Talk:Almost Famous/Archive 1

Plot summary!
About time this article had a plot summary. I will do it myself eventually if no one else does, but I have WP work backed up.--Wehwalt 09:52, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Orange Bowl is painted on the back wall...
In the scene at the end where Russell is talking to Sapphire, "ORANGE BOWL" is clearly painted on the back wall of the backstage room they are in. Please do not revert this correct information. KyuzoGator 14:52, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

See Also Titles
I removed the See Also links because they linked to other arbitrarily chosen movies that to one person seemed to be in the same "theme" as this one. This promoted an association that is neither appropriate nor is backed up by any documentation. It was merely opinion, and an obviously biased one at that.

Critical acclaim? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.227.78.144 (talk) 20:55, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

Articles
--to use for this article.--J.D. (talk) 18:42, 18 September 2009 (UTC)
 * The Enchanting Little Princess
 * Billy Crudup: Almost Infamous
 * VIDEO; All of Almost Famous
 * Oscar Spreads the Wealth, but Gladiator Takes Top Prize
 * Steely Dan, U2, Eminem, Macy Gray: Winners of the 2001 Grammy Awards
 * Surprises but No Dominator at the Golden Globes
 * STONE THE ROLLING CROWES!
 * Kate Hudson
 * Slump Vexes Creators of Almost Famous
 * A Confidence Drawn From a Charmed Life
 * Ready for a Natty Newshound?
 * As The Crowe* Flies
 * Almost Autobiographical
 * The Decade Is In The Details
 * Nancy Wilson
 * As Crowe Flies

Plot
At the end of the plot synopsis it says "rock 'n' roll may be changing from an art form to a profit center, it is implied that at least Stillwater will be immune from this." I'm sorry but where is this implied? The "No More Airplanes" tour is more likely to be a reference to none of the band wanting to fly again after their near fatal accident rather than any ideology on commercialism. In fact throughout the film we see repeated evidence of the band slipping further and further into commercialism. Such vague and possibly flawed speculation should be backed up by suitable references. --82.35.224.205 (talk) 18:47, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

Production Trivia
I worked as an extra in this movie, and have some fond memories of the production and filming. It was fun going back to a time which I remember, which was before most of the actors in the movie were not even born yet. It is strange to consider that the 1970's could be considered a "costume period piece" in movies. And yes, Peter Frampton gave several concerts during long filming breaks, which made it even more enjoyable. How many people can say they went to a Peter Frampton concert, and got paid to do it? Mushrom 16:07, 14 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Please point out where this has relevance to the article and how it is production trivia... Dylan (talk) 03:21, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

Eastern Airlines jet
Is there any information on the Eastern Airlines airplane in the airport scene? This company went bankrupt in the early 90s and I can't imagine it would have been easy to find this plane at a random airport ready to be filmed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Riffic (talk • contribs) 05:47, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

hi —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.221.20.177 (talk) 03:50, 24 August 2008 (UTC)


 * There's an anachronism with that plane. As it moves past the window, you can see there's a winglet on the wingtip. They weren't flown on a large aircraft until 1979 (tested on a KC-135, L-1011 and a DC-10). Commercial use of winglets began in 1985 on the Airbus A310-300.Bizzybody (talk) 07:58, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

DVD Release
There seems to be no information on the DVD release date, sales, etc. Could somebody remedy this please? Irazmus (talk) 13:57, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

LA Times review
I've just removed the text – and associated citation – regarding Kenneth Turan's review of the film. I spent nearly an hour searching LA Times' database, but found nothing. If a new URL for the review has been found, please revert my edit. Thanks! --Dylan620 (t • c) 22:38, 13 March 2011 (UTC)


 * An hour!? I found it in Google News Archive Search here in a few seconds. The review exists, and the passage is authentic. While there is link rot, this does not mean the passage and the citation should be removed. I've restored it. Erik (talk &#124; contribs) 22:51, 13 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Gah, I only thought to search the LA Times archives... feel free to trout me for forgetting about Google. And of course I know to repair broken links instead of simply removing them; I've been repairing link rot re. updates to Metacritic film for the past couple weeks. --Dylan620's public alt (t • c (main) • c (alt)) 12:00, 14 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't blame you; it is hard to find anything worthwhile in the LA Times archives. Appreciate the Metacritic fixes... are you aware that the TCM Movie Database links have gone dead? There's a discussion here. Erik (talk &#124; contribs) 13:49, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Stillwater & Troy, MI
I took out the "irony" statement because it is original research unless a source can be provided that Crowe meant it in an ironic sense. There may be such a source... Crowe peppered some references/digs against Michigan and Detroit in the movie (Lester wearing a 'Detroit Sucks' shirt, the S&G song "America" mentions Saginaw, MI... Iggy Pop is from Ann Arbor). Odd references from a guy who grew up in CA.--Isotope23 18:22, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

I added that part because many people who have seen it who live in my area(I live in the Metro Detroit area) always point out the irony that a rock band of that style would come out of a ultra conservative/yuppie town like Troy. But I can see how that would need a source if you weren't from this area. I did pick up some animosity from Crowe in regard to both Michigan and Detroit as a whole.

Kittyocat (talk) 21:21, 23 April 2013 (UTC)04/23/2013 Lester Bangs was the editor of Creem Magazine. He came to my high school in Dearborn Michigan and taught my creative writing class one afternoon. I knew who he was because I had been a rabid fan of the magazine. The name of the high school is Fordson. The year was 1977, I was greatly impressed. Also, Iggy Pop's father, Mr. Osterberg, though a resident of Ann Arbor, was an english teacher at Fordson High in Dearborn. I do not see any connection to Troy Michigan.

I do recall that Lester Bangs was a fan of the city of Detroit. This was also the time period that Howard Stern was a DJ at WWWW (W4) shortly before they changed their format to country.

During this period also, WABX morning show featured Steve Dahl.

Another Dearborn connection mentioned in the movie, one bandmate claims to have hit and run a Dearborn man. This would point to the fictional band to be the Eagles. Additionally Glen Frey is from Royal Oak, though I cannot confirm this.

penny lane
it should say the penny lane is named after a song by the beatles. Cultural references that the place where it should be so if you could do that thank you 145.53.193.57 (talk) 20:57, 1 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Can you provide a reliable source for this information? If not, I suspect the reason the information isn't there is because it would be original research. Doniago (talk) 21:09, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

In the film, Russell says "Like the song?" while feigning a first meeting. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.96.207.72 (talk) 13:38, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Cast List
There is no cast list. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.246.220.58 (talk) 07:23, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Introduction
At the beginning of this article it states "It tells the fictional story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine in the early 1970s while covering the fictitious rock band Stillwater." Even though the names have been changed Stillwater was a real band from that time period and the movie even mentions their hits. Penny Lane was also a real person, and claims many of the events in this movie to be true. This can be found here - http://pennielane.com/2012/09/16/the-real-story/ I really do not think it is fair to say this story is fictional. From my research, it is much closer to non-fiction than many other movies that say they are based on a true story. A good example of this is Cool Runnings, which is very far from the true story but Wikipedia says "It is loosely based on the true story". Thank You 174.92.90.85 (talk) 05:18, 24 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Despite having some real-life models for his imagination, Cameron Crowe wrote the screenplay in a heavily fictionalized manner. Penny Lane is a character based on five girls, not just one. The band in the film is a composite of several bands. That's why the film is fiction. Binksternet (talk) 08:21, 24 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Besides, immediately after the quoted sentence, the intro says: "The film is semi-autobiographical..." and "The film is based on Crowe's experiences..." It is clear from the beginning that, though being a work of fiction, it is based on several real events and characters. The film band Stillwater, by the way, has not much resemblance to their real life namesakes, apart from the name coincidence.--Gorpik (talk) 11:11, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Almost Famous. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090911042215/http://www.calendarlive.com:80/movies/reviews/cl-movie000912-1,0,6141798.story to http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie000912-1,0,6141798.story

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Penny Lane (character) explanation
Today I added a disambiguation page Penny Lane (disambiguation).

Should we have a stand-alone article on the character Penny Lane, from the film Almost Famous? (1) Since the character is believed to be based on elements of real individuals' lives; (2) the character itself has had influences on other works of art, and has triggered specific scholarly comment, independent of the film I think a strong argument could be made for a stand-alone article. But I am not a music expert, so I would be reluctant to start it.

I did add an entry Penny Lane (character) to the disambiguation page. Penny Lane could remember the name of the character, and forget the name of the film. It would be helpful to them if going to the wikipedia article on Penny Lane helped them find the wikipedia article that best covered their interest.

The rules for disambiguation pages have evolved. By today's rules if the entry on disambiguation page for Penny Lane (character) is going to point to Almost Famous then the Almost Famous article should have a red-link for Penny Lane (character). Geo Swan (talk) 21:15, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I have not been able to find those rules. Could you please provide me with a link to them?--Gorpik (talk) 07:47, 27 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Disambiguation/Style says: "A link to a non-existent article (a "red link") should only be included on a disambiguation page when an article (not just disambiguation pages) also includes that red link." Cheers!  Geo Swan (talk) 13:14, 28 November 2013 (UTC)
 * But then you are doing it the wrong way around. The rule is: do not add a red link unless it already exists. It is not: create the red link so that you can add it to the disambiguation page. In any case, you can add the film character to the disambiguation page without having to resort to tricks: just don't add the link and you are fine. From your link: Unlink the entry word but still keep a blue link in the description. Red links should not be the only link in a given entry; link also to an existing article, so that a reader (as opposed to a contributing editor) will have somewhere to navigate to for additional information. The linked article should contain some meaningful information about the term..--Gorpik (talk) 14:37, 28 November 2013 (UTC)

I've removed that item from the disambig page: not notable enough -Jason A. Quest (talk) 04:08, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150907213033/http://oregonmusicnews.com/2012/09/07/will-the-real-penny-lane-please-stand-up/ to http://oregonmusicnews.com/2012/09/07/will-the-real-penny-lane-please-stand-up/

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Could you please be more careful...
Another contributor removed a redlink I added, with the edit summary "Red links do not really help much"

I am sorry, there is no tactful way to say this. The selective and policy compliant use of redlinks is extremely helpful, andI am afraid this comment suggests a fundamentla failure to understand WP:REDLINK

The guideline for redlinks explicitly says that quality control volunteers should not remove redlinks when they are the plausible topic for a standalone article. Penny Lane (Almost Famous) IS a plausible topic for a standalone article.


 * 1) Reliable sources routinely refer to the iconic character as a kind of short-hand, to make a point, often without even refering to the movie itself.  Writers assume that the character is so iconic that their well informed readers will know what they mean, when they refer to the character.  However, people who learned English as a second language, who moved to the Anglosphere, long after the film's release won't know the significance of the character.
 * 2) Individuals who were too young to see this film, when it was first released, may not understand the character's cultural significance.

In addition there are at least three famous women who have been described as the inspiration for the character. Geo Swan (talk) 22:35, 6 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Without meaning to sound snarky, you could make this a moot point by building the article. That said, I have to admit I tend to be dubious of claims that reliable sources do X without any supporting information. If you're unwilling or unwilling to create the article, at least providing links to the sources you'd recommend would be a helpful start. DonIago (talk) 17:23, 7 November 2017 (UTC)


 * , I checked how many articles you have started.  You have started exactly zero articles.  I've started almost 3000.  Since you have never started an article, here is something you should know. Starting  a new article requires a considerable time commitment.


 * I linked to the WP:REDLINK wikidocument, above. It explains some of the reasons why the selective use of redlinks is useful.  Have you read it yet?  Could you please make the effort to read it?  Geo Swan (talk) 01:51, 8 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Did you miss the part where I suggested at least providing a couple of sources to establish that building an article is viable? DonIago (talk) 13:59, 8 November 2017 (UTC)


 * The character itself has a life of its own, here is a list... Geo Swan (talk) 00:53, 1 May 2019 (UTC)
 * https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=k_wTOk0y6hUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA43&dq=%22penny+lane%22+character+OR+archetype+OR+%22pixie+dreamgirl%22+%22almost+famous%22+OR+%22cameron+crowe%22&ots=zBAzr7U0bC&sig=WqhLDbwPCF0e3D2iNkYxEjj_LOA#v=onepage&q=penny&f=false
 * https://sites.nd.edu/manuscript-studies/tag/chaucer/page/4/
 * https://people.com/style/kate-hudson-is-penny-lane-ing-irl-catch-the-photo-proof/
 * https://www.oregonmusicnews.com/2012-09-07-will-the-real-penny-lane-please-stand-up
 * http://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/9247/the-self-defining-70s-style-of-almost-famous-penny-lane
 * https://www.buzzfeed.com/kaylayandoli/23-ways-youre-really-penny-lane-from-almost-famo-cqn5
 * https://www.uwo.ca/arts/sasah/img/pdf/Project%20by%20D.%20Noory.pdf
 * https://www.ofakind.com/stories/4161-in-character-penny-lane
 * https://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/rock-n-roll-inspiration-behind-penny-lanes-coat-almost-famous
 * https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/penny-lane-wardrobe-almost-famous-seventies
 * https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a15042/penny-lane-fashion-almost-famous/
 * https://theouai.com/blogs/by-the-ouai/girls-on-film-penny-lane-curls-how-to-almost-famous
 * https://www.bustle.com/articles/136373-what-almost-famous-gets-right-about-fandom-storytelling
 * https://www.amazon.com/What-Would-Penny-Lane-Do/dp/1727574222

Plane turbulence scene
In the documentary Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (2013), Shep said that Cameron Crowe was on a jet plane with him and the members of Alice Cooper's band 'Alice Cooper'. Major turbulence hit the plane during a storm and in a panic, one of the passengers said "We're all going to die, I need to confess something", turning to another passenger (it's not known exactly who it was) and said "I've been sleeping with your wife", at which point the pilot said the plane was okay and they are landing safely, leaving all passengers in a stunned silence for the remainder of the flight. This incident which Crowe witnessed himself most likely inspired the plane turbulence scene.

I don't know why this very relevant information keeps being removed and replaced with a Lynard Skynard reference. Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane crashed, they didn't just get some brief turbulence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2a02:c7f:7c79:9400:b988:4884:a3b7:97c5 (talk • contribs)
 * Thus far it's been getting removed because you've been citing it to IMDb, which is not a reliable source. Also, based on what you've just said, you're speculating. DonIago (talk) 21:22, 21 September 2020 (UTC)

Brad Pitt originally cast
It’s common knowledge that Brad Pitt was originally cast in the role of guitarist Hammond, and that the role was specifically written for him. Pitt, who had auditioned for Crowe for “Singles” in 1991, rehearsed with Patrick Fuqit and other actors prior to filming “Almost Famous”. There have been conflicting stories as to why he dropped out of the project. In the DVD commentary, Cameron Crowe claims that it was a mutual decision, because neither felt Pitt “fit” in the role. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.86.226.125 (talk) 13:50, 15 December 2020 (UTC)