Lou Adler Movies
- 2007
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at Monterey captures the entire set performed by the legendary guitarist at the one and only Monterey Pop Festival. The setlist includes "Wild Ting," "Purple Haze," "Hey Joe," and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone. Jimi concludes the set memorably by lighting his guitar on fire. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Edward J. Olmos made his directorial bow with the powerhouse crime saga American Me. Olmos stars as street-gang leader Santana, who during his 18 years in Folsom Prison rules over all the drug-and-murder activities behind bars. Upon his release, Santana goes back to his old neighborhood, intending to lead a peaceful, crime-free life. But his old gang buddies force him back into his old habits. The omniprescene of the "Mexican Mafia" in the southwest is sufficient to make this film a daunting, demoralizing experience. Upon its release, American Me received a lot of press play due to the fact that Olmos shot his Folsom sequences on location, using actual prisoners as extras and bit players. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward James Olmos, William Forsythe, (more)
- 1982
- R
- Add Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains to QueueAdd Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains to top of Queue
A very inexperienced rock band flirts with fame thanks to a valuable assist from the media in this comedy-drama directed by veteran music producer Lou Adler. Corinne Burns (Diane Lane) is a fifteen-year-old orphan who gains a measure of local notoriety when she quits her job at a burger stand during a live television newscast. Corinne has few prospects but plenty of nerve, and she's formed a band with her sister Tracy (Marin Kanter) and cousin Jessica (Laura Dern) called the Stains. While checking out a gig by veteran hard rock band the Metal Corpses, led by flamboyant singer Lou Corpse (Fee Waybill), opened by British punk upstarts the Looters, Corrine sneaks backstage to ask advice just as Lou demands tour manager Lawnboy (Barry Ford) find a new opening act. Lawnboy impulsively gives the Stains the gig, and while the first show for the girls (who've had all of three practices) is little short of a disaster, Corrine's skunk-stripe hairdo, provocative clothes and defiant declaration "We don't put out" captures the attention of a television reporter who covered her before. A story on the evening news about the Stains turns the band into a cult sensation, and Looters lead singer Billy (Ray Winstone) tries to offer her some advice and emotional support as the Stains rise from opening act to headliners, but Corinne and her friends learn that their new fans are a very fickle breed. Shot in 1980 but released to only a handful of theaters in 1982, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains gained a potent cult following after it appeared on cable television, largely among punk rock fans -- the Looters featured Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols on guitar and drums as well as Paul Simonon from the Clash on bass, while L.A. punk troublemakers Black Randy and the Metrosquad briefly appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diane Lane, Peter Donat, (more)
The sequel to the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, this film follows the further adventures of Brad (Cliff De Young) and Janet (Jessica Harper), as the now-married couple travels to a small town to appear on a game show. However, once on-stage, they discover that they are trapped on the television show with a bunch of unusual characters. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff De Young, Richard O'Brien, (more)
Then professional potheads Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong teamed up for Cheech & Chong: Up In Smoke, which features the drug-addled duo on a road trip throughout California; that is to say, a road-trip they hope will culminate in finding some quality weed. Instead, a series of mishaps result in their respective deportations to Mexico. Desperate to get back to the states so they can perform in their band's gig later that night, Cheech and Chong unwittingly agree to drive a very unique car across the border -- rather than steel and various metal bits, the vehicle is constructed entirely out of marijuana. Back in the States and accompanied by two extraordinarily out-of-it female hitchhikers, the stoned group meanders about in an attempt to get their musical performance together, and narrowly escapes from local law enforcement agencies on numerous occasions despite their complete inability to realize they were being tailed to begin with. The incredibly low-budget movie surprised critics, grossed millions, spawned a series of lesser follow-up films, and cemented Cheech & Chong's cult-status among potheads across the globe. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, (more)
- 1975
- R
This low-budget freak show/cult classic/cultural institution concerns the misadventures of Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) inside a strange mansion that they come across on a rainy night. After the wholesome pair profess their love through an opening song, their car breaks down in the woods, and they seek refuge in a towering castle nearby. Greeting them at the door is a ghoulish butler named Riff Raff (Richard O'Brien), who introduces them to a bacchanalian collection of partygoers dressed in outfits from some sort of interplanetary thrift shop. The host of this gathering is a transvestite clad in lingerie, Dr. Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry), a mad scientist who claims to be from another planet. With assistants Columbia (Nell Campbell) and Magenta (Patricia Quinn) looking on, Frank unveils his latest creation -- a figure wrapped in gauze and submerged in a tank full of liquid. With the addition of colored dyes and some assistance from the weather, Frank brings to life a blonde young beefcake wearing nothing but skimpy shorts, who launches into song in his first minute of life. Just when Brad and Janet think things couldn't get any stranger, a biker (Meat Loaf) bursts onto the scene to reclaim Columbia, his ex-girlfriend. When Frank kills the biker, it's clear that Brad and Janet will be guests for the night, and that they may be next on Frank's list -- whether for murder or carnal delights is uncertain. And just what is that mystery meat they're eating for dinner, anyway? In addition to playing Riff Raff, O'Brien wrote the catchy songs, with John Barry and Richard Hartley composing the score. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, (more)
- 1970
- R
A boy yearns to fly in Robert Altman's whimsical youthquake parable. With the aid of seraphic Louise (Sally Kellerman), owlish Brewster (Bud Cort) constructs a pair of human-size wings in his Houston Astrodome nest to realize his dream. Meanwhile, conservative creeps, including a witchy "Star-Spangled Banner"-belting crone (Margaret Hamilton) and Brewster's skinflint boss (Stacy Keach), keep turning up dead covered with bird droppings; the Houston Establishment calls in blue-eyed, turtleneck-wearing "San Francisco super cop" Frank Shaft (Michael Murphy) to investigate. Brewster cooks his own goose, however, when he defies Louise's edict against sex and hooks up with Astrodome usher Suzanne (Shelley Duvall) after she impresses him (and saves him) by out-driving Shaft in her Road Runner. Despite her apparent sweetness, Suzanne ultimately will not compromise her comfortable home for flight with Brewster. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Cort, Sally Kellerman, (more)
The first concert film of the rock & roll era, Monterey Pop is an invaluable record of some of the major musical figures of the late 1960s. The organizers of the Monterey International Pop Festival, held June 16-18, 1967, wisely chose to record the proceedings on film for commercial distribution. Even if some of the festival's big acts -- The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, and Buffalo Springfield -- didn't make the final cut for various reasons, the roster of performers who did reads like a who's who of the era: Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin), Simon & Garfunkel, and The Mamas and the Papas (that group's leader, John Phillips, was one of the festival's principal organizers). The festival's "international" tag is well-earned by one performer in the film: Ravi Shankar, whose final-day performance was one of the festival's highlights and closes the movie on an exuberant note. Though the festival seemed to be anticipating nearby San Francisco's Summer of Love, the film chooses to concentrate on the musical performers, with only brief intimations of the burgeoning counterculture. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
