A rock star has locked himself in his hotel room, terrified of the stage, while a corporate shark schemes to bring the whole theater down before midnight. The band hasn't even shown up yet.

GET CRAZY (1983) is Allan Arkush's ode to the chaos of a single New Year's Eve concert. Max Wolfe runs the crumbling Saturn Theater, a small operation trying to survive against Colin Beverly, a rival promoter played by Ed Begley Jr. who wants the show sabotaged so his own arena spectacle can dominate the business.

Wolfe's staff, played by Daniel Stern and Gail Edwards, scramble through backstage disasters, drug mishaps, and wardrobe crises while trying to get the acts on stage and fall for each other along the way.

Arkush had worked as an editor and second-unit director for Roger Corman before this, and he fills the film with musicians instead of movie stars playing musicians. Lou Reed appears as a Dylan-esque folk hangover named Auden, and Malcolm McDowell plays Reggie Wanker, a Mick Jagger send-up losing his grip on his own legend.

It flopped in theaters, buried by the studio and largely ignored, but it has become a cult favorite among fans of backstage rock comedy, remembered for its manic energy and its affection for the music business it mocks.