Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is a long-lost teen punk rock movie from 1981, that was shelved by Paramount and never saw and official release. Since then the movie has obtained a cult following by those who actually saw the film at midnight showings in art house theaters or, more likely, on late night cable TV.
The film follows a group of runaway teenage girls, lead by the sassy Diane Lane (only 15 at the time of filming). Posing as a band (The Stains), even though none of them have any musical experience, the girls quickly end up on a rag-tag rock tour with an aging glam rock band (The Metal Corpses), an up-and-coming punk band (The Looters, featuring members of the Sex Pistols and the Clash) and a Jamacian bus driver named Lawnboy. What they lack in experience they make up for in attitude and style and quickly (almost comically so) gain a devoted following of young girls.
The film isn't perfect. Some of the acting isn't great and the story is pretty far from realistic. But LAGTFS is a fun jab at the music industry and features a lot of surprisingly good punk rock music. Some may even say this movie was the genesis of the Riot Grrl movement of the early 90's. The real gem of the movie, though, is the young, engaging Diane Lane who is so good as the troubled teen it's easy to see why she went on to become such a celebrated actress. Fans of vintage punk rock will delight in the excellent, quirky music (I may have to purchase the soundtrack) and fans of 80's teen movies will connect with the young stars as they bash their way through the brutal world of rock 'n roll.
No comments:
Post a Comment