I watched this film for the first time in around 30 years last night and was amazed at how well it stands up today.It is gritty,funny and has a good storyline.The direction by Richard Loncraine is crisp and the acting is pretty good throughout.
As the band Flame,Noddy,Jimmy,Dave and Don do a fair job as actors.Not Oscar winners but not bad at all.Tom Conti does well in his first major role as the oily manager and Johnny Shannon is convincing as their gangster like first manager.The best performance comes from Alan Lake as Jack.He is very good in every scene he is in and should have received more recognition for this role.
The film moves along at a good pace,never drags and will surprise many people with it's edginess and at times grim reality.I have seen quite a few music based films and this is most definitely right up there with the very best.It is now quite respected and this is deserved.It really should reach a much wider audience as it is a very good attempt at showing that it is not all a bed of roses when you achieve success.The soundtrack is great and there are also a couple of scenes that without a doubt influenced the makers of 'Spinal Tap',see if you can spot them.Well done Slade.They took a big risk by making a movie like this and although their career went downhill afterwards,this is a film they can be very proud of.
