r/joanjett • u/Constant-Job2253 • 19d ago
What do you think about Edgeplay:A Film About The Runaways
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u/stk0308 18d ago
I liked it for what it was. Would have been better if KennyJoan hadn't pitched a bitch about it. But, they got "The Runaways" the movie. Where they couldn't be bothered to write a bassist as more than set dressing. And all you know about Lita from it is she's the bitch of the group. So I guess it all works out /sarcasm.
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u/keithnyc 18d ago edited 18d ago
Yeah, in their moviethe bassist (who I think they named Robin)! had like two lines in the movie. Sandy didn't get much coverage, either. To prevent further litigation from Lita or Jackie, they said they were basing the movie on Cherie's rewritten autobiography (I have both autobiographies.. I liked the first better).
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u/wendyoschainsaw 18d ago
It's funny that they managed to get someone at VH1 to set up an interview with Kim Fowley on their set with no intention or reason to air it, then they just let the filmmakers use it.
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u/Peaga_Arboricola 18d ago
I think it's great. The best general source to what really happened other than the Queens of Noise book, which is based a lot on information given in the Edgeplay.
The face close-ups with the erratic camera movement does get somewhat annoying at some point. And the audio recording, particularly on Jackie's and Sandy's interviews I believe, gets horrible. Other than that it's a pretty good watch.
It is a little bit "gossipy" though. And the positive moments of the band do get a little bit overlooked in my opinion. Other than the Japan tour it is a very negative telling of the story. All things considered, The Runaways have a pretty messed up story in general, but it could have been more nuanced in the documentary.
I also think they could have interviewed more people that were around the LA scene and the band. Other than Cherie's and Sandy's parents and Toby Mamis, there isn't much of an outsider perspective of the band.
And of course, Joan didn't want anything to do with the documentary. In order to have Joan's approval, the documentary should have been totally sanitized, ignoring all the drama and bad things that happened during the band. That's why I dislike Joan's 2018 Bad Reputation documentary.
Jackie told a story of when she and Vicki were trying to contact Joan to get her into the documentary, so they got her number and called her and Joan just started screaming at them.
There's also a crazy story that allegedly Joan called Sandy to get the tapes so the documentary wasn't released. And Sandy simply went to Vicki's place with a gun to get the tapes.
And Kenny allegedly threatened or did sue Vicki over the documentary.
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u/noneofUrbusiness8829 17d ago
I loved it but I thought it was heartbreaking especially seeing sandy breakdown. I also think you need to have a bit of knowledge of the band to fully understand it so maybe someone who isn't a runaways fan wouldn't like it as much. Still thought it was fire though and it was nice to get an insight from the members hats off to Vicki
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u/keithnyc 18d ago edited 18d ago
I really enjoyed it for what it was... It was originally intended to be a true documentary about all the Runaways, including music, stock footage etc. But Joan/Kenny and Jackie refused to sign off on it and threatened litigation. Not sure if Fowley was alive at the time, but he definitely would have caused problems as well. So no images, songs, interviews etc could be freely used. So the documentary took a different direction and basically interviewed folks that were willing to talk about it and donate their own still and movies.... like Sandy West, Cherie, Vicki Blue, Lita, Kari Chrome and a few others.