category. The movie itself was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning only for the songs.

"Fame" is the story of students at New York's famous High School of Performing Arts and their struggles, trials and efforts to succeed. It follows the young hopefuls as they audition, with many rejected, through to the bittersweet graduation of those who have what it takes.

Many have other obstacles and abuse to overcome in their quest as well as their performance. For example, Leroy (Gene Anthony Ray) struggles to learn how to read, and Coco (Cara) is offered the chance to do a screen test, but when she goes there, the guy makes her take her top off, causing her great distress.

Fame was not a simple story of a few students who got famous. It is a gritty, human story of the dedication, talent and disappointments faced while trying to make the grade in the entertainment industry. Dreams of success are tempered with the hard reality that many performers remain unemployed for much of their time.

It quite rightly inspired a cult following and was one of the major causes of a quantum shift in entertainment programming. The godfather of the "live your dreams" ethic, "Fame" was, of course, turned into an epic TV series, whilst still largely managing to retain the difficult mix of high energy dance numbers with high energy human drama.

The effect that "Fame" was to have on our culture was truly seizmic...