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Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains
Directed by Lou Adler by Deeky Wentworth
The Stains are a punk band fronted by Corrine Burns (Diane
Lane). She's angry, she loud, she speaks her mind. A chance encounter at a local club lands the band an opening
spot on a nationwide tour with an English punk act (lead by Ray Winstone and
backed by Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex pistols, and Paul Simenon of the
Clash), and some aging American crotch rockers (featuring Fee Waybill of the
Tubes in a spot-on performance as a has-been singer.) The tour is something of a fiasco, but a fortuitous thing
happens: The bass player for the rock act ODs, forcing the band to leave the
tour. Corrine uses this opportunity to push herself into the limelight,
portraying herself as the dead man's unrequited, and gaining plenty of free
publicity in the process.
Down in the park with a friend called Five. Corrine's brash, independent demeanor earns her a following
of like-minded young girls. It's not before long that she's managed to woo Billy
(the singer of the punk act, the aforementioned Winstone) steal his best song and
his manager, and position herself as rising star. Things don't go quite as planned, and the tenuous career
Corrine's built comes crashing down. The film as a little slow starting, but once it picks up, is
actually rather enjoyable. The music ain't half bad and Winstone is, as usual, a likeable
enough chap. And of course, Jones, Cook, and Simenon add some authenticity to
the film. The film's major failings are twofold: First, there's the
somewhat unbelievable rise and fall of the Stains. They go from complete
unknowns to stars to has-beens in about a week. Secondly: the obviously
tacked-on happy ending. I guess the Stains actually went from unknowns to stars
to has-beens and back to stars again. Which, I guess means the film's message is it's okay to be a completely unscrupulous shit, you'll win out in the end, karma be damned.
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