Sheer, unbridled, let it all hang out somethin' crazy lunacy is the order of the day in this raucous rock'n'roll comedy which features the almighty Meatloaf in a disarmingly sweet and robust performance as Travis W. Redfish, a naive, innocent, but eager, resourceful and quick-thinking Texas hillbilly whose natural skillfulness with electronic equipment gets him a gig as a dependable roadie supreme on a frantic traveling rock show. Redfish's off-beat initiation into the sprawling fracas of the manic, anything-goes nuttiness and rootlessness of the peripatetic rock'n'roll lifestyle hooks him up with flighty underage aspiring groupie Lola Bouillabaisse (an endearingly daffy'n'dippy portrayal by thin, perky, squeaky-voiced "Porky's" film regular Kaki Hunter), who wants to surrender her virginity to Alice Cooper.
Artsy-fartsy art-house pic maestro Alan Rudolph's uncommonly boisterous, freewheeling, wild-spirited direction allows the skimpy plot to spiral delightfully out of control, punctuating the goofy, insane and increasingly surreal mayhem with mondo destructo car chases, frenzied barroom fights, divinely asinine dope humor, and hilariously crude dumb redneck gags. Besides the two terrific leads, the excellent supporting cast includes Art Carney as Redfish's cranky inventor pop, "Soul Train"'s Don Cornelious as a mean promoter, Joe Spano as a sleazy manager, Gailard Sartain as a rowdy truck driver, and Sonny Carl Davis (Cowboy in the splendid seriocomic indie sleeper "Last Night at the Alamo")as a perpetually inebriated hanger-on. Moreover, there are uniformly outstanding musical appearances by Hank Williams, Jr., Roy Orbison (in one of the movie's funniest moments Roy and Hank pacify a brawling tavern audience by breaking into an impromptu a cappella duet on "The Eyes of Texas"!), Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Asleep at the Wheel, Blondie (who do a great thrashy New Wave rave-up rendition of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire"), and, of course, Alice Cooper. In short, this gloriously gaga, sometimes downright bizarre, and frequently berserk romp certainly has the correct right-on rambunctious rock'n'roll attitude, thereby making it one of Alan Rudolph's breeziest, more accessible, most unpretentious and hence quite hugely enjoyable pictures that he's ever made.
Artsy-fartsy art-house pic maestro Alan Rudolph's uncommonly boisterous, freewheeling, wild-spirited direction allows the skimpy plot to spiral delightfully out of control, punctuating the goofy, insane and increasingly surreal mayhem with mondo destructo car chases, frenzied barroom fights, divinely asinine dope humor, and hilariously crude dumb redneck gags. Besides the two terrific leads, the excellent supporting cast includes Art Carney as Redfish's cranky inventor pop, "Soul Train"'s Don Cornelious as a mean promoter, Joe Spano as a sleazy manager, Gailard Sartain as a rowdy truck driver, and Sonny Carl Davis (Cowboy in the splendid seriocomic indie sleeper "Last Night at the Alamo")as a perpetually inebriated hanger-on. Moreover, there are uniformly outstanding musical appearances by Hank Williams, Jr., Roy Orbison (in one of the movie's funniest moments Roy and Hank pacify a brawling tavern audience by breaking into an impromptu a cappella duet on "The Eyes of Texas"!), Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Asleep at the Wheel, Blondie (who do a great thrashy New Wave rave-up rendition of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire"), and, of course, Alice Cooper. In short, this gloriously gaga, sometimes downright bizarre, and frequently berserk romp certainly has the correct right-on rambunctious rock'n'roll attitude, thereby making it one of Alan Rudolph's breeziest, more accessible, most unpretentious and hence quite hugely enjoyable pictures that he's ever made.