MovieChat Forums > Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains Discussion > sorry to any fans, but i thought this wa...

sorry to any fans, but i thought this was terrible!

posted 15 years ago by johnstumbris
27 replies | jump to latest

it was 1:30 am when i started watching on tcm, so maybe i missed a few things. but this was really pretty bad.

the overall acting actually was ok, but the story was just plain stupid.

three girls run away from home and somehow are invited to join a bus of two traveling bands. i cant remember why though...it just sort of happens. they perform once and basically become an overnight sensation, and pretty soon theyre headlining the shows while the bigger band they were traveling with becomes their opener. ok, fine, but here are some things i didnt understand:

1. ok, diane lane, i love you, but you cant really sing. i, as a viewer, am supposed to believe that this music gained hundreds of fans instantaniously? i cringed at her first show. sure she was supposed to be bad (her audience in the room thought so too), but then just because she speaks her mind, all the young women relize how right she is, and decide to follow her loyally? once they start performing more as a group the music sounds a little better, but its still bad. i wasnt a teenager in the 1980's but i dont know anyone who was that would listen to music that awful.

2. and then right after he confesses this secret, she procedes to drop her towel and head to the shower. within a few seconds he joins her. i have numerous problems with this. first, he would have had to completely undress in about 4 seconds for that scene to be plausible. also, she hated him less than half an hour ago, and now shes totally fine with showering together? and maybe i missed something here, but isnt her motto "dont put out" or something. am i misundrstanding the meaning of that phrase? and lastly, this isnt confusing to me, but how old is he supposed to be? shes supposed to be 15 in the movie (and i thought she was even younger in real life), and he looks like hes in his late 20s. whatever the ages, shes a minor and he isnt, correct? why is this scene in this movie?

3. what was with the newscasters? the woman who kept going to the concerts to interview the band or the fans asked such cheesy questions. and the man seemed like a jerk. it was like the two of them disagreed on what the group was really about and what it was doing for its fans, and they were secretly arguing about it on tv. the scenes with them were badly acted and written, and seemed awkward. and why were there so many reports on this small non-famous group anyway?

4. what was the point of corrine going in to the newsroom towards the end? i didnt understand that scene. she wasnt really being interviewed, she was brought there to watch footage of herself, and basically was humiliated on tv.

5. right before their biggest concert up to that point, they have the looters open for them. the audience wants the stains though, so they just keep chanting that over and over. but if you looked at the audience a lot of them were just danciong to the music and only a few were chanting. sometimes it was just a bunch of people flipping the band off. other times you could hear chants but the audio didnt match the people. it was just weird. and i didnt understand the chanting either...the looters were just opening, like at any other concert. the stains would come eventually, there was no reason to be rude about it.

6. THIS IS THE WORST SCENE!!! right after the looters finish their opening for the stains they tell the die hard skunk fans that theyre all fools for being such big followers of the stains. the lead singer tells them that all they are doing is making the band lots of money, and that corrine is a fake. quickly the chants die down and a silence falls over the crowd. the stains then come on stage, they are met with no applause, and then with loud boos. then the crowd gets angry and starts throwing things that absolutely no one would have at a punk rock concert (where were people getting streamers? and what hit diane lanes face, a ball of ink?). umm....HUH? so hundreds of extremely loyal fans who went out of their way to dress special and cut and dye their hair to be like the stains, turned on their favorite band in mere seconds, all because some guy from a band they dont know and dont like told them something that any idiot could have figured out before? that makes no sense. not EVERYONE would turn on the band, and lots of the fans turned really violent too. and fans who were into the band enough to dress and look like them would need better convincing from someone more important and relevant for them all to hate the stains right away. i actually laughed at how stupid this scene was.

7. and after the band has died down and lost their fame, the looters guy invites corrine back on the bus to continue traveling with him. didnt he just ruin her career? whether she deserved it or not, why would she agree to that, and really, why would he ask her?

8. and then, after the bus leaves and corrine stands alone on the street, she sees girls dressed like her again and heres her songs being played. first of all, when did the stains ever record anything? but more importantly, how does that happen? first the fans bizzarly turn on them, and as if that already didnt make much sense, they start liking them again a day or two later. why?

so to recap, i dont really get why this band would have any fans in the first place, but they do, so thats that i guess. then, i dont understand why those fans would immeadiately stop liking them. and then, i dont see how liking them again after that makes sense either.

and the biggest mystery of all to me, is why i watched this on Turner Classic Movies.....this movie fits no definition of "classic" that i know of. it was made in the 80s, and it isnt a great "classic" movie, so why is it being shown on tcm?

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] badronald 15 years ago

I agree that this film was pretty dull. Awkwardly directed with an incoherent story line, choppy editing. Now I see why Lou Adler never directed another film. Although he still looks cool sitting court side next to his buddy Jack Nicholson at Lakers games!

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Guitar_King 15 years ago

1.The Stains being awfull yet still getting success is the entire point. That's why Ray Winstone tells Diane Lane right now she is nothing but 2 blonde streaks in her hair but she could get good eventually. They were getting success because of their image only, like many bands then and now.

2.She didn't hate him. She idolized him before she went on tour with him. That sex scene shows the gritty reality of life on the road. Sex drugs and rock n roll.

3.The point was to show that newscasters are just jerks trying to get a story

4.Corrine was doing the interview to attempt to keep her career going but the newscaster just wanted to humiliate her and he did

5.The audience didn't care about the opening act. They only wanted to see The Stains. Punk rock fans are rude as are punk bands that's why it's called punk rock.

6.The point was to show how fickle fans can be. Diane Lane was hit by a bottle of hair dye that fans were shown buying at the show along with other Stains merchandise.

7.He felt bad about it and wanted to apologize because he still liked her

8.The original ending was going to be Corrine seeing all her imitators standing around to audition to become the next version of her. The studio edited it to make it appear that her imitators were her fans who were still sticking by her to make a happy ending. Even though The Stains never recorded their music we can assume that the music was possibly recorded by a fan at a Stains concert or by their agent unbeknownst to them.

[–] johnstumbris 15 years ago

1. but she never was good eventually, and yet she and her band were able to grace the cover of people magazine at the end. i understand the image=popularity thing, but they were just terrible. i cant think of any bands that have followers that loyal, but also have very little musical talent.

2. whatever happened before the tour is irrelevant. she didnt like him when the got off the bus, they go into the hotel room, he tells her he cant read, and then immediately afterwards theyre in the shower together. that isnt realistic. and again with the age thing, how old was he? im not saying thats unrealistic, im just surprised the studio didnt have any problems with this scene. the fact that shes 15 is bad enough, but then the guy shes with is in his twenties...

3. that makes sense, but i got the impression that the oman actually cared about them, and the man didnt. is that incorrect? also those scenes were just plain bad writing wise, and thats probably why i disliked them more.

4. ok that makes sense, it was almost 3 am at that point and i was a little tired. she isnt very smart though if she thought that would help her career.

5. "Punk rock fans are rude as are punk bands that's why it's called punk rock." What? not all punk bands are rude, and certainly not ALL of their fns are. so youre saying punk rock translated to being rude? thats why its called punk rock? i dont think so...

6. thats for explaining what that black glob was, but that doesnt justify why this scene is horrible and extremely unrealistic. -- extremely loyal fans who are all geared up for a concert are convinced in about ten seconds, by a person they have never heard of and dont care about, that the stains arent who they appear to be and any fans of them are just fools. then the excited fans turn against their beloved band through the means of violence. THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN. what the guy says is true, but also very obvious. the way the fans reacted is unrealistic, but so is none of them realizing what he says before on their own. any idiot could have figured out that the stains were kind of fake, and that they were just profiting off of the fans. where did they think the money was going? this happens in real life too, but one of two things will happen- either the fans will realize this and still follow the band anyway, or they will turn their backs on the band (but not THAT quickly or easily). its just a dumb scene, and furthur proof that this movie had bad, uncreative writers. theres not really any way to save this scene from being criticized.

7. i dont really understand why he still liked her. didnt she betray him and stop caring about him and just about herself? and he did just ruin her career, why would he think she would even say yes?

8. a fan recording their music at a concert would not have good enough quality to be heard clearly, especially with the minimal technology at that time. and even if that were possible, a random fan cannot release music to mainstream radio stations. the band has to officially record it. the original ending would have been much better and now that makes a little more sense. i cant blame the movie for that one, thats the studios fault. every movie like this has to have a happy ending to be a success. too bad...

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Guitar_King 15 years ago

Even Diane Lane herself wishes she had never made this junk.

I don't know where you heard that. I seriously doubt that since she attended a screening of the film in 2008 and did an audio commentary for the DVD.

If you were a musician or a fan of punk rock you would understand this movie.

[–] dwillsxbr 15 years ago

by - guittarjedi-1 on Wed Feb 4 2009 07:39:01
"If you were a musician or a fan of punk rock you would understand this movie."

yes I agree.
sex, drugs and rock in roll in the early 80s.
life on the road. rockers banging underage groupies.
you have to read between the lines with this film.
watch it a second time and it gets better with age.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Threnners 11 years ago

If you were a 14 year old girl in the 80s, you would understand this movie.

[–] JamesMcFly 10 years ago

I agree!

[–] JamesMcFly 10 years ago

I realise this is old, but I agree, Guitar_King. The original poster has no clue.

I put the Fun in Funeral

[–] dragongrrrllll 15 years ago

Hey, this is a quirky film, not everyone likes it. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a great movie or even a good movie, but it's interesting and as others have said, a gritty and realistic look at what it's like for mediocre musicians playing one skeezy dive after another. They're always tired and grubby, they barely make enough money to get to their next gig, and some of them screw over anyone, including friends, if they think it will help them get ahead. You cite a lot of problems that kept you from liking it, and I really only have an argument for one:

6. extremely loyal fans who are all geared up for a concert are convinced in about ten seconds, by a person they have never heard of and dont care about, that the stains arent who they appear to be and any fans of them are just fools. then the excited fans turn against their beloved band through the means of violence. THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN.

Sure it could, just keep in mind who The Stains' fans were--not intelligent, discerning music lovers, but a bunch of brats looking for something their parents and the "uncool" kids wouldn't appreciate. That way, they could see themselves as rebels, cool enough to understand the misunderstood Stains. The point of the scene was to show how the little girls who had been so easily tricked into LIKING The Stains, whose music was beyond bad, were just as easy to trick into NOT liking them. They were bored children looking for the new flavor of the month, not die-hard fans of The Stains' music; the consistency of how badly the girls played and sang was an integral part of the plot, not bad casting, and even at the end when they sounded better through (presumably) studio enhancement, they still didn't sound good. The band had no talent so Corinne came up with a gimmick to make them controversial, and the sheep flocked to that as sheep always do. (Even the female newscaster was all Emperor's New Clothes about the band, desperately trying to seem young and hip enough to "get" them.) Then when it was pointed out to Skunks that they were, in fact, being used by the band, they flocked to THAT idea and turned on The Stains, but the point is they were probably about to move on anyway. Who/whatever the kids deemed cool next lasted another five minutes before once again, what was cool became suddenly uncool.

[–] say_y 9 years ago

1. Hundreds of mediocre musician become popular based on image alone... I'm not going to name names lest I offend someone's musical tastes and deter away from my point, however, I can think of two or three very popular girls right now who can't sing for *beep* and yet have 19 plus followers on instagram and sold out tours and top charting albums. Most of these fans are teenage girls. Some of these musicians started out with a glimmer of potential, because Corinne does have a certain something, she brash and she's pretty and she's smart and she's got heart... does a certain very famous singer come to mind? And has this singer improved in the past 5-6 years, yeah of course, but did this singer start out completely off. Yeah. But she's got heart and she's totally easy to relate to if you're a 16 year old girl-- and boy do they love buying her merch!

2. Personal anecdote from my 20 year old self (yes I wasn't even a teenager at this point): I had a bit of a crush on a guy, but he thought I was annoying and treated me like *beep* for the most part, though I guess now it's obvious he liked me, too. Basically think kindergarten, you push the girl you like into the sand and make her eat dirt because you think she's really cute and your body has no idea what it wants and is confused by the feelings? Anyhow, I pretended I absolutely hated this guy, I told everyone I hated him, he's a douche, and he was like, that bitch. Blah blah blah. Long story short.. you can guess what happened and it's a lot like that scene in the movie. Actually my heart warmed a bit during that scene. I think it's a certain personality type, and if you're that type, you will get it, and if you're not, you won't, unless you can put yourself in someone else's shoes. In this case, a 15 year old girl. And if she really really did hate him... then as someone else pointed out, teenagers change their minds within seconds. Where are all the Lady Gaga fans these days? Probably listening to Nicki Minaj. Same goes with their feelings.

3. It's dark humor, and a social commentary on our media today. PR agents will go online and say *beep* about their clients, so that their client's fans come out defending them, in turn stirring up a conversation, much as you have stirred up one on here. You now have a thread of people defending this movie, right? Same concept. It's a tactic a lot of light day time news shows use. The only weird thing is that it's shown as prime time, but again, it's a movie, suspension of belief. It's a commentary more than anything else. It's about the concept. Also, it's a bit of feminism thrown in there. Originally, all these women feel drawn to The Stains, because Corinne says things that they can't say or even feel, about marriage, about their small town life... She mostly rants about society and how it's brings down women. The newscaster man is suppose to be the MAN. That's why the newscaster women finally shuts him down and tells him to stop telling her how to feel or what to feel or what everyone is suppose to feel. This band is great (I forgot her exact line). Thanks for watching, goodnight.

4. No press is bad press.

5. Yeah kind of. That's what punk rock used to be. These guys and gals would go up on stage and basically say, *beep* YOU *beep* ME *beep* THE WORLD AND I *beep* YOUR MOTHER LAST NIGHT YOU DIRTY PIECE OF *beep* AND SHE LIKED IT WHY THE *beep* ARE YOU HERE *beep* YOU GO SUCK YOUR OWN COCK.

It's not the watered down whatever punk is nowadays. It's definitely not polite. And the fans weren't polite either. In that sense, it is also realistic that the fans would throw stuff at Corinne and still hang around after the riot was over.

Like even the shade all the musicians throw each other is totally 70's punk rock.

6. Have you figured out that your favorite musician is all kinds of fake? Don't even try to convince us otherwise. If they're making money, there's a certain amount of image that plays into it. Otherwise, they'd be on the street corner playing for free. So don't even try to defend your favorite guitar touting hero as completely 100 percent in it authentically.

Read some punk rock history books... that stuff did happen... sometimes fans would start rioting without a trigger against their very beloved band that they came out to see. Remember, these are people with immense amounts of pent up energy and these flames have been lit under them and it's only a matter of time before they explode.

I'm not an expert but there's resources to explore. I think that scene is actually based on a real life story about the Clash and they had hair dye thrown at them by rioting fans.

I love that they threw hair dye at her :) The writers could have written a can of beer, but they chose hair dye-- never say never.

7. Ever had your heart broken and then run back to that same person one week later just like a fool only to have your heart broken 100 times over again. They broke each other's heart. She wasn't the only one being selfish, and they had serious communication problems from the start... but love can make us foolish. I think even die hard fans of the movie may disagree with me, but I think they did care about each other, through the entire mess. It's the only time, Lane truly cries, too. It's a fresh wound, she's used to her other wounds. It's a lovely scene and I love what the actors did with it.

8. They were recorded on television-- a bit of tweaking goes into live broadcasts. I used to tape songs off my television and then listen to it in the car. Or even movies. I recorded the entirety of the Lion King as a kid and would play the songs over and over.

But there's a whole scene where they watch a video of themselves playing live and the sound is clear. And I think the scene at the cultural event is being taped live, too. Easily those recordings can be released. A lot of artists gain a following before they even get a chance to go into the studio to record anything. Nowadays with the internet less often, or if it does happen, it is a recording, like lana del rey or sky ferriera where they have no album but they have a few songs floating about and youtube videos.

But it's totally plausible that it's a live recording.

There's also a scene where their agent discusses recording an album before their next show in 5 days or less are his exact words so they can sell it asap, so this would be her next show right?

So there you go, they recorded a quick EP before their next show. Which it looks like he's selling at the merch booth.

---

The movie really could have benefited from better editing and it's not 100 percent flawless. But that's kind of the point, it's suppose to be a bit rough around the edges. It also feels uber low budget. They probably ran out of money for all those extras and had to cut to scenes of them dancing to the music as opposed to flipping off the band... etc etc... because they couldn't do re shoots.

-- If you re-watch it and you still miss the plot points and find the content to be less than pleasant, then I guess it's not the movie for you and we could defend it all day long and you'd still not understand why people like this crap movie, and that's totally okay. I didn't like guardians of the galaxy but aren't there legions of super fans dressing up at comic conventions around the world? I don't understand that, but I accept it's just not my taste. --

[–] susannah-keegan 15 years ago

1)If Clay Aiken can instantly get thousands of fans, it's not a stretch for the Stains to get hundreds. Kids in the rebellion phase go for image and the music is a very distant second. The Stains had image to spare. No musicianship and the only good song was stolen from the Looters. But they had image. And for the fan base pictured in the movie, that would be more than enough.

2)The shower scene and it's plot holes. Yes, he undressed implausibly fast. Yes, she changed her mind on a dime- from hating him to wanting him and also chucking the "don't put out" motto. But 15 year old girls do change their minds on a dime. That isn't implausible at all. The fact that she's a minor and he's in his 20's would make this statutory rape (don't know what the laws were at the time or in whatever state they were in) That's the ickiest element of the movie but it's utter believability is part of the ickiness. This happens in real bands constantly.

3)The bits with the newscasters was awkward and implausible for the times. Unlike today, there was only about 1 hour of news broadcast per day and 15 minutes of it wouldn't be spent on this trivia. It does look patched together to move the plot along. And none too well. Gotta agree with you on this one.

4)The point of Corrinne going into the newsroom near the end was, like you said, to watch footage of herself and get humilaited on TV. Implausible for the times given how little airtime there was for news. But a scene just like that is probably playing on some TV station right now. I can't count how many times I've seen weeping, humilaited people watching footage of themselves while we watch them. But that's today. That didn't happen in 1979. There just wasn't time or space for it.

5)If you see the DVD extras it explains this scene. The extras who were to be the audience had been sitting in their seats for hours and had heard many, many takes of the music before before the one that was ultimately used. What you hear is extras getting twitchy and bored. About the rudeness to the opening band? I'm too old to go to concerts now, but in 1979 when this takes place I went to one nearly every weekend. Trust me, that rudeness to the opening band was common. (I once did it myself when I was impatient to see the Rolling Stones. Shame on me!)

6)Yea, this is actually implausible that the fans would turn on them so quickly. Although I can easily see a 15 yerar old girl instanly changing her mind about a boy, per the shower scene, this turn assumes that the teens and tweens of the audience would really understand the nature of the scam (even though Ray Winstone did spell it out) and less likely, that they would care. Tell a teenage girl that she's been suckered into consumerism and she's sure to be outraged and drop the consumer goods that instant, right? Nope. Never. This is very implausible.

7)Of course Corrinne wouldn't say yes to becoming a groupie. And she very pointedly doesn't. So why would he ask? Wouldn't you, if you'd been him in the shower?

8)Nope, no recordings. So the girl riding her bike and hearing it on the radio is a gigantic plot hole. Oops.

[–] Franz_Walsh 15 years ago

This movie is definitely crappy and feels held together by scotch tape, but with better hands at the helm it could have been a great satire and capsule of everything that was wrong with the invasion of 80's capitalism. All of the problems in the movie that the original poster mentions does suggest serious incompetence from both the filmmakers and the studio, however it seems more likely because of a low budget and a reportedly butchered script (which is why Nancy Dowd chose to be credited as Rob Morton) rather than being a string of only bad ideas.

Diane Lane, with her girl-next-door quality contrasted with a punk attitude, has the exact air of allure and appeal to be the leader of a bad fad band (The Stains by the way is a terrific name for a lousy band leaving their mark). Her performance isn't bad, but because of the lack of transition and smoothness in the narrative it never feels complete. The shoddiness in storytelling holds back the potential of great complexity in her part, and the casualty was a true star-making performance. Ray Winstone and Lane have good chemistry, but the severe age difference in real life suggest that the movie should have been made a few years later on strict ethical grounds. The rest of the cast are fine, but are left in the margins due to a half-assed production and/or inept editing.

Any movie about the rise and fall of an entertainer already has a great start, and adding backstage drama between musicians just makes the material juicier, but this sadly is one of those cases of a great idea for a film that never came to full fruitation.

[–] gfarrell80 15 years ago

Not a great movie, but it wasn't bad. I'd go so far as to say it was decent. Even though I hate punk music.

It reminded me a bit about 'Network', but I would say this movie was actually a bit better than Network.

[–] rnelson-10 15 years ago

6. THIS IS THE WORST SCENE!!! right after the looters finish their opening for the stains they tell the die hard skunk fans that theyre all fools for being such big followers of the stains. the lead singer tells them that all they are doing is making the band lots of money, and that corrine is a fake.
============

This scene is reminiscent of the Sex Pistols. Johnny Rotten, in San Francisco, looks out at the punks in the audience and claims "don't you ever feel you've been cheated" and walks off and that was the end of the Sex Pistols.

[–] ml-125 11 years ago

Just for the record...

Johnny Rotten later explained that he didn't mean that the audience was being cheated but himself. Malcolm MacClaren had told the band how great things would be but they didn't turn out too well. Rotten felt cheated.

[–] JamesMcFly 10 years ago

That was the Winterland show, great *beep* gig!

[–] jefgg 11 years ago

This movie was not a typical big budget Hollywood production so I judge it by a different standard. It wasn't a blockbuster. It was a cult classic. I think it was mentioned in "The Making Of" that most of the people in front of and behind the camera were working on their first movie. I was a teenager the first time I saw "Stains" on the USA Network's "Night Flight" in the mid '80s. I enjoyed it then and still do.

[–] DracTarashV 10 years ago

I decided to watch this for Diane, and I stayed because of Diane (young Laura Dern kept me watching, too, since she was such a babe ). But, yeah, I didn't think it was any good either. However, I think it deserves some credit for being, as another poster said, something of a precursor to "This Is Spinal Tap."

Hey there, Johnny Boy, I hope you fry!

[–] westal_sage 10 years ago

I think you're just missing the comedy of this movie. Think "This is Spinal Tap" or something along those lines. Yeah it's silly and unrealistic all over the place, but that's the point.