| Patrick Fugit | William Miller |
| Billy Crudup | Russell Hammond |
| Frances McDormand | Elaine Miller |
| Kate Hudson | Penny Lane |
| Jason Lee | Jeff Bebe |
| Philip Seymour Hoffman | Lester Bangs |
| Zooey Deschanel | Anita Miller |
| Anna Paquin | Polexia Aphrodisia |
| Fairuza Balk | Sapphire |
| Noah Taylor | Dick Roswell |
| John Fedevich | Ed Vallencourt |
| Bijou Phillips | Estrella Starr |
| Eion Bailey | Jann Wenner |
| Terry Chen | Ben Fong-Torres |
| Jimmy Fallon | Dennis Hope |
| Daniel Wilson | Journalism Teacher |
| Jay Baruchel | Vic Munoz |
| John Patrick Amedori | Himself |
| Michael Angarano | Young William Miller |
| Cameron Crowe | Director, Producer, Screenwriter |
| Conny Boettger-Marinos | Set Decoration/Design |
| Danny Bramson | Musical Direction/Supervision |
| Ian Bryce | Producer |
| Charisse Cardenas | Set Decoration/Design |
| Michael Dennison | Costumes/Costume Designer |
| Marty P. Ewing | Associate Producer |
| Robert Greenfield | Set Decoration/Design |
| Clay Griffith | Art Director |
| Clayton R. Hartley | Art Director |
| Betsy Heimann | Costumes/Costume Designer |
| Joe Hutshing | Editor |
| Saar Klein | Editor |
| Gail Levin | Casting |
| Scott M. Martin | Associate Producer |
| Virginia Randolph-Weaver | Art Director |
| Steven P. Saeta | Associate Producer |
| Lisa Stewart | Co-producer |
| Mindi Toback | Set Decoration/Design |
| John Toll | Cinematographer |
| Jeff Wexler | Sound/Sound Designer |
| Nancy Wilson | Score Composer |
| Jerry Ziesmer | Associate Producer, Asst. Director |
A nostalgic story of back in the day. Kate Hudson is charming in her breakthrough role as Penny Lane. Patrick Fugit is adorable, earnest and a voice of sanity as Cameron Crowe reporting on desire, ambition and betrayal in this drug-fueled laid-back hip world of wannabe rock stars and their hangers-on.
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Posted October 1, 2010
With the rock and roll era of the 1970s as its backdrop, "Almost Famous" tells a great coming-of-age story in life, love, and achieving dreams.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I am a little bias since I mainly listen to classic rock. I also wish I was able to live through the 60's and 70's to experience that culture since that seems more true to who I am. With that aside, I was really amazed how well the story was put together and how everything played out along with the acting. They did a great job recreating an era and the music in the movie is awesome! The fake band made of actors actually created a great band and I am happy one of their songs was included on the Almost Famous CD.
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Posted October 1, 2010
Almost Famous became my favorite movie after watching it once. It's a great coming-of-age movie for anyone to watch. I liked this movie so much, that I'm buying it on DVD. There were a few emotional parts for me during the movie. I don't know why I broke down and cried because I thought this movie was supposed to be up beat and happy. Well I was wrong. Cameron Crowe can write a real tear jerker.
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Posted October 1, 2010
An incredible and not before seen look at a late seventies very hippie band. Confrontations, love, hate, fantastic music. A combination that results in one of my favourite movies.
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Posted October 1, 2010
This is clearly won of the best movies to come along in years. It is fun, sad and very funny. I love billy crudup and patrick fugit, who give wonderful performances. Kate Hudson, however, is the star of this movie and gives a EXCELLENT performance. She definatly was snubbed for the oscar, because she deserved it! Frances McDormand also is hilarious as the mother. All I can say is it is a GREAT movie!
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Posted October 1, 2010
Others have adequately praised this movie in their comments. I just want to say that it's one of those movies that I have watched dozens of times -- either in its entirety or from whatever point it's at when I run across it in progress on cable TV. The music is cool, the band is cool, but that's a backdrop. This movie is about how the characters discover things about themselves and each other while they're on tour. Anyway, I recommend it because you'll be glad to watch it more than once and that's why we buy DVDs, right?
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Posted October 1, 2010
I love this film! It's very funny and witty, and there's a sweet bunch of love stories, and of course you just love William's personality changes through the course of the film. There's inventive, quirky characters like my favorite, Lester Bangs, who spouts rock philosophies that I quote to my friends (''The only true currency in this corrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're not cool.'' RIght on!). A great film, go see it...and then buy it!!!
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Posted October 1, 2010
You can't put into words why this film is so good it's just a great, happy feeling when you watch it. ''Life should make you feel, art should make you feel GOOD.'' And that is exactly what this wonderful film does.
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Posted October 1, 2010
Have you ever wnated to be famous? Or have you ever wanted to be close with your favorite star? Well. . . William Miller had that chance. He ceased that opportunity and went on tour with his favorite band, Stillwater! Along the way William meets tons of great people like Penny Lane the leader of the famous band-aids. She captivates him and the audiece with all of her intrigue and mystery. Shes fun and exciting. The first time she meets William she says that she would like to live in Morocco for one year then asks if he wants to come. These are the things youll come to expect from Penny! This movie was great with a great cast and a great soundtrack. I would recomend the movie to anyone.
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Posted October 1, 2010
This movie is so moving, and so fun. The characters are so real and likeable. You will fall in love with these characters and become a part of this boy's life. I definitely recommend it to anyone that loves good music and a good-feeling type movie. Two thumbs up!
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Posted October 1, 2010
In my opinion, one of the top 5 greatest American movies of all time, along with The French Connection, Field of Dreams, Sunset Boulevard and The Birds. Just an unbelievable movie, with the greatest soundtrack ever (sorry Easy Rider, but you were a close second). Wasn't surprised that it wasn't nominated for Best Picture, as it's just way too hip for the Hollywood establishment, but I was truly sickened when Kate Hudson didn't get Best Supporting Actress. Buy it, watch it, love it, again and again and again...
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Posted October 1, 2010
While most movies show the seventies as a hyped up, do whatever you want life. Almost Famous shows the real influence of music, drugs, and celebrities. When I first saw Almost Famous I immediately fell in love with the simplicity of Patrick Fugit's character,and his easy view on life. Kate Hudson does a great job acting like a fan whoose only purpose in life is to follow the music. The movie combines the great music and the feel of the seventies showing us the real world of rock n'roll through the eyes of a teenager.
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Posted October 1, 2010
A movie with a soul. It is honest, sensitive, raw, and wonderfully entertaining drama. I didn't see this film in the theater. I rented it, then bought it. This movie transcends your typical teenage rock movie by documenting the loss of innocence - both of the main character, William Miller (brilliantly under played by newcomer Patrick Fugit) and the music industry as a whole. Miller discovers the world of rock from listening to his older sister's albums and through circumstances ends up on an assignment for Creem magazine to write an article on Black Sabbath. When he tries to gain entrance backstage to do the story, he ends up meeting band aid (NOT groupie) Penny Lane (played by Kate Hudson) and his life changes. Instead of meeting Black Sabbath, he falls in with one of their opening acts, a fictitious band called Stillwater, and Miller's early career as a writer takes off. Penny Lane befriends the young Miller and is his guide into the world of rock and roll. The achievement of this film is it manages to show the drugs and sex, the emptiness, and shallowness of the music industry without making the viewer lose fascination or obsession with its stars and glamour. The people are human, talented, affected, and driven. That's where the film so gloriously succeeds. As Miller follows Stillwater on their Almost Famous Tour on assignment for Rolling Stone magazine, we see him fall in love and get used, and he just keeps coming out of the trenches to face more because in the end - every one is in it for the music and living for the moment. Some of the most magical moments in the film are between Patrick Fugit and Kate Hudson, Patrick Fugit and Billy Crudup, and Patrick Fugit and Frances McDormand. I find it hard to imagine all the attention heaped on McDormand and Hudson to the exclusion of Fugit. While the ensemble cast in this film is one of the best ever assembled (Altman eat your heart out), Fugit and director Crowe are the glue that hold this movie together and make it what promises to be one of the most enduring films ever made. Not to mention Academy Award winner Anna Pacquin and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Oscar-worthy roles. And Jason Lee proved in this film that he should never go back to skateboarding. Ever. Guitarist Peter Frampton was a technical consultant on this film, and Nancy Wilson (Mrs. Cameron Crowe) formerly of heart wrote the score for Almost Famous. Cameron Crowe said as he was accepting the Academy Award for best original screenplay for Almost Famous that the film was his love letter to the music industry. I just hope he sends a few more their way. Or ours. This movie proves he doesn't have to take a back seat to Harper Lee as long as he stays honest. The more we see of Crowe in his work and the less of Cruise the better. If dipping into his own experiences yields this kind of entertainment, I hope the well never runs dry. In Almost Famous, he bared his soul and created a cinema masterpiece that captures more about the human spirit than anything put on celluloid in two decades. And a footnote on the Director's Bootleg cut. Spring for the extra $$$ and buy it. The longer ''Untitled'' version gives you more of Fugit and Philip Seymore Hoffman. While the extra footage does slow the pace of the film a bit, for those who don't have problems paying attention, what you get is a layer of character depth - and ambience that you didn't get in the theatrical version. Penny Lane's birthday scene, a longer speech from the unscrupulous manager, and more talks between William and Lester. Undulge yourself. Almost Famous isn't about instant gratification. This film is about savoring characters and stories set on a backdrop tapestry of rock posters, black lights, album covers, and back stages as rich as any work of art ever produced
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Posted October 1, 2010
I truly am at a loss of words. I can't think about this movie without tears welling up in my eyes. How beautifully and innocently Cameron Crowe captured the free spirit world...there are no words...only music. This Bootleg Cut is for the musician, the fan, and all of us band-aids out there. It's for any of us who are here for the music. This bootleg documents the feelings behind what has always been labeled ''sex, drugs and rock-n-roll'', which is thought to be a dark world to many people, but for those of us who still continue to be drawn to this world, it is not dark, but a wonderful blast of multicolor light. This Bootleg Cut takes many of us back to a place in our lives that we yearn to return to, not because of the lifestyle, but because of the journey that led us there. Thank goodness for old album stores, and thank goodness for Cameron Crowe.
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Posted October 1, 2010
This longer, more detailed version of Almost Famous fills in lots of gaps for the viewer. Crowe's edit includes footage that gives each character more depth and it enables the viewer to better understand each charater's motivation(s). It includes two video disks (both cuts of the movie) and one audio disk. Crowe is very generous with bonus features on both disks. Included on disk #2 is the Cleveland concert. This concert footage captures all the nuances of an early-seventies concert and the sound is great. All sonds are complete from start to finish. The songs, ''Love Comes and Goes'' and ''Hour of Need'' are my favorites. Anyone interested in music will enjoy this DVD set along with the bonus features.
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Posted October 1, 2010
If you followed the Academy Awards for Motion Pictures, you know this one didn't even get nominated for Best Picture. ''Almost Famous'' lived up to its name in terms of its plot content, but it's a shame that it wasn't ''Almost Famous'' by being at least nominated for an Oscar as Best Picture this past year. It deserved at least that honor! Jason Lee is terrific as the moody lead singer and Billy Crudup equally wonderful as the emotionally conflicted lead guitarist of a '70s rock band which has spawned countless web-questions asking ''Was this or wasn't this a real band?'' It's a genuinely great film with an equally great soundtrack. As an aging flower child one year older than the central character in this film (loosely based on writer Cameron Crowe's life) I loved hearing familiar songs and revisiting some dreams of my own younger days when I would have loved to tour with a band!! Kate Hudson is fabulous as ''Penny Lane'' a ''Band Aid''--and as the real-life daughter of Goldie Hawn, you can see the mannerisms of Kate that are similar to her mother and are charming. This movie is emotionally touching, funny, chaotic, heart-breaking and energetic. Definitely recommended to those of us who are ''aging baby-boomers'' but still ''flower children'' at heart however old we get. To borrow a phrase from the film, these ''rock stars kidnapped'' my heart--especially Jason Lee who continues to show his versatility as an actor.
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Posted October 1, 2010
I thought the movie was really good. There was alot of quality to it. the acters were great too.The movie took me back to some fond memories I had at that age.Very good music selection in it also.Like Elton John,Led Zepplin...etc...!Dug it alot!
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Posted October 1, 2010
I just adored Almost Famous. I think it's the best film ever. This film is about the film's director, Cameron Crowe, and his life as a teenager and writing for the Rolling Stone magazine. I wish it had gotten more Oscar nominations (it should have been nominated for Best Picture), and more public attention because this is really a great film. The screenplay was excellent as well as the filming and cast. Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, and Billy Crudup gave the real stand-out performances. Francis McDormand was hilarious. Almost Famous is hilarious, smart, hip, cleaver, original, brilliant, and cool. Definitely a must-see and a must-own DVD or video (whichever one you have)! A pure delight and winner! Cameron Crowe's best film.
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Posted October 1, 2010
THIS MOVIE WAS A GOOD MOVIE. IT WAS SAD WHEN THE ENDING CAME.I WILL LOVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE MORE THAN ONCE AND I RECOMMEND IT TO EVERYONE.
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Overview