A film about the career of the notorious punk rock band, the Sex Pistols.A film about the career of the notorious punk rock band, the Sex Pistols.A film about the career of the notorious punk rock band, the Sex Pistols.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 1 nomination
John Lydon
- Self
- (as Johnny Rotten)
Sid Vicious
- Self
- (archive footage)
David Bowie
- Self
- (archive footage)
Alice Cooper
- Self
- (archive footage)
Stewart Copeland
- Self
- (archive footage)
Ronnie Corbett
- Self
- (archive footage)
Bryan Ferry
- Self
- (archive footage)
Stephen Fisher
- Self (Sex Pistols' lawyer)
- (archive footage)
Alice Fox
- Woman in crowd
- (voice)
Bill Grundy
- Self
- (archive footage)
Benny Hill
- Self
- (archive footage)
Billy Idol
- Self
- (archive footage)
David Johansen
- Self
- (archive footage)
Storyline
Did you know
- Quotes
Bill Grundy: Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and Brahms have all died...
John Lydon: They're all heroes of ours, ain't they?
Bill Grundy: Really... what? What were you saying, sir?
John Lydon: They're wonderful people.
Bill Grundy: Are they?
John Lydon: Oh yes, they really turn us on.
Steve Jones: But they're dead!
Bill Grundy: Well, suppose they turn other people on?
John Lydon: [under his breath] That's just their tough shit.
Bill Grundy: It's what?
John Lydon: Nothing, a rude word. Next question.
Bill Grundy: No, no, what was the rude word?
John Lydon: Shit.
Bill Grundy: Was it really? Good heavens, you frighten me to death.
John Lydon: Oh, alright, Siegfried...
- ConnectionsFeatured in At the Movies: The Beach/Snow Day/Holy Smoke (2000)
- SoundtracksGod Save The Queen
(Symphony)
Written by Paul Cook (as Cook) / Steve Jones (as Jones) / Glen Matlock (as Matlock) / John Lydon (as Lydon)
Courtesy of Sex Pistols Residuals for North America
Courtesy of Virgin Records Ltd. for the rest of the World
Top review
A tale told by no idiots, signifying plenty
If nothing else, this is the only Sex Pistols film (there are now at least 3) to make explicit and in-depth reference to the band members' working class roots, and the way that experience informed their project. This alone makes the film worth seeing, as it explodes the myth, fostered no doubt by their PT Barnum manager, Malcolm McLaren, that the whole project was an exercise in cynical nihilism and money grubbing. As the band members tell it, nothing could have been further from the truth. I believe them.
The film is cobbled together in large part from 2 previous Sex Pistols documentaries, "Rock 'n' Roll Swindle," (a McLaren project also directed, ironically enough, by F&F director Julie Temple) and "D.O.A," plus clips from BBS television and elsewhere that try to locate the Pistols in the political and social climate that spawned them. This effort, to give the Pistols a historical context, is by far the most valuable part of the film for those trying to understand how a bunch of working class stiffs, who could barely play their instruments, and who only released one album, could set off an explosion that reverberates in the music world--if increasingly faintly--even today.
Best part of the film: footage from their last, secret gig at a palace in a working class district (they had been banned from appearing anywhere in England) before embarking on their ill-fated US tour. It consists of two performance on Christmas Day, benefiting the families of striking local firefighters, who had been out of work for many months. The attendees consist of the local lads and lasses, none of whom are "punk" in any apparent sense of the term.
Before the Pistols performed, everyone eats Sex Pistols cake and ice cream; "Never Mind the Bollocks" shirts are stretched over the pubescent bodies of every bobby soxer. Then, after a thank you from the emcee, the Pistols launch into the searing "Bodies," its sarcastic refrain sung from the point of view of an aborted fetus ("I'm not an animal!/I'm an abortion..."). All the boppers dance like it's a sock hop, with the difference that everyone gleefully throws leftover desserts at one another. Steve Jones is shown playing guitar with his face covered in cake icing, beaming. In his reminiscence about the gig, Rotten grows wistful, saying it was easily their best memory as a band, and the last good one before it all fell apart.
I never knew the guys were such sentimentalists.
It's hard to believe that there once was a time when rock music could actually matter, when it was possible to actually escape the commodified rebellion that now sells Budweiser, Nike, and SUVs, when it was possible, however briefly to scare the pants of the political establishment. Young pop music lovers who swallow the meretricious rebellion of rap or grunge--whose self-important lyrics and idiotically monotonous rhythms make their authors rich off the weekly allowances of white middle class kids whose idea of rebellion is big loud subwoofers in the Corolla Daddy bought them for their 16th birthday--might profit from getting a glimpse of the Real Thing.
The rest of us, who were lucky enough to have been there when history was made, and who can still recall the opening chords of "Anarchy in the UK" blasting all traces of "More Than a Feeling" and "Take It Easy" out of our speakers cabinets and into the first circle of music Hell where they always belonged, can enjoy the film for what it teaches us about the power of ordinary, thoroughly obnoxious people to make their own history, and ours.
Another thing I learned from the film: if Tom Cruise were a junkie, he would look just like Sid Vicious.
The film is cobbled together in large part from 2 previous Sex Pistols documentaries, "Rock 'n' Roll Swindle," (a McLaren project also directed, ironically enough, by F&F director Julie Temple) and "D.O.A," plus clips from BBS television and elsewhere that try to locate the Pistols in the political and social climate that spawned them. This effort, to give the Pistols a historical context, is by far the most valuable part of the film for those trying to understand how a bunch of working class stiffs, who could barely play their instruments, and who only released one album, could set off an explosion that reverberates in the music world--if increasingly faintly--even today.
Best part of the film: footage from their last, secret gig at a palace in a working class district (they had been banned from appearing anywhere in England) before embarking on their ill-fated US tour. It consists of two performance on Christmas Day, benefiting the families of striking local firefighters, who had been out of work for many months. The attendees consist of the local lads and lasses, none of whom are "punk" in any apparent sense of the term.
Before the Pistols performed, everyone eats Sex Pistols cake and ice cream; "Never Mind the Bollocks" shirts are stretched over the pubescent bodies of every bobby soxer. Then, after a thank you from the emcee, the Pistols launch into the searing "Bodies," its sarcastic refrain sung from the point of view of an aborted fetus ("I'm not an animal!/I'm an abortion..."). All the boppers dance like it's a sock hop, with the difference that everyone gleefully throws leftover desserts at one another. Steve Jones is shown playing guitar with his face covered in cake icing, beaming. In his reminiscence about the gig, Rotten grows wistful, saying it was easily their best memory as a band, and the last good one before it all fell apart.
I never knew the guys were such sentimentalists.
It's hard to believe that there once was a time when rock music could actually matter, when it was possible to actually escape the commodified rebellion that now sells Budweiser, Nike, and SUVs, when it was possible, however briefly to scare the pants of the political establishment. Young pop music lovers who swallow the meretricious rebellion of rap or grunge--whose self-important lyrics and idiotically monotonous rhythms make their authors rich off the weekly allowances of white middle class kids whose idea of rebellion is big loud subwoofers in the Corolla Daddy bought them for their 16th birthday--might profit from getting a glimpse of the Real Thing.
The rest of us, who were lucky enough to have been there when history was made, and who can still recall the opening chords of "Anarchy in the UK" blasting all traces of "More Than a Feeling" and "Take It Easy" out of our speakers cabinets and into the first circle of music Hell where they always belonged, can enjoy the film for what it teaches us about the power of ordinary, thoroughly obnoxious people to make their own history, and ours.
Another thing I learned from the film: if Tom Cruise were a junkie, he would look just like Sid Vicious.
helpful•204
- Tresy
- May 5, 2000
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- La mugre y la furia
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $612,192
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $13,305
- Apr 2, 2000
- Gross worldwide
- $612,192
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Top Gap
By what name was The Filth and the Fury (2000) officially released in Canada in English?
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