Stardust: Una stella nella polvere

Not a truly great film, but one with impact -- especially when viewed with the film for which this 'sequel' is really more of a 2nd act; "That'll Be The Day". Together the two films give us over 3 hours of the life of Jim MacLaine as he goes from bright mid 1950s schoolboy to an aimless drifter shagging every woman he can get his hands on, breaking the hearts of everyone close to him, to stumbling into a career in rock 'n roll, to becoming one of the biggest stars in the world, with all the attendant hollowness of super-stardom in a business designed to make you self your soul and lose sight of what's real.

This 2nd film makes up the rock-star years of Jim's life, but the 1st film makes it clear that his self-destructive tendencies were there long before stardom, And if he's taken advantage of by managers and record labels, he's also a man who was amoral, selfish and at sea long before that.

It's a shame that pop star David Essex isn't an even stronger actor. He's not at all bad, but this is the kind of rich, juicy role in which a great actor could have exposed multiple layers of depth and complexity. Essex does his best, and is always natural, but isn't able to go that step beyond. (director Michael Apted apparently learned that lesson, and had actors play singers to great effect in his later 'Coal Miner's Daughter').

It would also have been great if the film had managed to avoid some of the clichés around rock and roll. It may well be that they're clichés because they're true, but we've also seen them many times, in many films before – even by 1974 when 'Stardust' was made.

One odd thought; on some level the film seems to be channeling Peter Watkins' far more original, political and challenging 1967 U.K. rock film "Privilege', with more slickness, but less grand ambition. No idea if that's intentional, but watching this film made we want to go back and re-visit that one.

Following on from 'That'll Be The Day', this movie looks at what happens to Jim when he gets the stardom he wants. His band includes Paul Nicholas, Karl Howman, Dave Edmunds, and Keith Moon, with Adam Faith as manager. The band is called The Stray Cats and they make the usual trip through highs and lows of fan hysteria to a rather bleak ending.

Of the two films, this one is the best. Not buying into the pop music myth, there is no happy ending for Jim after all his dreams have been granted and destroyed. The music is good, and the acting excellent (especially from Essex and Faith, and also Larry 'J R' Hagman). Look out as well for Blue Peter's Peter Duncan as the replacement for Nicholas in the band.

This film is very worthwhile. You can pick out all your fave 60's references from "concept", "rock opera", "managers", dodgy sexual politics and the whole drugs thing. It works so very well because it is not based on one band. Not the Beatles, not the Stones, not the Beach Boys, Tommy Shondell or anyone. It's affectionate and damning of the whole process. It works very well as a "This Is Spinal Tap" without being a lampoon of the music business. Knowing without being smart-ass. A broad covering of its genre without being in broad strokes.

A great follow-up to "That'll Be The Day", the film that leads into this movie. I highly recommend this film to all fans of rock culture and David Essex. He proves he was not only a good singer, but a fairly accomplished actor as well. I have only seen this film about 30 times myself, but repeated viewings are recommended. The film is hard to find, but if you do, don't hesitate - just enjoy!

David Essex is the top billed actor but this movie is a tour de force for fellow pop idol Adam Faith, who plays his manager. In truth it's Faith's film from start to finish. His down to earth, world-weary personna contrasts with Essex more star-struck, fragile character and the two combine well to explore the increasingly bizarre world of a working-class rock star on the road to oblivion. Essex' role seems more a supporting act to Faith's in STARDUST compared to THAT'LL BE THE DAY in which he plays the same role of Jim Maclean, a the bright but rather wayward would-be rock star. In truth Essex is better in the earlier film but the increasingly detached way he appears in Stardust does reflect the self destructing Maclean's progress up the ladder of fame but down the ladder of self control and self belief. The other popstar/actors in the cast all perform well, Paul Nicholas as 'Kneetremble Johnny' is the kind of brash self confident Jack-the-lad that we all remember from school, Kieth Moon is, well himself, mad, bad and wild on the drums. Dave Edmunds seems to be enjoying himself throughout and the non-pop star among them, Karl Howman gives good support as the keyboard player. In general they are a charismatic bunch and appear rather more like a real band than most movie versions. The direction has some good moments although it's less earthy and gritty than THAT'LL BE THE DAY, but the surprise is a script that crackles with believable dialogue and the ocassional burst of foul language.In many ways it's not at all the expected starry vehicle for it's leading man. Essex' cool nice-guy stage persona contrast quite starkly with the seriously flawed, pill popping, three-in-a-bed Maclean and no doubt this movie was shocking on it's initial release, not least to the parents who were previously relieved that Essex wasn't the same kind of "bad influence" on their teenage daughters as the Rolling Stones! There are scenes where the sense of time and place are not quite achieved. The audience at one concert look more 1974 than 1965 in their attire and time slips by on several ocassions without clear definition; are those cars quite right for the late 60s or are we already in 1972? It's not a pleasant film, not a feel-good movie. Quite the opposite, it evokes impressions of talent wasted and abused by a system wringing the last dollar out of everyone. Faith's line sums it up "...I own half of you!" and as many an artist in the industry will no doubt concur, his kind of character really does!

A grim, gritty, hard hitting movie, Far more so that many a critic would have us believe. Proof once again that the British film industry of the 1970s was far from dead and buried.