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Groupie Girl
Starring Billy Boyle. Directed by Suzanne Mercer.
 
Review of the film Groupie Girl
Somewhere between such exploitation good girl/youth-gone-bad groundbreakers as
MAD YOUTH, and THE ROAD TO RUIN, and the rock band parody THIS IS SPINAL TAP, with a very clear dose of HELP, and A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (had the Fab
Four shown their truer, nastier stripes), with a nod towards 60's studies such as WILD FOR KICKS,
- that's where you will find GROUPIE GIRL (1970) , an outstanding independent portrait of a girl's dashed dreams of glory and life on the road with a late 60's band.
GROUPIE GIRL was released in the UK at the
end of the swinging 60s but curiously has been nearly impossible to find in the
USA having, had only a minor video release in the early 70's. It's quality, however, suggests this is not as it should be. Although clearly low budget, it does not feel like it; although performed by mostly unknown actors, some of whom apparently never appeared in another film, you would not know it; although not just a 'rock' movie, its soundtrack (featuring such UK bands as Opal Butterfly and English Rose) is OUTSTANDING if you like the late 60's/early 70's sound. This one will stay in your head.
This is arguably the production team's finest work, half a world away from their usual sexploitation and
shock horror efforts. It is dark, gritty, and feels authentic. It was marketed as an 'adult' film at one time, but, although it contains some sex scenes that would get it an
18 rating today, it's not by any means a glorification of of sex. If anything, the sex is portrayed as relatively desperate, casual, misogynistic despite its frequent instigation by the groupie -- in short, empty. And the guys look pretty lousy in bed, too. The more I think about it, in fact, GROUPIE GIRL becomes a rather searing indictment of the failure of various 'hippie' ideals, and a darned grim portrait of the disparity between the lip service given to the concept of 'love' in at least that era's popular song, and the nastier reality of the lives of those who did the most talking.
An interesting portrait and statement from a director known otherwise as, primarily, a pornographer. Although the director's exploitation roots are well evident, the film targets authenticity, rather than gratuity, and hits its mark.
Although GROUPIE GIRL contains all the elements of rock movies -- witness the 'zany madcap' rip-offs of Beatle flix while the band is marching around town striking 'nonconformist' poses -- and sexploitation films, the work rises above the simplistic genre productions, and achieves a level of documentary. Here, the writer and director actually had something they wanted to say, and set about saying it with a considerable degree of indie production skill, excellent use of minimal resources, mostly unknown talents, and a soundtrack worth re-releasing, too.
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Thanks for these notes by Jim Rupp. |
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"Has a brilliant soundtrack." --
EUROFILMS
"A forgotten gem."
-- MOD CULTURE |
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