Fame

"If they've really got what it takes, it's going to take everything they've got."

1980 2h 14m EN

😐

6.4

MID

🍅

81%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.6

IMDB

★6.4TMDB · 536🍅81%Rotten Tomatoes●58Metacritic★6.6IMDB · 25,834

DramaMusic

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A chronicle of the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts.

“If they've really got what it takes, it's going to take everything they've got.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Irene Cara
Coco Hernandez
Barry Miller
Ralph Garci/Raul Garcia
Maureen Teefy
Doris Finsecker
Paul McCrane
Montgomery MacNeil
Lee Curreri
Bruno Martelli
Gene Anthony Ray
Leroy Johnson
Antonia Franceschi
Hilary Van Doren
Laura Dean
Lisa Monroe

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Alan Parker
Writers: Christopher Gore
Languages: Russian, English, Spanish, French
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.9× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

46 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Russian, English, Spanish, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Alan Parker, shot by Michael Seresin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Michael Gore. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Gerry Hambling shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Irene Cara and Barry Miller and Maureen Teefy carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "If they've really got what it takes, it's going to take everything they've got.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Alan Parker directs. Michael Seresin behind the camera. Michael Gore scores. Gerry Hambling cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Russian, English, Spanish, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 4.9× over at the box office.
246 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Russian, English, Spanish, French.
4Directed by Alan Parker, shot by Michael Seresin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Michael Gore. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Gerry Hambling shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Irene Cara and Barry Miller and Maureen Teefy carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "If they've really got what it takes, it's going to take everything they've got.".
9IMDB entry: tt0080716 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 9 themes, including "new york city", "dance", "dance performance", "musical".

The technical file

Cinematography: Michael Seresin
Original score: Michael Gore
Editing: Gerry Hambling
Production design: Geoffrey Kirkland
Costume design: Kristi Zea
Makeup / hair: Joe Cuervo
Sound: Robin Haskins
Runtime: 134 min · 2h 14m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $8,500,000
Box office: $42,000,000
Return: 494% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Fame (1980)
Rotten Tomatoes: 81% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 58/100
IMDB rating: 6.6/10 · 25,834 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Won 2 Oscars. 9 wins & 16 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Song

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Alan Parker

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-06-20
★ 7/10
I think what makes this film work, even now, is that it selected it's stars from a bunch of aspiring and talented individuals whom it was perfectly plausible to believe in. To like and dislike. It has something about it that offers hope, optimism and realism to people from a range of backgrounds whose skills with their feet, their fingers or their voices might well be the only thing saving them from a life of banality in parts of New York that couldn't have cared less if they lived or died. On that score, it also presents a certain transferability to other big cities in the world where mundanity is the currency and where just getting noticed - and not exploited - is an achievement. This centres around half a dozen characters - each with their aptitudes and each with their demons, and it also shows us just how vocational a talent for teaching is, especially when it is trying to develop an interest in the academic amongst the artistic and also of containing the artistic when it, frequently, gets out of control. This is also fairly groundbreaking in that it deals, quite casually but still potently, with issues of education, race and sexuality - and the hostility faced by people who don't conform - espoused well here by Gene Anthony Ray; Paul McCrane and in a more vulnerable fashion by Barry Miller's would-be stand up comedian "Ralph". My own favourite? Well that had to be "Mr. Shorofsky" (Albert Hague) whose sarcastic turns of phrase when trying to teach his more digitally minded student "Bruno" (Lee Curreri) the merits of Mozart and Beethoven often raised a smile. This is more than a movie about a song - albeit Irene Cara at her best, and the fact the the spin-off television series' retained many of the cast and ran for so long shows that this did touch nerves in a 1980s world that was at the height of the cold war and was only just becoming aware of the effects of the AIDS epidemic. It's rough around the edges, but it's also characterful and has an authenticity to it that I think still holds up.

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