Paul Schrader’s 1987 movie starred ‘Girl Elvis’ Joan Jett as Patti Rasnick, an ambitious young rock chick who is determined to make her rock band, The Barbusters, succeed and get the hell out of Cleveland.
Michael J Fox co-starred as her rocking brother, Joe, who sings the self-penned You Got No Place To Go before handing the spotlight back to such rock alumni as Steve Tyler, Bon Jovi, and Bruce Springsteen (the movie was originally going to be called Born In The USA with Springsteen supplying the title track, but having written it he liked it so much he kept it for himself – although he did donate the roadhouse rocker Light of Day to Schrader for the film).
Patti and Joe find it hard to make ends meet but decide to go on the road despite the vigorous objections of their religious mother (Gena Rowlands).
Writer/director Paul Schrader’s attempt to graft his favourite theme of moral redemption onto a rock ‘n’ roll story gets hopelessly bogged down in the sort of soul-searching and family strife one finds in Arthur Miller or Eugene O’Neill plays.
To make things worse, Fox is badly miscast as a factory worker-cum-rock singer from small-time, working-class Cleveland.
The film stumbles towards that most wretched of movie clichés – the terminal disease – which provokes even more soul-searching.
Unfortunately, the soundtrack only features a few Jett songs, including the unusually titled Rabbit’s Got The Gun.
Joe Rasnick
Michael J Fox Jeanette Rasnick
Gena Rowlands Patti Rasnick
Joan Jett Bu Montgomery
Michael McKean Smittie
Thomas G Waites Cindy Montgomery
Cherry Jones Gene Bodine
Michael Dolan Billy Tettore
Paul J Harkins Benji Rasnick
Billy L Sullivan Benjamin Rasnick
Jason Miller Reverend John Ansley
Tom Irwin
Patti and Joe find it hard to make ends meet but decide to go on the road despite the vigorous objections of their religious mother (Gena Rowlands).
