Rude Boy (1980) User Reviews

Interesting look at life in late 70's England.

[Captain_Couth · 7/10 · 19 November 2003]

Rude Boy (1980) follows the life of a youth who dreams about working for his favorite band THE CLASH. The band THE CLASH co-star in this picture and some of their live performances is caught on film. This movie was made before they made it big across the pond. The band is shown working on their second album GIVE THE ENOUGH ROPE. A colleague of their's John Lydon once said that the Clash didn't know how to pace themselves, they would be tired after the first four or five songs. Well, he was right. Some of the concert footage shows, the band appeared to be sluggish and tired in some of their performances. I heard that the band wasn't happy with the way they were portrayed and neither was the young man who played the wannabe roadie. I found the band to be very interesting and I became a Joe Strummer fan after I saw this movie.

The film-makers also capture the turmoil that was occurring on the streets of London during this time. Their was a lot of rioting and protesting. They also capture the collapse of the Labour Party and the rise of the Conservatives. Another one to seal in a time capsule. Interesting, recommended for Clash fans.

Worth a watch

[robinmcg · 6/10 · 3 February 2021]

This film is interesting on lots of levels despite also being a bit rubbish! The historical value is high, an excellent depiction of the time. The Clash footage is great, the sound is really good. The character Ray is very believable and a realistic portrayal of the hangers on that bands attract and can't seem to get rid of! Even though the acting ain't great. So while most of the film's value is historic and sociological in nature, it does hold the attention.

Well done to London Live for finding this one!

Grittily realistic 'docu-drama'

[Koli · 7/10 · 13 May 2001]

It is genuinely difficult to work out where the drama ends and the documentary takes over. When I sat down to watch it I had no idea whether Ray, the fan who becomes a roadie, was an actor or the genuine article. The stilted nature of some of the conversations, and self-conscious grins accompanying them, indicate contrivance, but it's as if real conversations are being reproduced for the camera. Only afterwards did I discover that Ray Gange was acting and had written the script.

The film provides an insight into the world of punk rock in the late seventies. The Clash were more musically adept, and more politically aware, than most punk bands of the era, but the rebellious swaggers and the anger were typical enough. The concert footage is entertaining, and only marred by the fact that much is filmed from the back of the stage. It features much of the band's best material, from White Riot to Tommy Gun to London's Burning.

This is a nostalgic treat for old punk rockers, and a useful introduction for those who, in the late 70s, were too young or allowed punk rock to pass them by.

If you really want to know what and why this film is about

[marc-137 · 3 March 2003]

Read Marcus Gray's The Last Gang in Town.... I watched the film a couple of times, like other contributors, with many questions in my head about what it was really about, how much The Clash co-operated with it, why the film is presented in the way it is, who on Earth Ray Gange is...

This book clears up those questions... The film is flawed, but as a document of the times, and especially the power of The Clash as a live band (there's not any better footage of them around - although they overdubbed the live tracks).... What a band...

Rudie Can't Fail

[hellcat_records · 6/10 · 5 January 2006]

Brilliant, if you forget the narrative and focus on the clash footage featured. It has the right message, punk is opposed to racism, which at the time was not always the case, there was lots of Nazi punks. I would have liked to have seen more footage of the race riots. The recent death of Joe Strummer adds a degree of poignancy to this wonderful relic of late-1970s London. Rude Boy distills the essence of the Clash in their prime. I spend hours watching the extras which feature over 20 life clash performances, including four different white riots! Any clash fan needs to own this DVD, also recommended: west-way to the world, and essential clash.

D

Time capsule.

[johnbalance · 6/10 · 27 November 2017]

I was torn about what rating to give this as it's not without it's merits. The film works as a time capsule of late 70's Britain with real life footage of National Front protests and anti-fascist counter protesters clashing with police. The concert footage of the Clash in action is undoubtedly the highlight. As a narrative led film it's kind of all over the place. Ganges unsympathetic main character fails to hold the viewers interest. He basically wanders the film in an alchoholic haze, can in hand. His character is utterly useless in his capacity as a roadie for the band and leads to some continuity confusion when two other roadie characters are talking about him as though he's gone yet the next scene has him still there. The sub story about a group of black youths falling foul of the law which seems to have no connection to the main Clash story is puzzling as well. It appears to be a critique of police harassment of black urban youth yet the featured characters are actually portrayed as engaging in criminal activity so it kind of misses the point.

The Clash make this mediocre Punk film worth it

[mwoodkw · 6/10 · 15 September 2007]

I'll start out by saying that I own this film, and I am a big Punk fan. Despite these two factors I simply cannot give this film higher than a 6 out of 10. The story line and acting in this film is pretty lousy...which is probably why one reviewer found it "funny". Ray Grange ("Rude Boy" of the film) admitted in an interview that he didn't agree with his lines. His character is very flat and his dialog with Joe Strummer and the other members of the clash are contradictory from one scene to another.

With that being said, there is another element of this movie that makes it worth viewing...more than once. The scenes with the clash were often ad libbed and these scenes play like documentary footage. The performances are from actual shows and they are amazing. There is a "Play the Clash Only" option that plays only these performances. I often just find myself fast forwarding through Grange's solo scenes instead. Basically, If your not a fan of Punk or the Clash...rent a different one...maybe something like "Sid and Nancy" or "SLC Punk". but if you like this film I suggest "Westway to the World" (a Clash Documentary).

Good live footage and a few quirky moments

[ms86 · 7/10 · 25 March 2006]

Put simply, this is awesome Clash footage of their late first album/early second album shows. I'd suggest getting a DVD version though, because having to fast forward through all the "plot" is really annoying after a while. I basically only watch it for the Clash footage, because Ray Gange's character is a real tool and practically unwatchable after once through.

I must admit I love the scene when Joe is washing his Brigade Rosse shirt and he holds it up and widens his eyes when he's talking about it, like it's scary or something. It's also funny watching this gritty punk rocker scratch dirt off the shirt with his fingernail or Topper kicking the hell out of Ray in a yellow jumpsuit for no reason whatsoever.

Joe comes off real well, Topper and Paul come off as party guys and Mick comes off as a real jerk. I don't know why, but this may be his jerk rock star coke phase, hence the goofy puffy shirt and vest ensembles. I heard he was a real nice guy though.

It's not exactly One plus One...

[Krustallos · 10/10 · 7 March 2005]

...despite copying the musicians in the studio trope, the porn-shop as symbol of capitalism and the black/white subplot. However "Rude Boy" perhaps deserves a little more attention than it seems to have received.

As a 'proper movie' it's kind of a washout. Aiming for an improvised cinema-verite feel, it's hamstrung by a fatal lack of tension, having apparently been assembled by people with little grasp of editing, narrative or any kind of cinematic style. Despite this, the concert footage of The Clash is indispensable to anyone with an interest in the era, and shows why they were one of the all-time great rock and roll bands. We have very few 70's punk bands recorded properly on film as opposed to video and the difference in quality is striking. Also, Joe Strummer's death is still quite recent as I write and seeing him here in his prime is poignant in the extreme.

In general there are very few film documents of punk. We have Jarman's "Jubilee" which was more of a neo-Elizabethan fantasia, "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle" with its McClarenite rewriting of history and come-lately nonsense like "Breaking Glass". "Rude Boy" at least doesn't fall into any narrative clichés (if only by barely having a plot) and by its very lack of creative flair may succeed best in giving a picture of the time. For example, unlike the myth-making of the likes of "Sid and Nancy", this shows punk gigs as they actually were - largely populated by lads with feather-cuts and tank tops.

By concentrating on hanger-on Gange instead of the band itself, the filmmakers turn the story into one of the relationship between the band and its fan-base - pointed up by having Strummer sing "All The Young Punks" right through in the studio without the backing track to distract us from the lyric.

The commentator who said this did not give a true picture of the politics of the time is surely wrong. I was there and it seems pretty accurate to me. We see the resurgent National Front, the Anti-Nazi League, the bullishness and racism of the police at the time (which would shortly lead to the Brixton riots) and the rise of Thatcherism out of the bankrupt Butskellite consensus. Ray Gange's character in the film seems intended to represent the British white working class at the time - confused, politically disengaged and borderline racist, the attitudes which led to the Thatcher victory we see at the end of the film. The left, variously represented by the SWP (bureaucratic) and Strummer (by turns tokenistic and diffident) fails to capture Gange's imagination and it is the right who seize on the desire for change and turn it to their own advantage.

Rude Boy is a strange curate's egg, then. There may have been a really good film struggling to get out of this morass, but we'll never know. The special edition DVD has a "Just Play the Clash" function which lets you view only the concert footage and I suspect this will get a lot of use.

Rating? 3/10 for the story, 10/10 for the music.

Nice Clash depiction but that's it

[giacomosesti-67705 · 5/10 · 5 November 2022]

Interesting depiction of the Clash from a sideline point of view, one really gets an understanding of their fanbase at the time and the Clash view concerning the general social/political situation in the UK at the time. Nice thing is that as the movie progresses you kind of get the impression of the band getting bigger and bigger. The various bits of concerts here and there also very nice.

The main problem is however that the rest of the time the movie doesn't work at all. The plot is very weak, not helped by the slob protagonist. Also the interactions between the protagonist and the band come out very wooden. I suppose this movie is more for Clash hardcore fans.

Could've been better, but the concert footage is exquisite

[Quinoa1984 · 8/10 · 3 December 2001]

The Clash's Rude Boy is a misguided, exciting and overall decent attempt at capturing the band the Clash at the height of their crossover from punk pioneers (if there could legitimately be called such a thing) to full-blown rock stars in the UK. The story itself surrounding them is perhaps less great than the band itself, which might be expected considering all that can be done in integrating one character into a band through a fictional script. The movie examines an angry youth (Gange) who works in a sex shop, until he meets up with The Clash and becomes their roadie. The story of Gange (and his view of the situation in Britain at the time it was made, with the occasional communist remark or two depending on the perspective of the viewer) is a little confusing and muddled at times.

Yet when the Clash take the stage, which is fairly often, the film is thriving and alive as any concert film in the history of rock movies. Maybe it may appeal more to punk fans from the 70's than the punk fans- or what bunch of posers that try and act hip from their Hot Topic gear- but it's hard not to pass it up as even a casual fan either. Performances include: I'm so Bored with the USA, White Riot, Janie Jones, White man in Hammersmith, and Police and Thieves, among others.

It could be the worst film ever made.

[richardstirling · 1/10 · 8 February 2021]

I'm pretty sure it is the worst film ever made. The music is good, of course but the lead actor is incredibly annoying and such a bad actor and the plot makes no real sense. It's kind of a documentary but not really and it's awful. I heard that the Clash hated it so much they actually tried to stop the film being released - Shame they weren't successful!

strum on strummer

[jimi99 · 9/10 · 1 January 2003]

Despite all the negative commentary about this hodge-podge docudrama, it really is a fine testament to the spirit if not the letter of the punkers and the politics of the 70's. With the recent death of the talented and idealistic Joe Strummer, it is the film's insight into his talent and personality, his dynamic stage presence, and his role as a driving force behind the anti-institution known as the Clash that makes this film an important cultural and musical document. I also think it's very entertaining outside the musical numbers, if appropriately depressing.

Intriguing but muddled

[acky · 17 August 1999]

This intriguing film blurs the line between documentary and reality much in the way 60's classics such as "Medium Cool" do. The story (when it's allowed to tell itself) of the drunken directionless punk is sad, charming and wild. I can see why the Clash disowned the film. It shows how they merely reflect the showbiz side of the struggles of the working class in England. When Ray attempts to tell Mick Jones how much "Stay free" means to him, he is shrugged off with a " I'm watching you." We see Ray being consumed by his own nihilstic rage while the clash use it up to the point of making good pop music with it.

I Love the Clash, but...

[delia-19 · 5/10 · 24 April 2004]

I followed the Clash from 1979 and was quite curious to see this movie. I admit the Clash concert and recording sequences were great (even though it seems like White Riot was always in the live performances.) The dialog was very hard to hear or understand for that matter and Mick Jones was trying his best to play the tough guy. I don't even know what the storyline was, but it seems like all these Clash songs were linked together and a movie worked around them. All that aside, the best part of the film was Joe Strummer at the piano (what a gem in the middle of this muddle!). This would have worked better if it was a bootleg Clash concert movie since the band's energy was captured pretty well with this movie's grainy texture. Rent it, but don't buy this unless you want to remember what we dressed like in the late 70's early 80's.

The Greatest Rock n roll band of all time

[ignaciodelgado2003 · 10/10 · 24 November 2011]

Brilliant. The live footage is mind blowing. It captures the time perfectly. Ray Gange is spot on. A Clash fan must. If you don't get it, you just don't get it. I could never see this movie too many times. Joe Strummer is part Elvis, Dylan, Springstein, Guthrie. Mick Jones was the perfect composer to bring it all together. Paul Simminon was the perfect art director. Bernie (Sir Not Aprearing in this film) was the mad scientist. Topper (Bruce Lee) is one of the all time greats. Brigade Rosse. As far as I am concerned, the greatest rock movie of all time, though I do love Stop Making Sense and the Last Waltz. But once again, it's all about the live footage. It just reaffirms the complete brilliance of the only band that matters.

Abysmal

[ukcritic · 9 April 2001]

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.

a brilliant "documentary" which displays both the excellent music of The Clash and the political situation in Britain

[clashfan · 10/10 · 31 October 1998]

Rude boy is a brilliant "documentary" which displays both the excellent music of The Clash and the political situation in Britain in the late 70's

Ray Gange is excellent as Ray a roadie to-be for The Clash. He does a good job in this film as does Joe Strummer and the rest of The Clash family. The highlight is probably the footage of the "rock against racism" tour

Do not overlook this film, I recommend it to any punk enthusiast.

SHAPED MY LIFE

[Thorshammer1348 · 10/10 · 15 April 2021]

This film, Quaddrophenia, Breaking Glass,Made in Britain, A Clockwork Orange, were All running on Cable when we Fisrt got wired up , I was a young high school kid then and these Caughtionary tales helped shape a little bit of my life in Suburban Washington D. C. They all tell of the Punk/ and music scenes in Britain at the time, at that time there was one each of showtime, HBO, And One Movie Channel.

It was either watch cool international stuff or the Blues Brothers and Private Benjamin 🤔

I Wanna' Riot!...

[Twins65 · 27 November 2002]

...and smash the video box.

If The Clash really was indeed "The Only Band that Matters", they deserved a better film than this. If you ever saw 'em back in the day, you know just how exciting it was. This movie doesn't do the experience justice, but then again, it really wasn't trying to,

While this movie gets some props for attempting to merge drama with a documentary, it really leads to nowhere. When Mick Jones tells Rude Boy to "Get the F**k off the Stage", I should have done myself a favor and hit the stop button on my remote. Somehow, I slogged on 'til the end, but other than the live performances, there ain't no payoff. "Stay Free" of this one.

Unwatchable mess..

[indiepunk00 · 22 November 2000]

Let me start off by saying im a dedicated Clash fan. I have every single track ever issued by this legendary group and they are my all time favourite group. I bought this movie took it home and eagerly put it on the vcr. What followed was a catastrophy. The movie trys to cash in on the Clash's socialist stance by reflecting politics in mid 70's britain. It miserably fails. Its an extremely boring film only redeemable for Clash sittings and performances through the movie I really do recommend staying away.

Drags on rather a long time...so it feels anyway

[Mmyers2003 · 2 January 2004]

I still remember sitting in my living room, in front of the TV and I was getting quite bored. Several times throughout the film I got up and was ready to turn off because I thought it was about to end...but then suddenly, it carrys on. I only carried on watching due to curiosity. I think i was getting to a point where I was hoping Ray would get shot in the head from close range or something similarly exciting would happen.

I love the Clash and have no critisism towards them, its just this film was abit pointless. Half the time, you don't know what Ray is talking about. If he was a friend of mine, I've have punched him in the face before I'd said "Hi" to him.

Anyway, watch it if you want but I'm not anymore. I now have the incredibly hard task of selling the DVD to someone stupid enough. If I get 20p for it I'll be happy.

Disjointed and goofy.

[mrbyrr · 30 March 2001]

I don't know what the other reviewers of this film were smoking when they watched it, but Rude Boy does not give any sort of an accurate representation of the political climate in England during the time of filming. In addition to that the storyline is so convoluted that there are only two clear ideas in the story. A) That Mick Jones is a prick. and B) That Rude Boy Ray is a drunk. That's it. Oh by the way, there's also some second movie within the movie about this black guy who gets nicked by the law. But that must not be important because it doesn't actually go anywhere and has nothing to do with The Clash. And the National Front have a cameo, too. That is perhaps the best part. And the live tracks are pretty impressive as well. My Opinion: Go to your friend's house and watch it. If you like it, pirate it. If you really like it, buy it. **1/