Joe Rock Superstar

Date 23-09-2021, 17:45

Marc Stevens plays Joe Cock, a Jim Morrison by way of David Bowie circa Ziggy Stardust vocalist whose claim to fame is his uncanny ability to get it up on stage. When the film starts, his girlfriend (Tina Russell) is upset that her oral skills aren’t arousing him so she blows guitar player Sean Costello in the hallway telling him she’s ‘always had a passion for balls.’ Indeed.
The band goes on stage – Stevens lip synching to a Door’s cover (the original Doors’ song that Costello used has been removed and replaced for this release – you can’t blame After Hours for not wanting to get their asses sued off) with Costello hammering away at his guitar where this is none as Jamie Gillis keeps time on the drums. The same performers also appear in the audience in front of the stage, making you realize just how small the cast is for this Costello directed picture. At any rate, Cock can’t get it up and the band is booed off the stage. They retreat to think things over and Cock’s mother, ‘Mrs. Cock,’ helps him out (think Taboo here) before Gillis decides to give her a poke. The film ends with the news that the band has just been booked for Madison Square Gardens now that the news is out that Cock’s got his erection back.
Filled with stale sex, incessant bickering and talking over one another, and the most jaw droppingly funny stage performance ever, Joe Rock Superstar is pretty terrible stuff. Most of it feels like it was made up on the spot and the cast members all look completely out of it. Stevens seems to be having fun playing rock star while Costello (wearing a hippyish leather vest) and Gillis (sporting a Coke-Cola inspired Cocaine shirt) sort of wander from scene to scene as needed. As bad as the movie is, the stage scene is so completely bizarre that it completely redeems the rest of the picture and it’s worth watching the movie just for that short sequence.
Costello mentions in his essay that the concert scene was shot in an off Broadway theater on East 12th Street and Third Avenue but doesn’t name the venue. This is another film played for laughs and not intended to be taken too seriously at all. The actors are once again obviously having fun with the material here, however, and the comedic elements are definitely plentiful. The film has previously been released by Alpha Blue Archives and Something Weird Video with the ‘borrowed’ soundtrack intact.
Jamie Gillis, Valerie Marron, Arturo Millhouse, Tina Russell, Ultramax, Marc Stevens