They’re here and they don’t put out. Babyfaced Diane Lane and Laura Dern ignite the screen with a cinematic rebel yell, a feminist anthem of DIY force both a blueprint for decades of rad music and a prescient foreshadowing of our eat-or-be-eaten media culture. But most of all it’s a fiery explosion of teen angst, awesome tunes and powerful women. Lane, Dern and Marin Kanter are The Stains, a misfit trio escaping their destined-for-nothing small town lives through sheer will and the sound of punk rock. As one enthusiastic reporter in the film exclaims, “Those girls created themselves.” On tour with the Metal Corpses (fronted by The Tubes’ Fee Waybill) and the Looters (Ray Winstone, backed by The Clash’s Paul Simonon and Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones and Paul Cook, giving one of the great actor-as-rock-star performances), the Stains must fight on without burning out. Written by Academy Award wining Slap Shot/Coming Home scribe Nancy Dowd and directed by legendary music producer and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Lou Adler, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains remains an influential & pointed commentary awaiting rediscovery by a new generation.
