Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982)

Sorry, this movie sucks

As Good As It Gets

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Ladies and Gentleman, etc. is a rock and roll movie that coincided with the advent of mtv and a downward spiral of music videos making stars of lackluster musicians, sometimes overnight. Diane Lane is the lead as Corinne, a lost teenager seeking fame and fortune with her cousin and sister in a band with very little talent.Real life artists such as Fee Waybill of the Tubes and also members of the Clash and the Sex Pistols are used to give the film some authenticity. Corinne(Lane) leaves home after the untimely death of her mother to hit the road on a bus with the aforementioned punk rockers. The driver of the bus is a philosophical Jamaican Bob Marley type constantly spouting "ja rastafari." Corinne unveils a black and white "skunk" hairstyle, booty shorts, and see through blouse, inspiring adolescent female followers to copy her fashion statement. Along the way, romance and career conflict ensue, but the show must go on and it does. Some of the music is good due to punkers Steve Jones and Fee Waybill and Diane Lane is thoroughly convincing as the troubled young rebel; she makes Ladies and worthwhile.

There is something about this movie that makes me think that it is one of the best as well as the worst films ever made. A side of me doesn't make me wonder as to why the studio execs never wanted to release this even as a slight cult-fringe film. It isn't that. It is not a cult-fringe film. I see this as a film where in a fine and precious moment in the early 80's there was a time when the 80's was defining itself. It was kicking in the teeth of the 70's and 60's with vigor. It pulls itself off and doesn't do so without kicking it's in own teeth as well. Believe it or not there is optimism. Check it out just for the sake of checking it out. It is worth it,Loved the mall scene!!

My DVD player crapped out on me and I was going through my old VHS pile and watched this again. Like most, I had taped my copy off of Nightflight in about 1985. I was a devoted fan of that show; as a sophomore in College at Montana State U, it certainly helped develop my taste in music and I was extremely vexed when USA replaced it with idiot Gilbert Gottfried and those dumb cut up teen sex comedies (Up All Night). I wonder whatever happened to the voice over woman from Night Flight and Radio 1990? She was attractive and had more than a "voice for radio". Or whatever happened to the other Radio 1990 alum Lisa Robinson?My recollections on the movie1. First off, how great is it that back in the mid 80s USA could run a movie without obsessing over bleeping out shits and fucks etc and tolerating glimpses of underage flesh 2. The commercials from cable in the 80s are hilarious to watch today (Videos on break dancing!) 3. How about the young Ray Winstone as the Looters/Johnny Rotten doppelganger (the beefy guy from Sexy Beast in his pallid youth) 4. Fee Waybill was awesome. I couldn't tell if it was cinema verite' or self parody in his performance 5. The whole "I Don't Put Out" empowerment is sure a far cry from Britney, Christina and the rest of the current pop trollops infesting the airwaves and TV twenty(!) years later 5. Loved Lawnboy and the whole way reggae and punk intertwined as music made by those on the margins. "Everybody want to go to heaven, but nobody want to die"; from Peter Tosh lyrics 6. I loved the added ending "Emp-TV" video for Join the Professionals. Awesome. They didn't release that as a 45 single did they? 7. Diane Lane was perfect for the part but Laura Dern didn't really impress considering how her acting career developed a few years later 8. Christine Lahti was also good in her limited time on screen 9. With all the crap in the DVD racks, why can't this little gem get re-released? Didn't Lou Adler make a fortune on those $80 Complete Monterey Music Festival DVD box sets? 10. Any hope of any TV DVD box sets of Night Flight? Or is that more of a pipe dream

I was a student in high school when the film crew and actors/actresses came to Vancouver, British Columbia Canada to film this movie.They had a radio contest at the local radio station called 14 CFUN and they wanted people to come down to the radion station to sign up to be "extras" in the movie. I had never done this before, but took a chance and was selected. I was to play a "skunk".We filmed down at the exhibition grounds of the P.N.E. {Pacific National Exhibition}. I missed 3 days of school to do this movie and had the time of my life! Actually, it was even more fun when I found a friend of mine was also picked as an extra.I remember meeting and getting the autographs of the Sex Pistols and Clash members who were there. I actually didn't even know that there were other "stars" in this movie until I had found this website and saw the cast list.I also remember eating way too much "White Spot" {burgers and fries}. It seemed like that is all they fed us. I had been "called back" for a 3rd day of the shoot because they had chosen me for some "close-up shots".....much to my surprise. I remember the costume and the makeup that we wore as "skunks". We all wore see-through red blouses with very high pumps on our feet. The makeup was kind of "skanky" and the big white stripe that they put down the middle of your hair. I can barely remember what we looked like.I signed a contract with Paramount Pictures when the movie was still called "All Washed Up". I never did see it. Actually, when I was in Waikiki, Hawaii a couple of years later, we had been watching "sumo wrestling" on one of their channels and had fallen asleep. When I woke up, the credits to this movie were scrolling by!!!!!I was soooooo upset about it, because I had never even seen the movie.I have still yet to find this movie and would like very much to attain a copy of it on DVD.