The Buddy Holly Story (1978)

◄ The Buddy Holly Story (1978)

Anachronisms

The "Ludwig" logo on the drums was not adopted until the 1960's.
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At the roller rink, Buddy plays a Fender "Bronco" guitar. The Bronco was not manufactured by Fender until the early 1970s.
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When Buddy sees his girlfriend off on the bus, the camera pans over to the bus station past a gas station that has a billboard with a Century 21 real estate sign over it. Century 21 started in 1971.
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The Telecaster that Buddy plays at the Apollo is a mid seventies CBS model. You can clearly read the large "Telecaster" logo which was introduced when CBS bought the company from Leo Fender in the late 1960s.
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In the roller-rink scene, Cindy Lou is drinking from a quarter-inch-or-more-diameter straw. In the 1950s, straws were much narrower and came in 2s.
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In the final concert scene, Gary Busey is shown playing a CBS era Fender Stratocaster. CBS bought Fender in 1965 (ie six years after Buddy died). CBS Strats are easily identified by the larger style headstock and the different style headstock decals. Also, the guitar Busey is seen playing has a rosewood fingerboard, which wasn't introduced until 1959. Buddy's Strats (he owned at least three) all had maple fingerboards.
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Buddy and Maria are shown at a 3D movie in 1957. These type of movies were popular in 1953 and 1954. No mainstream 3D movies were produced in the 50s after 1954.
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The world map on the wall behind Buddy in the Greyhound Bus station shows the continent of Africa as made up of independent states. At the time "Cindy Lou" was going off to college, Africa was mostly comprised of British, French, Belgian, and Portuguese colonies which did not gain their independence till the 1960's.
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When Buddy is attempting to compose in his apartment, and when the neighbor boys come over to ask him to 'fix' their guitar, he is playing a Gibson acoustic guitar (either a LG-3 or most likely a B-25). The guitar in the movie has an adjustable bridge (called the 'Tone Killer'), which was not introduced on the LG-3 until 1961, and the B-25 until 1966.
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As the disabled bus is being towed past the auditorium before Buddy's final concert, the phone number on the side of the tow truck is made up entirely of digits. In 1959, the first two digits of all phone numbers consisted of letters, denoting the exchange. All-numeric phone numbers didn't begin until the mid-'60s.
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In the final concert scene, a number of men in the front rows of the audience have full, longish hair typical of the late 1970s rather than short cuts they would have worn during the period the film is set.
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In the roller rink scene, numerous pinball machines featuring rotary score wheels can be seen in the background. Score reels were not in use on pinball machines until the 1960's; in 1956, scores would have been kept by lit numbers on each machine's backglass.
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Audio/visual unsynchronised

When Buddy calls Maria from Clear Lake, Maria answers her bedside phone and the background music from the Clear Lake concert is heard coming from her phone a split second before she actually lifts the receiver.
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Continuity

The coffee pot in the Holly apartment leaps from the kitchen counter to the dining table between shots.
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When Buddy plays his acoustic guitar for the two neighbor boys, it is in concert pitch. A moment after they leave, he picks up the guitar again. When he strums it this time, it is tuned a semitone below concert pitch.
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(At 25:00) Buddy pulls the truck into a garage to unload boxes from the back of the truck. Boxes in back of truck appear and disappear as Buddy moves them to shelf stacks. One time he takes some and none appear in truck but when he comes back to truck, more are magically there. Near the end of this scene, the green toolbox also mysteriously disappears.
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When the band is recording "Everyday" in the garage, the reel to reel recorder is recording and 'on' when Buddy's mom comes into the garage to tell him he has a phone call. Then, right when Buddy leaves, the recorder is off even though he never flipped the off switch.
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Errors in geography

There are no mountains in Lubbock, Texas.
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Factual errors

Buddy Holly's final concert was at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, not the Clear Lake Auditorium as depicted in the movie.
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The billboard on the Clear Lake Auditorium (standing in for the Clear Lake Surf Ballroom) reads "Feb 3". Buddy Holly's final performance was Monday, Feb. 2, 1959.
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Early in the movie the family's last name on the side of the truck is spelled "Holly". Their name was actually Holley, but Buddy's name was misprinted on a record label and he adopted the revised spelling.
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Buddy Holly's front teeth were knocked out before a performance in the UK, not on US television as shown in the film.
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Buddy is shown writing out a score during a studio scene when in real life, Buddy Holly could not read nor write music.
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During his final concert, Buddy Holly is backed by a full orchestra. In reality, he toured with a small unnamed band consisting of Waylon Jennings on bass, Carl Bunch on drums and Tommy Allsup on lead guitar.
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As the disabled bus is towed into Clear Lake, Iowa, it is of the "Greyhound" cross-country type. In reality, The Winter Party '59 tour traveled in aged and unheated school buses.
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Buddy never toured with Sam Cooke.
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The Crickets real names were Jerry Allison and Joe B. Mauldin, not Jesse and Ray Bob as in the movie.
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Buddy's parents were not against the music as the movie said. Mrs. Holley even helped Buddy write "Maybe Baby".
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KDAV was a daytime-only radio station in the 1950s.
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Buddy Holly played the Fender Stratocaster guitar. In the movie, he plays a Telecaster.
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Buddy Holly's pastor did not oppose Buddy's musical projects. In fact, Buddy reputedly tithed regularly to his church. The Holley (correct family name) were Baptists.
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Buddy Holly and The Crickets did not perform Maybe Baby on "The Ed Sullivan Show". In their 2 appearances on the show, they performed That'll Be The Day and Peggy Sue on 12/1/57 and then Oh Boy on 12/26/58. Maybe Baby was not released until 2/28/58. However, Holly is seen rehearsing "Peggy Sue" before the show, which could be a reference to the original show or just a coincidence.
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Buddy Holly did not produce his recordings. Norman Petty was producer for most of his career.
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Spoilers

The goof below may give away important plot points.

Factual errors

The closing caption refers to "Clearlake" (one word), Iowa. The city is "Clear Lake" (two words), as seen at the city's official website, http://www.clearlakeiowa.com/. The same mistake is made in the name of the (erroneous) "Clearlake Auditorium".
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