The Idolmaker (1980)

Such a frustrating disappointment

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The late 1950s became the era of the Teen Idol. Many teens-like Ricky Nelson, Paul Anka, and Ritchie Valens-were emerging after their slightly older contemporaries Elvis Presley and Pat Boone had charted several hits for the past few years and would chart several more for a few more. By 1959, a man from the East Coast named Bob Marcucci would help create a couple more TI's-Frankie Avalon and Fabian. This movie is a fictionalized version of this songwriter/manager and his discoveries. Ray Sharkey is excellent as the frustrated show biz savvy promoter who turns his inexperienced amateurs into Hot Commodities before those would-be-icons turn against him. Sharkey's character is not faultless in this as he's shown being both inspiring and condescending to them both. Paul Land and Peter Gallagher are the people he molds into the big time. Gallagher himself had singing experience and showed it here to good advantage. The original songs are by Jeff Barry who with Ellie Greenwich had written several hits for the Girl Groups of the early '60s so that may be a factor why the songs he wrote here don't sound like anything Avalon or Fabian would sing. Also, some of the arrangements sound more like what would come out of the late '70s when this movie was made. Still, there's an enjoyable vibe throughout, even when the breakups come. Oh, and it was a nice surprise seeing Maureen McCormick-the former Marcia Brady of "The Brady Bunch"-having a fling with one of them. This marked the debut of director Taylor Hackford who would eventually do a couple of other music-related films: the Chuck Berry documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll and the Ray Charles biopic Ray. So on that note, I highly recommend The Idolmaker.

The bad news about "The Idolmaker" is that, like a lot of music films, it drags between songs. The good news is the songs are excellent.Ray Sharkey does a fine job as the agent to up-and-coming talent in New Jersey in the late '50s, and Peter Gallagher and Paul Land excel as his creations. The plot has many of the standard clichés about the price of stardom and the cold machinations behind the scenes, but the music makes it worthwhile. As superb as the soundtrack is, however, it appears to be more of a '70s and '80s take on '50s music. The songs are enjoyable, but they sound like something you'd be more likely to hear in "Grease" than on an Elvis Presley record.While "The Idolmaker" breaks no new ground for fans of '50s nostalgia, it's worth checking out for its fine performances and excellent soundtrack.

Nearly a quarter-century before directing Jamie Foxx in "Ray," director Taylor Hackford paid his first respects to the power of early rock 'n' roll in this equally galvanizing, sadly overlooked film.It's the end of the 1950s, and struggling songwriter/impresario Vinnie Vacarri (Ray Sharkey) is trying to find someone he can mold into a rock singer, filling the void left by Elvis Presley's Army stint. He discovers a young sax player who has the right look and voice, and recasts him as teen sensation "Tommy D." Now Vinnie is riding high. Trouble is, Tommy's a creep and Vinnie's hungry to prove he can do it again. Can he, or will he lose everything he has trying?"Success has no conscience, Vincent," says his father, a rich man who abandoned him and his mother. Vinnie doesn't believe that, though, and unlike 99% of the agents and promoters you see in movies, he actually tries to do right by his young stars and their fans. Sharkey challenges himself and us by essaying a character who's compelling for both his slickness and decency. His control freakiness may grate, but he's hard not to like, especially as Sharkey plays him with such electricity he comes through the screen.Sharkey won a Golden Globe, and deserved an Oscar nomination at least for what should have been a breakthrough performance. Whether he's paying payola to a crooked DJ or saving Tommy D from an underage fling, Sharkey does it with panache and charm. He lights a mean cigarette but lets us in with his eyes, "the windows" as Vinnie calls them.Of course, the irony of Vinnie is that unlike most agents, he actually has more talent than his stars. He just doesn't have the right look and knows it, so he must convince others to play the roles he creates. Maybe the film suffers a bit from the fact it's the thinly-disguised autobiography of Bob Marucci, the real-life impresario who broke Fabian and Frankie Avalon. I'm sure Fabian and Frankie would have different takes on who made who, but Sharkey's so consistently involving and engaging you don't care.In addition to Sharkey, "The Idolmaker" is lifted by a killer soundtrack by Jeff Barry that is blended with some fantastic staging, lighting, and dancing. Like Poseidon-3 noted in another review here, the songs are hardly vintage-sounding, fed through a 1980 pop sensibility that utilizes more chord changes and orchestration than the teen-idol songs of Fabian's day. That's actually a good thing, especially as the score begins with the coy but catchy "Here Is My Love" and keeps getting better from there. It's a shame the songs never found a home on radio, or they'd be remembered still. Yes, "The Idolmaker" flopped in theaters in late 1980, but so did "The Jazz Singer" and "Xanadu," and they had hits. What kept out the brilliant Spectorized "However Dark The Night," with Peter Gallagher's terrific vocal performance? Gallagher's great on screen, too as Vacarri's second project, kind of doing Mick Jagger as lost choirboy and giving Vinnie his greatest star. If this film had come out just three years later, when MTV was established, Gallagher's looks alone would have sold the film.The plot is the film's weakness, not bad but labored. There's a romantic subplot between Sharkey and Tovah Feldshuh that goes on too long, as when she asks "Where are you, Vincent? I'm looking for the human being and I can't find him anywhere." Maybe if the film didn't stack the deck so heavily in Vacarri's favor, those trite words might have a little more resonance, instead of feeling tacked on to create the impression of moral ambiguity in Vinnie's character.Frankly, Sharkey doesn't need the help. You watch him here and wonder why he didn't turn out to be one of the 1980s' biggest stars, instead of a drug casualty lost to AIDS. Maybe he had too much passion to keep inside. But here, for this one film, he found the perfect channel to let it all out. "The Idolmaker" is a fitting monument that way, as Sharkey centers an entertaining spectacle worth your time.

I first saw this movie on HBO in 1981. At that time HBO only showed box office flops. The supposedly really good ones would not get on HBO for 3 or 4 years.I just saw it again tonight, after 23 years, and I still enjoyed it. The music is great, the acting is great, and the plot is great.What is there not to like about it? I tried watching Chicago in 2002, the academy award winner, and it was a piece of crap. It was a combination Alfred Hitchcock/Showboat/Singing in the Rain movie, that was a total flop in my opinion. I much more enjoyed this movie.There are a few slow points in the movie, but they don't last for long. There is such energy and vivacity in this movie that it holds your attention as it builds up continually to the next "Idol."The songs stick in your mind (at least in mine), but they are always "in the wings" of the Ray Sharkey character. For example, the first idol he made, Sharkey is shown off stage mimicking the singer's moves.Anyway, it is a fun movie to watch, and one of a kind for its time, so I highly recommend it!