Too many characters are involved over too long a time for any of them to be explored in depth. The truth is that this is an uneven film. The early use of quick cutting from one sub-story to another - American Graffiti style - later gives way to allowing the sub-stories a bit more time to develop before we are diverted. This is not a bad film, however. The music is tremendous, there is great energy, and documentary style-work is used effectively. The characters may not have been developed but they are still memorable. You wish the fewer of them could have been better focussed on to better effect. Its almost as if the movie was made as a pilot for a TV series. It wasnt, but its easy to see why it became one. Like lots of others, I loved the TV show as a kid; it was great to see the characters in their first airing.