Review of Edgeplay: A Film About The Runaways (2004) by Curtis R — 08 Oct 2009

I know most people wouldn't give this film five stars but I love The Runaways and am a huge fan of this labor of love documentary by band replacement bassist Vicky Tischler-Blue. This film chronicles the rise of the legendary 70's girl group, The Runaways.

This film features interviews with band members Currie, Ford, West, Fox, and Blue. It features other perspectives as well like taskmaster manager Kim Fowley who brought the girls from very different backgrounds together that led to their success but whose differences ultimately led to their demise.

Fowley took advantage of these girls, lied to their parents, and used a self described boot camp mentality to break the girls emotionally. A couple of the mothers of the girls gave their views on how they were duped by Fowley.

This film is peppered with lots of live performance material and home videos. For unknown reasons Joan Jett chose not to participate in this film. My favorite Runaway was original bassist Jackie Fox who still looks beautiful today.

Lita Ford who was sort of the unofficial alpha female of the group still comes off as being brash and full of herself but used The Runaways as a springboard to become a rock legend.