Extras: Music Video, Featurette, Trailers, The Rolling Stone Articles,
Production Notes, Cast and Filmmakers Filmographies
Director:
Cameron Crowe
(Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire, Say Anything, Singles, Vanilla Sky)
Producer:
Ian Bryce and Cameron Crowe
Screenplay:
Cameron Crowe
Music:
Nancy Wilson
Cast:
Russell Hammond: Billy Crudup
Elaine Miller: Frances McDormand
Penny Lane: Kate Hudson
Jeff Bebe: Jason Lee
William Miller: Patrick Fugit
Anita Miller: Zooey Deschanel
Young William: Micahel Angarano
Dick Roswell: Noah Taylor
Sapphire: Fairuza Balk
Polexia Aphrodisia: Anna Paquin
Lester Bags: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Reg: Peter Frampton
Almost Famous
tells the tale of 15-year-old William Miller (played by excellent newcomer
Patrick Fugit), a budding journalist who writes for Creem magazine, but
a missed chance to write about Black Sabbath turns into a positive when he gets
to not only interview upcoming band Stillwater (fronted by Billy Crudup
as guitarist Russell Hammond and Jason Lee as singer Jeff Bebe), but
also to go along with them on their 1973 tour of America.
His key to getting in with the band is down to a kind of groupie I've not
heard of before this film, "band aid" Penny Lane (Kate Hudson, daughter
of Goldie Hawn), who is accompanied in parts by the equally odd-named
Sapphire (Fairuza Balk) and Polexia Aphrodisia (Anna Paquin).
Band aids are more than just groupies as they're allowed to tag along with a
band for the duration of a tour as if they were part of them and are there
to provide the eye-candy.
As William's profile grows and he gets to write a 3000-word article for
Rolling Stone magazine, so does the desperation of his mother Elaine Miller
(Frances McDormand, putting in a good turn as well) as she struggles
to hold together what's left of her family since William's father died of a
heart attack and his sister left home.
But his new life and friends come first as he is jokingly seen as the enemy to
the band given his journalistic bent, seeing all the fights between the members
both verbal and physical. As his life is opened up to new prospects at an
early age so does his affection deepen for Penny, but she prefers older men in
the form of Russell, even though he already has a significant other.
Almost Famous is fantastic. Heart-warming and funny with a
superb ensemble cast, it really makes you feel like you've taken the road trip
with Stillwater and makes you wonder when you last enjoyed a film as much as
this and why it doesn't happen as often.
There's also a good quote from potential new manager Dennis Hope:
"If you think Mick Jagger'll still be out there, trying to be a rock star
age 50, you're sadly, sadly mistaken.".
Kate Hudson gyrates her way through 1973.
There's a slight level of grain throughout the print that occurs on many
Columbia TriStar DVDs (are they all manufactured at the same plant) which
won't majorly affect the viewing pleasure when slouched on your settee, but
on closer inspection it can be spotted. The film is presented in the original
1.85:1 widescreen ratio and all the scenes brilliant reflect the period of
the piece.
The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 for English and Spanish, mostly
kicking in for the songs from the band as well as incidental music from
The Who, Simon and Garfunkel, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Joni Mitchell,
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Neil Young, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and of
course, Stillwater.
The Region 1 Director's Edition.
The extras aren't copious but enough of a brief diversion. They begin with
Stillwater's Music Video for "Fever Dog", although this is just
the five-minute excerpt from the film which features the song and this part
culminates in an advert for the soundtrack. The HBO Featurette runs
for 25 minutes and holds no surprises - it's a collection of 16:9 non-anamorphic
film clips mixed in with soundbites from the cast and crew including writer/director
Cameron Crowe.
In the Trailers is a 2-minute one for this film, plus one apiece for
other Columbia films, A Knight's Tale, Erin Brockovich and Charlie's
Angels. The Rolling Stone Articles make interesting reading on
The Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Peter Frampton, Fleetwood Mac,
Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell, all ranging from 1973 to 1979.
As for the Production Notes and Cast and Filmmakers Filmographies,
most DVDs have those so you know what to expect.
In the US though, the Region 1 has been re-issued in a 3-disc Special Edition dubbed
"The Bootleg Cut", with over 35 minutes of never-before-seen footage, a full
director's commentary, an interview with Lester Bangs and the following
additional extras: B-Sides - Behind-the-scenes footage, Cameron Crowe's Top 10
Albums of 1973, Stillwater's Cleveland Concert, Deleted scenes with director's
commentary, the Oscar-winning screenplay and a 6-track CD of original Stillwater
songs including never-before-released tracks: Love Thing, Chance Upon You,
Love Comes and Goes, Hour of Need, You Had to be There and Fever Dog.
Although this is a Columbia DVD there are only 24 chapters present and subtitles
in 3 languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese.
The main menu is nicely animated and scored with music from the film and
there are classy screenwipes to the other static menus.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
