Fame helped to launch the 1980s on a tide of aspiration, creating a successful television series, kick-starting the leg-warmer industry and inspiring us all with the idea that with talent, a lot of hard work, plenty of suffering and luck, anybody might, one day, become a star.

In truth, director Alan Parker's film is a collage of the disciplines on offer at New York's High School of Performing Arts. The characters are sketchy totems for the emotional and domestic conflicts that drive their dreams - Leroy, Doris and friends needed the television spin-off to give them substance - but Parker is brilliant at conveying the intensity and heartache of their collective journey, from the paralysing nerves of the auditions to the strain of maintaining a rounded education alongside the development of performance skills and the ultimate thrill of graduation. By the end, thanks to the familiarity of the thudding disco soundtrack, you really do want them all to live forever.

Cast:
Irene Cara, Barry Miller, Maureen Teefy, Paul McCrane