The Filth and the Fury (2000)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Julien Temple

Release Date:

12 May 2000 (Norway)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Music

Tagline:

A Sex Pistols film - uncut, unseen, unbelievable.

Plot:

A film about the career of the notorious punk rock band, the Sex Pistols.

Plot Keywords:

Punk | Band | Sex Pistols | Punk Rock | Interview

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Paul Cook	...	Himself
Steve Jones	...	Himself
John Lydon	...	Himself (as Johnny Rotten)
Glen Matlock	...	Himself
Sid Vicious	...	Himself (archive footage)
Malcolm McLaren	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Bowie	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alice Cooper	...	Himself (archive footage)
Stewart Copeland	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ronnie Corbett	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bryan Ferry	...	Himself (archive footage)
Stephen Fisher	...	Himself (Sex Pistols' lawyer) (archive footage)
Bill Grundy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Eric Hall	...	Himself (as Eric 'Monster' Hall)
Benny Hill	...	Himself (archive footage)
Billy Idol	...	Himself (archive footage)
David Johansen	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jordan	...	Herself (archive footage)
Nick Kent	...	Himself (music journalist) (archive footage)
Shane MacGowan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Freddie Mercury	...	Himself (archive footage)
New York Dolls	...	Themselves (archive footage)
Laurence Olivier	...	Himself (archive footage)
Queen Elizabeth II	...	Herself (archive footage)
Roxy Music	...	Themselves (archive footage)
Steven Severin	...	Himself (as Siouxsie and the Banshees)
Siouxsie Sioux	...	Herself (archive footage)
Nancy Spungen	...	Herself (archive footage)
Rod Stewart	...	Himself (archive footage)
Sting	...	Himself (archive footage)
Andy Summers	...	Himself (archive footage)
Johnny Thunders	...	Himself (archive footage)
Helen Wellington-Lloyd	...	Herself (archive footage)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong language, drugs and sexual content.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Australia:MA | France:U | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Spain:18

Company:

FilmFour

Quotes:

John Lydon: [remembering Sid Vicious] All's I can tell you is I could take on England, but I couldn't take on one heroin addict.

Movie Connections:

Follows The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980)

Soundtrack:

Pretty Vacant

My mate John

The first Julian Temple documentary on the Sex Pistols, 'The Great Rock n'Roll Swindle' was a gimmicky treatment that suggested the creation of the band was all a clever confidence trick perpetuated by Malcolm Maclaren. In his version the Pistols were a personal creation that deliberately manipulated the media and the 'suits' that ran the music industry into paying out vast amounts of cash even when the band failed to produce any material.

This second version of events is a little more honest. Maclaren is shown to be a self-deluded egotist, the real driving force being 'Johnny Rotten', and the band, far from having the upper hand, were in fact ripped off financially by the very people they were supposed to be rebelling against.

It all ended in a shambolic final concert where Rotten wails out 'No Fun' for 15 minutes and then walks off with a smirking, 'Ever felt you've been cheated?'

Trouble is; this is a lie as well. The Pistols carried on after Lydon left; sad fun and games with the Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs and Sid Vicious' infamous rendering of 'My Way' being the 'highlights'. What's more, within months of Johnny Rotten's noble statement about not selling out at the end of the documentary, the Pistols reformed in the 21st century and gave progressively pathetic concerts.

It's still an interesting documentary but I guess the myth has now become so mixed up with the legend that anything approaching the truth is lost for ever.

This documentary does feature, however, an archive interview with Sid Vicious – whose real name was John, Lydon affectionately remembers - which I have never seen before. It says more about the times than anything else in the film. Although dressed in his trade mark Nazi t-shirt and initially punctuated with all the predictable anarchic attitudes, this veneer gradually slips away to reveal a young naïve man, who's life along with his heroin addiction was spiraling out of control.

No fun, indeed.