Richard Attenborough directs Michael Douglas, Tony Fields and Alyson Reed in this film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning musical about a brutal audition process for a background slot in a Broadway show.

One…singular sensation! The great forgotten musical, one of my favourites from childhood since my sister used to play it on a loop. A gripping process movie. Years ago there was an early reality TV show called Popstars and it inadvertently revealed just how much ambition, sacrifice and skill was needed even to make it into a short lived, manufactured, mediocre pop band. This cynical thumper engagingly boils down an entire series of that into just a 100 minutes. You don’t expect this level of intensity or sexuality from Dickie Attenborough. Through his ensemble he really nails the talent, desperation and drive of his performers. Turning the nameless numbers on a call sheet into personalities we care for and then, in a cruel but fitting trick, losing them again into a big glittering Busby Berkley finale that is as nightmarish as it is shimmering.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Fame (1980)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/