Stony Island

An ambitious low-budget ($400,000) project shot on Chicago's South Side, with Davis and Robinson starring as a couple of ghetto kids who form a band. They sign up a few more musicians and receive advice from old blues man Barge. The characterizations are weak, but the music elevates the film to a higher level. The actors, only a few of whom were professionals, successfully portray the difficulties in getting a band off the ground and surviving in the music business. Rae Dawn Chong appears some three years before her role in QUEST FOR FIRE, and character actor Dennis Franz, a favorite of Brian DiPalma and a member of TV's "Hill Street Blues" cast, plays a minor role...