The final Saturday of the Genre-ary DailyView brought me the film Fame, from 1980, which inspired a TV show of the same name. 

Fame is not a typical musical, but there are plenty of examples of movie where there was suddenly a dance number. 

According to IMDB, “At the New York City High School for the Performing Arts, students get specialized training that often leads to success as actors, singers, etc. This movie follows eight students from the time when they audition to get into the school, through graduation. Among these are the brazen Coco Hernandez, shy Doris Finsecker, sensitive gay Montgomery MacNeil, and brash, abrasive Ralph Garcey.”

There was a solid cast including Irene Cara, Paul McCrane, Boyd Gaines, Laura Dean, Anne Meara, Barry Miller, Maureen Teefy, Debbie Allen, Richard Belzer, Lee Curreri, Eddie Barth, Albert Hague, Joanna Merlin, Jim Moody, Gene Anthony Ray, and Antonia Franceschi.

Each of the high school students (who looked like 25-30 year olds) had a story and a character arc. Some were better than others. 

This was a decent film but it did have a disjointed feel to it at times. Easily the best number of the film was the title track, Fame, performed by Irene Cara. This was full of energy and easily my favorite part of the film.