Ladies And Gentleman, The Fabulous Stain — Ladies And Gentleman, The Fabulous Stains(Blu Ray)
Ladies And Gentleman, The Fabulous Stains is a rag’s-to-riches drama comedy charting the rise of Riot grrrl like-band in the early 80’s. It’s a messy, at times wondering film that has a fair bit of charm, some effective satirizing of the music business/ media, and ex-members of The Sex Pistols, and Ray Winston in its cast. Here from Imprint is a Blu-Ray release of this lesser-seen early 80’s film, with a good selection of new and archive extras.
Ladies And Gentleman, The Fabulous Stains is a US production from the year 1982. It was helmed by Chicago, Illinois-born Lou Adler- who is more known as a producer involved in the likes of Brewster McCloud, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and it’s sequel Shock Treatment. He has one other directorial credit to his name stoner comedy Up In Smoke- as well as been involved in more than a few Cheech & Chong-related projects.
The film starts off in rainy and grey small-town America- where we meet disaffected teen Corinne Burns (Diane Lane) who has recently lost her mother due to cancer. She is also the lead singer in the recently formed female punk band The Stains with her sister Tracy (Marin Kanter) and her cousin Jessica McNeil (Laura Dern). The three teens go along to a concert where up 'n' coming brit punk band The Looters are supporting a smug and ageing old guard rock band The Metal Corpses. One thing leads to another, and the only rehearsed twice Stains are leading off on the road with the other two bands as support.
The Looters feature Billy(Ray Winston) on vocals, and ex-Sex Pistols Steve Jones & Paul Cook on guitar and drums. The Metal Corpses lead singer Lou(Fee Waybill) has a rather Gene Simmons (of Kiss) vibe/ look, and the rest of the band mockingly send-ups of ageing rockers.
The Stains play their first set of the tour- and they can barely play, but what they have got is anger and small-town bitterness, which is edged with vague feminist rhetoric. And as the tour unfolds, and the media reports- the band's profile climbs and climbs, with at a point the concert crowd full of clones of the leader singer Corinne with black ‘n’ white hair, red eye make-up, see-through tops, tights and gym pants. The film unfolds in a decidedly drifting at times haphazard manner- with moments of fairly effective satire and charm, followed by wondering moments of drama, a rather unbelievable romantic pairing, and plot developments that really stretch believability.
Lane is a little one-dimensional & not particularly likeable for much of the film's runtime- coming off at first a little brattish, and later rather self-obsessed- though I guess all this does play into the satire side of the film well. Winston fairs a bit better, yes his character is somewhat of a jumped-up idiot- but he is kind of enduring, and this is helped by one-liners from his bandmates Jones & Cook.
As you’d expect the film features a fair bit of music- going from reggae (the tour manager is a rasta), punk, and new wave. The Stains only have one song, with its pretty terrible twanging discordant guitars and waving vocals. The Looters have a few tracks, and these are fairly enjoyable pacy punk song craft. Lastly, for The Metal Corpses we hear a track and a bit, and these are nice send-ups of glam rock. The film plays at one hour and twenty-seven- and it’s fair to say there are a few pacing issues here when really it should have remained zippy and punchy- which is when it’s at its most effective. So, Ladies And Gentleman, The Fabulous Stains is far from a perfect film, but it has its charms and some of its worthy satirizing of both the music business and the way media hypes, then crushes fads.
Moving onto this recent region free Blu Ray, and find a new 1080 HD print of the film- which is a good balance of crisp, clear and buoyant. On the extras side, we get a good selection of the new and old. First, up on the new side of things, we get a commentary track from film critic/author Lee Gambin and Riot grrrl musician/journalist Allison Wolfe, and instead of the two being in the same room we get a more snippet-based track- which gives you two sides of the commentary coin. On Gamblin’s side, we get a very well-researched and informed focus- as he gives bios on the film's writer and its director, where the idea of the film came from, in-depth comments on key scenes, and detail about the film's production/ it's influence/ impact. From Wolfe, we get a more chatty/laid-back take- with her talking about how the film influenced the Riot grrrl scene, and the relevance of certain scenes. It’s a rather yin/ yang track- but it works well for a rewarding play. Next, we have I Don’t Put Out: Punk, Anger, X Feminism(16.26) this is a video essay from film historian Kat Ellinger, where she talks about the film/its impact within the context of her personal involvement with the Punk scene as a work class women in UK of the mid ’80s. Another video essay in the form of Lizard Music: The Late Night Culture of the Fabulous Stains(16.31) which finds author Sara Marcus discussing how the film often played on-late night US TV, and how this influenced a host of figures in female punk/ related bands. There’s Keep On Rocking!(11.16) Interview Debbie Rochon, who had a small role in the film as one of the Stains fans. On the archive side, we get two commentary tracks one with director Lou Adler, and one with actresses Diane Lane and Laura Dern. There’s an audio-only Interview with actress Marin Kanter, and a photo gallery.
Ladies And Gentleman, The Fabulous Stains is an important and influential film, and while it’s a little messy/ not a wholly consistent cinematic experience, it certainly very much deserves this new reissue. With Imprint offering up a nice new scan of the film, and a good selection of both new and old extras. This release has a pressing of just 1500 copies- so if this sounds like your thing, I’d act sooner/ than later as it has such a cult following, I can't imagine these hanging around long.