| United Artists | Release Date: November 14, 1980 | CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
|
Positive:
7
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
|
Critic Reviews
Though it's marred by an overly melodramatic and dubious finale, The Idolmaker is an unusally compelling film about the music business in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It shows how teen idols were created, promoted, and discarded by entrepreneurs cynically manipulating the adolescent audience. Ray Sharkey is superb in the title role.
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Who thought that New Kids On the Block would turn out to be the most influential group of the ’90s? Anyone who was paying attention to history, of course. That’s why The Idolmaker is so fascinating. Based on the guy who gave us Fabian and Frankie, it understands the inevitable pattern that repeats itself time and time again.
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The Idolmaker would be worth seeing if only for its modesty, which is a blessing in these days of ersatz epics. It's a small, honest, decently entertaining film with one outstanding performance. [08 Dec 1980, p.107]
Director Taylor Hackford is so enthusiastic reminiscing on an alternate soundtrack that he almost convinces you that this diminutive cult movie is better than it is. [27 Dec 1996]
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