I loved The Runaways. In an attempt at unbiased journalism, I have to disclose that I have all of The Runaways’ albums, and “The Joan Jett Fan Club” is the only fan club I’ve ever been a member of. My membership has run out, but my enthusiasm hasn’t.
I loved The Runaways. In an attempt at unbiased journalism, I have to disclose that I have all of The Runaways’ albums, and “The Joan Jett Fan Club” is the only fan club I’ve ever been a member of. My membership has run out, but my enthusiasm hasn’t.
The Runaways movie is a seven-car-pile-up of great music. The soundtrack’s packed with songs that inspired Jett to pick up a guitar and, as she proved when she chose to cover I Love Rock and Roll and Crimson and Clover, Joan knows a good song when she hears one.
The Runaways, along with The Ramones and The New York Dolls, are universally accepted to have been ahead of their time, and influential, and they were. The Runaways were 15 and 16 years old when they combined Suzi Quatro’s leather, The New York Dolls’ glam, and Iggy Pop’s Prince of The Punks attitude into one perfect, practically pre-pubescent package.
Kristen Stewart as rhythm guitarist Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as lead singer Cherie Currie are dead ringers for the women they portray. In Stewart, heterosexual males finally have a Joan Jett that we have a shot at.
The film was executive produced by Jett and based on Currie’s autobiography. It’s full of unexpected treats. Fast Times At Ridgemont High’s wheeling and dealing Mike Damone (Robert Romanus) gives Joan Jett her lone guitar lesson, Tatum O’Neal plays Cherie Currie’s mom, and Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s granddaughter (Riley Keough) plays Cherie’s twin sister Marie.
If there’s a problem with casting, it’s that the actors playing Los Angeles D.J. Rodney Bingenheimer and Kim Fowley aren’t nearly as creepy as their real-life counterparts, which is as rare in film as detectives who enjoy one another’s company.
By all accounts, Kim Fowley is the kind of person that gave the music business its bad reputation–and he’s portrayed as such. As Fowley, Michael Shannon gets the best lines; telling Cherie Currie that she can do as she’s told, or she can go “fold tacos like your better looking sister.” Shannon serves up a Kim Fowley who’s obnoxious, yet likeable.
Fowley was always looking for a gimmick, which is why he was the only person with the proper connections who was interested in an all-girl band in the first place. It was his track record and his insistence on presenting the band as “jailbait” that was to blame for their not being taken seriously. And yet, the Runaways were his greatest achievement in a career that included participation in a #3 smash and two #1 singles.
Fowley’s mishandling of The Runaways’ business affairs was similar to Malcolm McLaren’s mismanagement of The Sex Pistols. Both took credit for “creating” their respective groups, and relished the self-serving-Svengali style of doing what they wished, regardless of what was good for their youthful clients, which is reflected in the film.
Both were known for their scheming and for and not letting the left foot know what the right foot was dancing to; and both withheld money from their charges in order to maintain control. It makes sense that former-Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook played on Joan Jett’s first demo after disbanding The Runaways—they probably had a lot to talk about.
A person with no prior knowledge of The Runaways might miss lead guitarist Lita Ford’s contribution entirely watching this film. Leaving Lita in the background is the biggest “bugger-off” since both (record producer) Norman Petty, and an entire “Cricket” were left out of The Buddy Holly Story. Lita is at odds with her former band mates, and one gets the feeling Ford would have been similarly excised from this film, were it humanly possible
The epilogue tells us Joan’s solo record was turned down by 23 major labels, but no indication is given that Lita ever recorded again—which may be the only known incidence of Joan Jett ever not being cool. It’s hard to justify ignoring the career highlights of the band’s second most successful member, while giving details of the less-impressive careers of the singer and the drummer.
The truth is Lita Ford gave Jett a run for her money when The Runaways first broke up. In the early days of MTV, Lita hit #8 on the charts with Close My Eyes Forever, her duet with Ozzy Osborne–in which he delivers one of greatest single-entendres in history: “Heaven is in the palm of my hand, and it’s waiting here for you.” Leaving Lita off the epilogue says basically the same thing; “I’ve got your career… right here.“
Like The Runaways themselves, the film has everything a commercial venture needs; attractive, scantily-clad stars, good acting, a good script, a compelling subject, and a great soundtrack.
There are a million reasons to see The Runaways, and only three not to:
1. You don’t like seeing 15 year-old girls in lingerie.
2. You don’t rock
3. You’re Lita Ford.
–Lord Carrett
