Review of Stardust (1974) by Michael T — 13 Apr 2013

Bleak and really kind of brilliant British rock and roll movie, from a time when such things still existed.

A follow up to 'That'll Be The Day'(1973), which is also excellent, 'Stardust' covers the continuing story of Jim Maclaine (David Essex) as he hits the big time with his band, the Stray Cats. However, as with many a rock fable, success comes with a unequivocally hefty price tag.

Essex is good as MacLaine, his sense of identity growing ever more skewiff with his trip to the heady heights of fame. Adam Faith is even better: infectious as hell as the band's manager. His cheeky catchphrase, "Fancy a drink?" generally spells a grim fate for whoever gets hit with it. The late Larry Hagman is well cast too; as a fat cat promoter who comes in to boogie as MacLaine moves to break America.

The music is outstanding, composed largely by the talented singer/songwriter Dave Edmunds who also appears as one of the Cats. The band is rounded out by stage and TV star Paul Nicolas, Karl Howman (of telly's 'Brush Strokes') and the inimitable Keith Moon, who was himself fast-tracking to a MacLaine-esque fate. The Cats' rise to fame is clearly and deeply indebted to the Beatles (from a subterranean club to a poll-winners party to Stateside fame), so much so it rather fondly reminds me of the ace spoof movie 'The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash'(1978).

If the film had a sixties-inflected nostalgia inherent to it on its release, it has another one attached to it now: one for a time when rock movies were still made, and very well. Along with 'That'll Be The Day', the later 'Quadrophenia' (1979, also produced by David Puttnam) and the gritty and very underrated 'Flame'(1975) ,'Stardust' is indicative of a time when the rock and roll dream was vividly depicted as fast becoming the stuff of nightmares.