Film: Stardust 15 rating Year: 1974
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Country: UK Genre: Drama / Music
Director: Michael Apted
Starring: David Essex, Adam Faith, Larry Hagman, Keith Moon, Peter Duncan

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Stardust Synopsis - Stardust starts in 1963 and centres on Jim McLaine who is working in a traveling fair when he chances to meet an old friend Mike, and tells him that he plays in a small time rock and roll band but they need a roadie. Mike agrees to take on the role but soon realises that Jim is the talented one and that he could be a real star, and starts to orchestrate this. As the band start to take off Jim is pushed more and more to the forefront of the band and they start resenting their diminished role. He leaves the band for his own solo TV spectacular that catapults him to international stardom. But with a new manager in tow who wants to make money, Mike is pushed out of the picture and without his influence, Jim's expanding ego and his use of uppers starts to take its toll, but can he get back from the edge?

Review of Stardust - Stardust is a follow up to the extremely successful That'll Be the Day that showed Jim's late teenage years. It is interesting that Stardust was put into production even before That'll Be The Day had been released - so sure were the producers that the films would be a huge success. In my opinion Stardust is marginally less successful than its predecessor purely because much of the visceral energy that was uniquely captured there had been lost in the sequel. Put simply That'll be the Day is and "uppers" movie and Stardust is a "downers" movie. It is however a considerably deeper film, and the acting is significantly better (discounting of course the contributions of both Keith Moon and Blue Peter's Peter Duncan). The story of Jim's rise and dramatic fall is dealt with incredibly skillfully, add into that the fact that David Essex is fabulous in this, and he is also aided superbly by Adam Faith (fresh from his role in the best ever TV series "Budgie").
The reasons I recommend Stardust are: 1. Stunning performances by both David Essex and Adam Faith. 2. Excellent story of the rise and fall of a rock star.