Rude Boy (1980)

Directors:

Jack Hazan
David Mingay

Writers:

Ray Gange (writer)
David Mingay (writer)

Release Date:

19 June 1996 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Tagline:

Featuring The Clash.

Plot:

Rude Boy is a semi-documentary, part character study, part 'rockumentary', featuring a British punk band...

Plot Keywords:

Punk Rock | England | Racism | Roadie | London England

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Dave Armstrong	...	Police officer
Barry Baker	...	Drum roadie
Terry Barry	...	Police officer
Reg Bazell	...	Police officer
Stephen Behan	...	Fan
Graham Brown	...	Fan
Lizard Brown	...	Suspect
Caroline Coon	...	Band representative
John Daly	...	Bouncer
Hickey Etienne	...	Suspect
Plaxy Exton	...	Fan
Tig Exton	...	Fan
Ian Galland	...	Police officer
Ray Gange	...	Rude Boy
Ben Gaze	...	Police officer
Boss Goodman	...	Bouncer
Willy Graham	...	Fan
Johnny Green	...	Road manager
Vic Hardwick	...	Bouncer
Topper Headon	...	Drummer
Jerry Healey	...	Fan
Dave Johnson	...	Police officer
Mick Jones	...	Lead guitarist
David McDonald	...	Fan
Terry McQuade	...	Ray's mate
Roy Menuir	...	Bouncer
Tommy O'Reilley	...	Fan
Jimmy Pursey	...	Himself
Howard Rainey	...	Bouncer
Paul Simonon	...	Bassist
Tony Smith	...	Fan
Alan Stanleye	...	Fan
Joe Strummer	...	Rhythym guitarist
Ken Tillock	...	Fan
Dave Wakefield	...	Police officer
John Woods	...	Police officer
John Yates	...	Police officer

Also Known As:

The Clash: Rude Boy (UK) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

133 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:18 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Iceland:12 | Australia:R | New Zealand:R13

Filming Locations:

Birmingham, West Midlands, England, UK

Company:

Buzzy Enterprises

Quotes:

Lead guitarist: You know what I think, don't you? I've been watching you.
Rude Boy: Yeah, I noticed. Quite a lot.
Lead guitarist: I been watching you.
Rude Boy: I'll keep it in mind.
Lead guitarist: Do.

Movie Connections:

References Come Play with Me (1977)

Abysmal

One of the flattest movies I have ever seen. Mostly a collection of drab, long takes following around a young prick who joins The Clash as a roadie, does a bad job, then wanders around drunk, making tactless, muddled comments about race, the band's politics, and what he wants to do with his life. Dull, disjointed, quiet lines punctuate long silences; even the live performances of The Clash fail to give the movie much energy, due to poor sound design that cuts off absolutely all crowd noise and brings down the volume of the songs, so that most of them end up sounding like drab demo tapes.

The film is mainly a plotless mess. When it does focus on the main character, all we see is a buffoon stuttering out inarticulate and unwelcome comments to roadies and band members who hate him but just try to ignore him. Whatever the character study of this guy hopes to achieve, it has absolutely nothing to do with The Clash, whose music and politics are not examined at all -- they are simply seen as some rock group the 'rude boy' is following around and who get some concert footage in the picture. In the last twenty minutes we also get meaningless cutaways to political party conferences and to a black youth who has not been in the movie before, has no connection to any of the previously seen characters, and who is undergoing criminal charges for something which is never made clear.

Seeing this movie is tempting for Clash fans -- we want to see what the project is about, and we want to see the concert footage -- but it's an irrelevant, static mishmash that gives those in the audience a lot of time to scratch their heads.