Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains

Famed record producer Lou Adler’s 1981 attempt to make a “punk movie” might have been fairly bogus on a musical level, but as a piece of entertainment, it became a cult fave, due to repeated showings on cable in the early ’80s. Diane Lane stars as a disaffected teen musician whose radical hair, makeup and attitude inspire a craze and then a backlash among her peers. The film snatches some credibility from the fact that the musical outfit serving as mentors for Lane and her young bandmates (one of whom is a preteen Laura Dern) is comprised of actor Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast), Clash bassist Paul Simonon and Sex Pistols’ Paul Cook and Steve Jones. The message about fashion and fad being at the heart of the music industry is coyly presented, but it proved prescient as MTV and Madonna became the primary movers in ’80s pop.

Shelf Talk: The film’s devoted cult, which includes key “riot grrrl” groups, has traded and bootlegged Ladies and Gentlemen on VHS and DVD-R, and thus will be thrilled to see it finally get a legal U.S. release. Shelve this one with such punk documentaries as D.O.A. and The Decline of Western Civilization and like-minded musicals (Times Square, Rock ’n’ Roll High School).