Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains
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| Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Lou Adler |
| Produced by | Joe Roth |
| Written by | Rob Morton (Pseudonym of Nancy Dowd) |
| Starring | Diane Lane Laura Dern Steve Jones Paul Cook Paul Simonon Fee Waybill Black Randy Elizabeth Daily |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October, 1981 (USA) |
| Running time | 87 mins. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is a 1981 film shot in Canada about three teenage girls, including Diane Lane and Laura Dern, who start a punk band. The film also featured Ray Winstone, Christine Lahti, ex-Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, along with Paul Simonon from The Clash, Vince Welnick and Fee Waybill from The Tubes. L.A. punk icon Black Randy from Black Randy and the Metrosquad also makes an appearance. There is also a brief cameo by Elizabeth Daily as a hotel maid.
The film, originally titled All Washed Up, was directed by music business tycoon Lou Adler for Paramount Pictures in 1981, and written by Nancy Dowd who won the Best Screenplay Academy Award for Coming Home. Dowd took the pseudonym Rob Morton after being unsastisfied with the production process and the final cut of the film. The movie was produced by Joe Roth, who would later go on to become chairman of Walt Disney Studios. Punk rock journalist Caroline Coon was a technical advisor on the film.
The film was never given wide release, but may have had a small theatrical release in 1982. A test screening was held in Denver, Colorado, with poor results. The film was shelved, but eventually made its way to the Art-House circuit. Reported theatrical runs include the Theatre Of The Living Arts in Philadelphia (Friday, August 23rd and Saturday, August 24th, 1985) and the Film Forum in New York City, (Wednesday, March 6th, 1985).
The true audience for this movie found it on late night cable television. TV airings during the 1980s were spotted on the popular USA Network program Night Flight, Los Angeles local cable Z Channel and Showtime. Since then, the film has become a much sought after bootlegged cult classic. This movie has never been released on home video or DVD. Poor quality bootleg copies float around, though fans hoping for a DVD release will finally get one from Rhino Home Video on September 30th, 2008.
The film has a loyal cult following and does show up on the big screen once in a while. A projectionist at the Nuart Cinema in Los Angeles lobbied for the sole remaining print to be kept in circulation, and the Nuart has screened the film multiple times since 2001. In 1998, the film showed at the Chicago Underground Film Festival and in 2005 at the Sydney Film Festival. The film had its most recent television appearance one night in the late 1990s on VH1. Its most recent private screening was held at the Yale University Department of Anthology in December 2006.
The Stains were frequently referenced by notable participants in the riot grrl movement of the 1990s which helped to generate further interest in this otherwise forgotten punk relic. Other fans of the film include musician/actor Courtney Love, writer/comedian Jake Fogelnest, musician/actor Jon Bon Jovi (who dated Stains star Diane Lane in the 1980s), Beat the Geeks "Movie Geek" Marc Edward Heuck, and the late underground filmmaker Sarah Jacobson. In 2000, Jacobson directed, with Sam Green, a short documentary on the film for the IFC television show Split Screen.
