This movie is a stupid travesty! Where's Lita?

Rating: 1/10 (4 April 2010)

I was a HUGE fan of the Runaways and followed them during the entirety of their tenure as a rock band. I saw them live and up-close on many, many occasions, possibly as many as thirty to forty shows. I saw them throughout the two personnel changes on bass (Vicki Blue and Laurie McAllister). Then after the demise of the band, I followed the solo careers of Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie. So, being a first-hand, real-time, expert on the Runaways, it is inconceivable to me that a movie entitled, "The Runaways" could possibly be made with so little mention of lead guitarist, Lita Ford. It doesn't really matter to me that Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning look SO MUCH like Joan and Cherie, and that they do their own singing while sounding SO MUCH like the real thing. Also, who cares how much the story captures the "essence" of the band and the times in which they operated. For this movie to marginalize and almost completely leave out Lita Ford is not only a TRAVESTY but should be considered CRIMINAL! Everybody concerned should be arrested and sent to prison at hard labor. And I'm NOT exaggerating in the least here! It's a rock and roll crime!
If not for Lita Ford's lead guitar work affording the band almost immediate rock and roll credibility, the Runaways would never have even gotten off the ground, much less be able to fill venues and issue multiple albums of kick-ass rock music. There's no doubt that Joan Jett was a powerful presence on stage and contributed much with her rhythm guitar work and vocals. Also, Sandy's drumming was exceptional. But it was Lita who allowed the Runaways to soar and be taken seriously. For those of you who aren't familiar with Lita's brilliant guitar work, vocals, and her total command of the stage, all you'd have to do is view the DVD entitled, "Lita Ford - The Complete Video Collection" (still available from Amazon). There's seven live songs on this collection taken from a concert at Wembley Stadium in London in 1989 that will blow your mind and demonstrate Lita's true greatness. Neither Joan Jett nor Cherie Currie has ever - nor will they ever - even come close to attaining Lita's level of rock and roll prowess.
I consider the movie, "The Runaways," to be a total joke and a rather tawdry ripoff. It's based on the updated version of Cherie Currie's autobiography, "Neon Angel." The introduction to the book is by none other than Joan Jett herself! Yep, these two pretenders to Lita Ford's throne are just out there making some heavy and undeserved trash-cash and obviously couldn't care less about the truth or the facts. And just to demonstrate how contrived the book is, Currie states in the book that her identical twin sister, Marie, bailed out on their joint-venture album, "Messin' With The Boys," and left Cherie high and dry to go it alone, and that Marie refused to go on the road with a rock band to support the album. This a total fabrication because I saw the two of them, on the road, with a rock band, in concert, in 1980.
This whole Runaways movie just makes me sick to my stomach, and if I was a billionaire, I'd buy up all the prints to this stupid movie and destroy them immediately, never allowing them to see the light of day again!
Cherie Currie and Joan Jett: You should be ashamed of yourselves! And I feel certain that Sandy (RIP) would never approve of this mess!