The Filth and the Fury (2000)

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

Director:

Julien Temple

Stars:

Paul Cook, Steve Jones, John Lydon

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited 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)
Alice Fox	...	Woman in crowd (voice)
Bill Grundy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Eric Hall	...	Himself (as Eric 'Monster' Hall)

Storyline

A documentary about the punk band The Sex Pistols. The film tries to lighten some of the backgrounds of their way through the punk era while telling the story of the band from zero back to zero. Features lots of interviews and comments of folks who were involved.

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Plot Keywords:

black comedy | music history | rock 'n' roll | chelsea london | year 1980 | 

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Taglines:

A Sex Pistols film - uncut, unseen, unbelievable.

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive strong language, drugs and sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

The Klock Worx [Japan] Transformer [Japan]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 May 2000 (UK)

Also Known As:

I goiteia tis orgis

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,305, 2 April 2000

Gross USA:

$612,192

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$612,192

Company Credits

Production Co:

FilmFour, Jersey Shore, Nitrate Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojoUK: Top 10 British Music Biopics (2019)

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Soundtracks

Jean Genie
Written by David Bowie
Performed by David Bowie
Courtesy of RZO Music
Video Clip courtesy of Mick Rock

User Reviews

Review of Julien Temple's documentary of the Sex Pistols

In his documentary, The Filth and the Fury, Julien Temple chronicles the rise and the fall of the legendary punk rock band the Sex Pistols. Temple tells this story through accounts given to him by the still living Sex Pistols, as the opposing side to his other Sex Pistols film, Great Rock and Roll Swindle, which was told to him by the Sex Pistols manager, Malcolm McLaren.

Temple uses interviews with the band members to tell the story of the Sex Pistols and intertwines it with live footage of the band's concerts and a taped interview with Sid Vicious, filmed before his death. The band their formation, joining up with McLaren, firing Glen Matlock, replacing him with Vicious, their problems in the United Kingdom and the United States, and the eventual end of the band due to Vicious's heroin addiction.

The documentary really got inside of the Sex Pistols and showed a more human side of the band. While the band is often made out to be a bunch of rowdy, angry, punk rock kids, the documentary showed a different side to them. Footage is shown of the band during a children's benefit show and the band members are seen playing with and talking to the kids with huge smiles on their faces, their joy at being at the event evident. Johnny Rotten also spends a large amount of time at the end of the film discussing Vicious' heroin addiction and his guilt at being unable to help his friend before it was too late.

I really liked the live footage of the Sex Pistols shows, as it showed the band in their element and also did a lot to show what the scene was like when the Pistols were around, and I could see how little it has changed since then. The footage shown of the Sex Pistols on a British television show and clips of newspaper articles at the time also did a lot to show the band's image in the eyes of the media as well.

One problem with the movie was that live footage of the band would be playing and then the film would cut to scenes from a Shakespeare movie or other random scene, which completely detracted from the film. Every time one of those clips would cut in it would jar my attention from the story, and it definitely broke up the cohesiveness of the film.

I think the film did a good job capturing the image that the Sex Pistols gave off, while also contrasting it with more human images of them, like during the children's show. Overall, I think the film was very well done, though I would have liked to have seen more background on each of the band members, rather than the Shakespearean ode. I would give this film a 7/10 and would recommend it to anyone looking for information about the Sex Pistols.