Customer Reviews

Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This movie is awsome. I first saw this film in 1983 when i was 15 on a TV show called "Night Flight" (anybody remember it?), fell head over heels in love w/ teenage Diane Lane & have never forgotten the impact this film made on me & watching it recently brought back many memories. I have been looking for this film for 20yrs & i finally found a copy! It basically tells a very cynical & realistic tale totally bashing the music industry. Young female nobody has ambition to be somebody, forms a band called The Stains with her cousins (one, a very young Laura Dern), goes on the unglamorous rough & lonely road with 2 other very chauvenistic rival male bands--a has-been-on-its-last-legs headliner & an up & coming punk band. Fee Waybill of the Tubes is great as the has-been & Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols has another great role as the lead singer of the punk band. BTW, the songs in this movie are very good & very catchy---you will find yourself singing "We're the Professionals!" for days! As the girls rise to the top theyre punk hair, clothes & attitude become a symbol of young female power & all the rage with young girls everywhere. theyre slogan "We Dont Put Out" becames the anthem of girl power that sweeps the nation. Theyre rise to the top is squashed by the backstabbing music industry & the conservative male dominated American media. The fluffy MTV styled video at the end is the icing on the cake! This movie is awsome because it takes on so many issues without ever losing the central story of this film or becoming cheesy or preachy. They really dont make movies like this anymore & I can say that this film is an unequivical classic with Diane Lane putting on the performance of her life. wow! what an actress. Even the so-called "indie" films of today try too hard to be "shocking" & just end up being predictible & exploitative, never coming close to the realistic telling-it-like-it-is nature of this film. The thing I dont understand is why this film is never shown & why its never mentioned. I hear there is a "Making of Ladies & Gents The Fabulous Stains" with all the actors talking about this film that i would LOVE to get. This movie was also a huge inspiration to Courtney Love ive also heard. Check this film out if you can find it!!!!

Next to "The Great Rock n Roll Swindle", and perhaps equally as "D.O.A.-A Right of Passage", this film is a top must have for any punk aficionado. The fictional band in the film, The Looters, features 2 sex PistOls (Paul Cook and Steve Jones) and Clash bassist Paul Simonon performing incredible rock, with 2 songs unavailable on any recording. It's worth it for that alone.
The film also stands on it's own. A very young Diane Lane (pre- "Outsiders") turns in a solid performance, and The Tubes Fee Waybil is funny as a Paul Stanley type rocker. Also of note is Brit actor Ray Winstone, who plays the Looters' frontman. As far as underground rebel rock movies go, it doesn't get much better.

Rhino is working on a fall 2008 release, tentatively set for Sept. 30. Restored transfer, anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1, with commentary tracks featuring Lou Adler, Diane Lane and possibly Laura Dern. More info available elsewhere on web, but it looks like our prayers have been answered.

I also first saw this on the old Night Flight TV show & was fortunate to record the broadcast. One of my fav trashy films, & it's coming to dvd at last!

Also stars the Tubes Fee Waybill & the late Tubes keyboard player Vince Welnick; + a very young Laura Dern.

Besides being just plain fun & required for Tubes fans (Fee steals the movie), this is also an early indictment of corporate broadcast media.

The picture quality is excellent. Here's a few tidbits:

1. It's in widescreen (16X9), all the boots I've seen are fullscreen

2. The shower scene does not appear to be cut; it's actually not all that explicit, though Running time is the same as the boots.

3. Only extras are 2 commentaries: 1 from Lane & Dern, & 1 from Adler. The Dern/Lane commentary is really entertaining, though they got a couple facts wrong (Called Vince Welnick the Tubes bass player for one), & the Adler was so boring I gave up after 20 minutes. The short U-Tube featurettes are NOT on here.

4. No sign of the LP or cd so far. The film credits mentions a soundtrack on Ode Records (Adler's label). I don't remember seeing a soundtrack when it came out.

Fans of R&R cult films should buy this, it doesn't get much better. Liquid Sky is the only similar 80's film that even comes close.

FINALLY! This beloved blast from the past is at long last getting the release it deserves! And it's about bloody time.

I'm sure plenty of other folks my age (yeah, we're getting old!) remember watching this on Night Flight way back in the day. I watched it whenever they ran it and loved it each time ~ Three young girls dream of escaping their depressing small town lives and making it big as a rockin' grrrl band, though they can barely play their instruments or sing, god bless 'em. An opportunity presents itself when a small-time tour bus, with 2 or 3 similarly aspiring bands (one, a sad old group actually trying for a comeback), passes through town. The girls join up and so begins their journey to the top of the charts. But along the way are some hard lessons to learn thanks to: rival bands, song-stealing, leacherous stage managers, washed-up old rockers and fickle fans. Oh, the fickle, fickle fans.

Starring a very young Diane Lane and Laura Dern (who btw is totally awesome), with a good performance from Ray Winstone (who was just as cute then as he is now), this film does have some production flaws especially when compared to today's big-budget high tech "blockbusters". The script can be a bit iffy at times, some of the acting is a tad spotty and the photography (at least on the poor quality copies I'm used to) can be downright murky. But hey, it was the beginning of the 80's and I imagine it was no small feat to make even a low-budget independent film. And I think this one STILL rocks.

I'll finally be able to retire my poor old, sad old VHS bootleg. WHOO HOO!

Wow. The fact that I have not even SEEN this film for 25 years, and I still remember it, I think speaks volumes about the power that this film had at that time. I was 13, and I saw it on Night Flight. Taped it on the BETAMAX and watched it repeatedly until it accidentally got erased the next summer. Every 10 years or so I would be reminded of it and try to find it, and lo and behold, it's HERE! I am beside myself with nostalgia *sniff* and can't wait to see it again!!!!

I really like this movie. Mostly in part because Ray Winstone is in it and it helps showcase his younger days. I also liked seeing Diane Lane and Laura Dern in it as well.

Really entertaining and well done. Not for everyone but if you're into the rock and roll quest thing, simply fabulous. Turned friends onto it and got the same positive reaction. Will turn to it again and again.

Great film...great music...too bad the sound track has never been released (even though the film's credits say that it's available). Punk out!

Finally, we have a proper DVD release of this coveted, oft-bootlegged 1981 curio, which was initially shelved from theatrical distribution but managed to build a rabidly devoted cult base, thanks to several showings on USA Network's "Night Flight" back in the day. As a narrative, this effort from legendary record mogul turned (sort of) movie director Lou Adler would have benefited immensely from less script doctoring (screenwriter Nancy Dowd had her name removed from the project) but for punk/new wave nostalgia junkies, it's still a marvelous time capsule. Diane Lane plays a nihilistic mall rat who decides to break out of the `burbs by forming an all-female punk band called The Stains. Armed with a mission statement ("We don't put out!") and a stage look that appears to have been co-opted from Divine in Pink Flamingos, this proto riot-grrl outfit sets out to conquer the world (and learn to play their instruments along the way). Music biz/star maker machinery clichés abound, but it's still a guilty pleasure, particularly due to the real-life rock luminaries in the cast. Fee Waybill (surprisingly effective) and Vince Welnick of The Tubes are a hoot as a couple of washed up glam rockers. The fictional punk band, The Looters (fronted by none other than an angry young Ray Winstone) features the talents of Paul Simonon from The Clash and Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols. There's also a memorable cameo by Black Randy ("Who?") Well, he's exciting to "deep catalogue" geeks like me (what can I say?).