10 Biggest Plot-Changing Movie Phone Calls
6. Almost Famous
Becoming a journalist in film, particularly in the era of Hunter Thompson, Watergate and Vietnam, always feels like seat-of-your-pants recruitment. The uninitiated are suddenly thrown into the fire with little preparation or experienced, forced to rely on their wits. There are varying degrees of truth in that, with some journalism schools forcing students to get published before their first semester ends, but nothing comes close to what William Miller (Patrick Fugit), Cameron Crowe's onscreen surrogate for his 15-year-old self, experiences.
In the span of one tour of the fictitious Stillwater band (based in large part on The Allman Brothers), Miller loses his virginity, experiments with drugs, nearly dies in a plane crash (one of the scenes in the film that actually happened to Crowe) and falls in love. All the while, unbeknownst to youthful, idealistic eyes, he's baring firsthand witness to the death of modern rock and roll.
When Miller does come to that realization, he makes a half-assed attempt to save it, writing glowingly of his experience with the band. He sacrificed the one tenet of rock journalism: he became their friend.
It's only after hs speaks to his mentor Lester Bangs (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) that he realizes the error of his ways, that being honest and unmerciful is more fulfilling. And that, as Hoffman put it, the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool.