Stardust Movie Review

So you want to be a rock and roll star? Jim MacLaine (David Essex) starts out broke and happy and winds up rich and alienated. He doesn't want it that way, but isn't offered any other real alternatives. His pay-off in the back of an ambulance, being yelled at by his manager for his habitual selfishness, is wrenching to watch. Stardust could be the story of the Beatles and it resembles it in many ways, yet Ray Connolly's fascinating screenplay doesn't dwell on the obvious similarities. His attention to character detail is one of the best things about the film. Women, usually ignored or relegated to the roles of groupies in most scrutinies of rock stars, are intriguing in their own right here. Ines Des Longchamps is so affecting as MacLaine's girlfriend, Danielle, that her absence is keenly felt whenever she's offscreen. Rosalind Ayres as MacLaine's neglected wife, Jeanette, only has one sequence, but it's a gem. Larry Hagman is remarkable as Porter Lee Austin, the man who handles MacLaine's career and eventually dominates his life. Adam Faith as MacLaine's road manager, Mike Menary, starts out as a sweet, sincere hustler circa 1965, and winds up totally dependent on MacLaine to the extent that he must cut everyone out of his life. Even Edd “Kookie” Byrnes does well here as a television interviewer. Michael Apted directs a complex subject with sensitivity and originality. Stardust sustains its detached view without once losing its compassion. The music is produced by Dave Edmunds, who also appears as Alex and performs some of the songs, along with Essex and the Stray Cats. The excellent soundtrack is a fine time capsule of its era. (Essex, Ayres, and Moon played the same roles in 1973's That'll Be the Day, set in 1959 and also scripted by Connolly.)

1974 111m/C GB David Essex, Adam Faith, Larry Hagman, Ines Des Longchamps, Rosalind Ayres, Marty Wilde, Edd Byrnes, Keith Moon, Dave Edmunds, Paul Nicholas, Karl Howman, Rick Lee Parmentier, Peter Duncan, John Normington, James Hazeldine, David Daker, Anthony Naylor, Charlotte Cornwell, Rose Marie Klespitz, David Jacobs; D: Michael Apted; W: Ray Connolly; C: Tony Richmond. VHS