Theme Song: Lane Caudell was an outlier of the mid-70s soft-rock scene. His band, Skyband, released one album with some jams and then broke up when guitarist Peter Beckett bailed to form Player and release the smash hit “Baby Come Back”.
Caudell didn’t give up and was able to parlay his talents into a budding acting career, starring in Goodbye, Franklin High. That film’s director, Mike MacFarland, saw fit to give Caudell his own starring vehicle, complete with soundtrack album, and committed to featuring 12 songs in the movie in their entirety.
Lane Caudell – Hanging On A Star
It’s insane. There’s literally like 35 minutes of movie once you remove all the songs. As for the music, it’s middle of the road AOR. It has moments, but overall nothing stands out.
Interesting Dated References: The ability of an aging soft rock musician to transition into an acting career and somehow gain the support of numerous managers and executives who throw money at them for years on pet projects (see also: Rick Springfield).
Social Context: As indicated above, this movie can be attributed to record/movie executives scrambling to sign musicians for films in a post-Osmonds, post-Leif Garrett world. It’s all very L.A. in its depiction of life.
Summary: Jeff Martin (Caudell), leader of The Jeff Martin Band, struggles to find viable gigs and success in Los Angeles. At a small dive bar where they play two Caudell songs over 10 minutes, they catch the ear of the ambitious Katie (Deborah Raffin, Death Wish 3, Scanners II: The New Order, Grizzly II: Revenge), who incessantly hounds them for weeks until they agree to let her be their manager.
Then they play a bar mitzvah and, I am not joking, play three Caudell songs in their entirety. The scene is over twenty minutes long! Then Jeff falls in love with Katie and they go on a montage motorcycle ride while another Caudell song plays in its entirety.
In the final third of the movie, the band gigs at various places playing more Caudell songs in their entirety until they eventually end up at the all-important gig at the Greek Theater and play even more Caudell songs in their fucking entirety, one of them a repeat of an earlier song.
Worth Mentioning:
– All told, there are 10 Caudell songs in this movie, all of which were released on the companion album. Note I didn’t say the soundtrack. Apparently the releasing company for the film didn’t want a piece of the soundtrack action so Caudell released them on his debut solo album, on a totally separate label, with the same title, but no reference to the movie is included.
– Wolfman Jack is in the movie which is a big deal to you if you know/care who Wolfman Jack is.
– B&S About Movies and R D Frances both did great write-ups on Caudell and his film career.
Poster and Box Art: The home video release is very soft, but at least it shows the movie for what it is: A romantic subplot padded with 65 minutes of music.
There are some other posters that were released, but no one ever cares or reads this far.