Simply A Masterpiece

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Absolutely Fantastic

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The Stains are a rock band comprised of sisters Corinne and Tracy, and their cousin Jessica. Their talent is questionable but the media attention on Corinne's personal life gets them a job as a support band on a U.S. tour. The tour headlines an ageing metal band - the Metal Corpses - and their lead-in act, the British rock band, the Looters. The Stains, purely there as a bookend between the two feuding acts, take the rock world by storm with further media attention centred on Corinne and her transformation into punk rock diva, and what her fans call "the skunk look". The dynamics on the tour quickly changes as the Stains' collective stars rise.......Another largely forgotten film from the eighties that has gained a cult following over the years, has again, passed me by up until now. And while the music is wonderful, and the poetry like babblings of Corrine are pretty genius, the rest of the film is decidedly ho-hum.The film shows fame in three different stages-the has beens, the strugglers, and the flash in the pan overnighters, which the latter is the titular group.Lane is brilliant as the wannabe anarchist, and her and Winstone make the film watchable, it's just the rest of the support are bland, and maunder there way through their stereotypical character arcs.But, as said before, I'm probably missing a trick not seeing it when first released, the element of propaganda and 'blaming the fame machine' is there, but it's too short of a film to really delve into the psyche of the main characters.Like the titular band, the film comes and goes too soon, a little more depth would have helped.

Ever since I went to see the English alt-rock/Grunge band The Subways perform in 2007 (which was also the first live music concert that I ever went to)I have become very keen on finding rock/metal bands that are either an all girl group (such as the very underrated Grunge band L7),or have a woman that is a co-vocalist (Such as the great band Lacuna Coils Cristina Scabbia,who I had the amazing pleasure of meeting and chatting to,after the band had played a stunning 90 minute concert!)So when a friend asked me if I could order the DVD to this film,which he has been wanting to see for over twenty years!,I also became very keen on seeing the film,after I found out that the film was about an all-girl Punk/Glam group.The plot: With the death of her mother,Corinner Burns decides to pull her sister Tracy and their cousin Jessica McNeil into a close-knit unit,and that they should form a band called The Fabulous Stains.One night when Corinner is at a local Rock club,she watches the performances of the shock-rock headliners,and a new British Punk band,that really catches her attention.After she has been able to grab the attention of the tour manager,who hires her band (The Fabulous Stains) to be the opening band on the rest of the tour,Corinner does everything she can,to make sure that she, Tracy and Jessica stand out from all the other bands on the tour.This leads to Corinner cutting her hair into a very weird style,and deciding that the Stains will adop a very comfrontaional stage persona,where they show the female members of the audiences that they all should stand up for themselves,and not "give in" that easily.With their new aggressive edge and energy,the band instantly start gathering a huge amount of girls,who are all huge fans of there's,and are dedicated to following the bands message.But With the Fabulous Stains becoming the biggest,and the most popular band in the touring area,jealousy from some of the other bands (who they are meant to be supporting) starts to grow...View on the film: The first thing that I feel I need to praise about this fantastic film,are the stunning performances from the very youthful before-they-were-famous cast,with a very in-shape Ray Winstone giving a great gritty performance as the lead singer of the British Punk band (Billy).Winstone shows Billy as someone who is unable to ever get the bitter taste out of his mouth that the girls are being given the same opportunity as his self-centered punk band is,especially since he feels that girls "Cant rock".Looking at the band themselves,the clear stand-out is easily Diane Lane as the rebellious lead vocalist of the Fabulous Stains, Corinne Burns.Lane shows that Corinne wants to have the Stains destroy everyones expectations of what a "bunch of girls" can do,by giving the group a strong mission statement,that can be felt in all of the performances in the film,to Diane looking very provocative with a terrific hairstyle,and some very eye-catching stage outfits.For the brilliant screenplay by Nancy Dowd (who would later win an Oscar for her Coming Home screenplay) Dowd smartly plays against some of the biggest clichés in the Punk scene,by showing the whilst the ageing rock band are not THAT friendly,the Stains are still able to talk to the band a little bit,whilst the Punk band who preach on stage that you should be your self and do what ever you want,are actually filled with vile and disgust that the Fabulous Stains are becoming extremely successful.Final view on the film: Although the film was not given a chance to survive when it basically got buried alive on realise,that error should be completely ignored,due to the film having a fabulous screenplay,interesting and original directing.And last,but not least,some truly shining performances from an amazing young cast.

Wow, a punk rock movie that plays like an after-school -special while staying true to the real feeling of punk. I really liked this film a lot, seeing it on late night TV. It captures an era or rebellion- I mean the era of being 13 and wanting to ROCK out and trying to find out what is real. The ex-Pistols are in this movie because the band just imploded on it's American tour and they had nothing better to do before going back to England. What could be better than being in a great cult classic? I heard that they were very supportive of the movie, but this is just a rumour. I knew a lot of punk-gals who started on this movie.PLAY THIS MOVIE FOR THE KIDDIES

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.