Edgeplay - A Film About The Runaways

Starring:Cherie Currie, Lita Ford, Kim Fowley, Jackie Fox, Joan Jett, Kari Krome, Toby Mamis, Suzi Quatro, Sandy West (III)
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Description

See the gripping rise of the first all-girl hard rock band, its hopes and dreams, and its eventual disintegration as the result of media belittling, in-fighting and drug use amidst rumors of verbal and emotional abuse by the band's management.

Customer Reviews:

Where's Joan ?.......2007-04-17

I was so excited to see the DVD. I've been a fan of Joan Jett & the Runaways for as long as I can remember. The documentary was interesting enough, but I couldn't stop wishing that Joan Jett was in it. Why wasn't she in it & so on. This became very distracting. It was cool to hear the points of view from the other ladies & see where they all wound up.

lively film -- hostility misplaced.......2007-04-10

This is the story of five untalented women who were led to brief commercial success by a brilliant Hollywood huckster, Kim Fowley. None of the music they made is worth a damn -- and Joan Jett has to be one of the least interesting rock stars of the last 25 years -- but Fowley is rather fascinating. Even if he seems Machiavelian at times, he is the biggest talent on the screen, and the whining and moaning about his "exploitation" merely seems silly for, without him, these women would be slinging hash in Orange County now.

A Surprisingly Good Documentary.......2006-11-16

I haven't listened to the Runaways in over 20 years, and even then, only listened to one album, their first. I came to it by way of Joan Jett, whom I liked. I wasn't crazy about the Runaways album. This film, however, reveals a group of girls who were, in fact, quite talented and strong, and who became skilled and made some good music.

Unlike other reviewers, I don't see Kim Fowley as quite the abusive sleazebag they did...More, he was a banal, self-important, smarmy, drover. Did he take advantage of them? Perhaps. They didn't seem to make any money to speak of during their 5 years together--there's no mention of what Fowley walked away with, either, though. And if he used them, he also groomed them. The girls were (understandably) unprepared for the hard realities of the music business. And they didn't like it when Kim called them names. Say whatever you want about Fowley, though, he took a bunch of inexperienced, horomonal, undisciplined kids who didn't know a whole lot of music, and he turned them into professionals. He made them rock stars; he gave them a shot at something great. He just didn't seem to be very good at managing teenage girls--is anyone? They were kids, and left to their owen devices, they drank; they took drugs--lots of them; they had sex--with each other, with one of their managers, with who-knows-who else.

The film seems weirdly lopsided without a contribution from Joan Jett. She went on in post-Runaways life to enjoy the greatest fame, and it is peculiar that all the other bandmates contributed to the movie, but she didn't. This odd omission isn't even mentioned in the film, or in the extras. Jett appears, of course, in the archive footage from the 70s, but that's it.

Blue assembles footage and interviews that successfully evoke sympathy and even affection for these kids, and I would have liked to know more about what became of them after the Runaways broke up. Blue, of course, is a filmmaker. Jett is a muy butch rock star who likes to tease her fans about her sexual orientation. Ford, too, went on to become a successful musician with some hits in the late 80s (no mention of this in the movie, though). Sandy, the drummer, seems by the end of the movie bitter--she went on to become an arm-breaker and money collector for drug dealers, and to work "in construction." That's all we really know about her Runaways afterlife. What about Jackie Fox, the original bass player? Despite having fled the band after trying to carve herself up with a piece of broken glass, she seems in the interview footage to be pretty together. She is articulate, intelligent, clear.

Devoting too much time to their post-band lives would have unfocused the film, but something could have been included that would both concluded the film and resonated with what preceded it. Failing, that, something could have been included in the Extras.

Also, did I miss something here? Is there no actual recorded concert footage with music in this movie?

Maybe I'm nitpicking. I also realize that it probably isn't really a 5-star movie, for the reasons I've mentioned. Still, I enjoyed the film. There was nothing about the film I didn't enjoy. As another reviewer pointed out, this is clearly a labor of love, and therefore deserving of whatever generosit we can muster. (Parents should see it as a cautionary tale: Don't let your daughters join rock bands!)

Kim Fowley is Insane and where is Joan??.......2006-08-25

I love Joan and Lita..so I got this DVD and couldn't believe my ears on what a freak Mr. Fowley was. Cherrie's accounts are really crazy..its a good film I just wish Joan was interviewed as well. She for some reason(because she seems to be a private person) did not want to be involved in this film. I swear she is the most mysterious rock star ever!!! The more you watch the more angrier you get at Mr. Fowley for being such a prick to these young girls who were in the throws of teen hood. Well they survived his abuse and they were strong rocking girls who made it possible for all these grrrl bands later to rock off. Too bad they didn't get the credit they deserved back then.

A Labor Of Love.......2006-07-10

This documentary about the 70's teenage girrl group was very inciteful despite Joan Jett's refusal to appear on camera and the legal blocking of any Runaways' music on the soundtrack. I didn't become a fan of the Runaways until I discovered Joan Jett in the early 80's and followed her career (even now...I just saw her in concert in Austin, Texas). This documentary really shows how these young girls were exploited, used and then discarded personally and professionally. The bitterness and the regret of these young girls is very apparent through the on-camera interviews. Overall, this documentary will make you think about how young kids are lured into the industry and exploited for their youth and talent, then thrown away like yesterday's trash. This movie is truly a "labor of love".

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