Electrified_Voltage Twenty years after the release of "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle", Julien Temple's weird, incoherent mockumentary about the Sex Pistols, another film about the short-lived but groundbreaking 70's punk rock band, from the same filmmaker, first saw the light of day. Unlike its predecessor, "The Filth and the Fury" can actually be classified as a documentary. I had never heard of this one by the time I first saw "Swindle", but saw both of them (I think twice each) in 2006. This month, I've revisited both films. The first of the two went way downhill for me with my last viewing, whereas this one, which I always thought was the stronger of the two, certainly didn't. It seems my opinion of this 2000 documentary hasn't changed.Temple's two Sex Pistols films tell a different side of the story. "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" tells the band's manager, Malcolm McLaren's side of the story. This follow-up focuses on the point of view of the band members. Frontman John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten), guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook, and original bass player Glen Matlock (featured in silhouette form) give viewers an insight on their beginnings, how the band formed, their experiences and the impact they had during their time together (which obviously included a lot of controversy), and their breakup. They also contradict McLaren's claims about the band. Lots of archive footage is also featured, including clips from "Swindle" and interviews with the band's late second bass player, Sid Vicious.This film isn't exactly perfect. A lot of the archive footage is shown as we hear the band members talking, and it can be hard to pay attention to both at the same time. Clips like the Shakespeare ones are also unnecessary. Maybe the documentary could have used a more down-to-earth director. However, other than that, I don't have too many complaints. It's still a very interesting piece if you're a Sex Pistols fan, and much more believable than what McLaren says in this film's predecessor. Some good footage is featured here, and the band members have some fascinating things to say. Of course, several Pistols songs are featured as well (at least partially). Like "Swindle", "The Filth and the Fury" has problems with the way it's put together, but it's definitely more coherent, and I've always found it easier to pick up what is said in this film than I have with what is said in the 1980 mockumentary.Comparing Julien Temple's two Sex Pistols films, and the two different sides of the story they show, I would say the band members have a much stronger case than their manager. It seems to me that the first film of the two is pretty much nonsense, with nothing gripping or too memorable. This second film, on the other hand, is an insightful documentary about the controversial band, with some poignant moments. In "Swindle", you don't see McLaren crying over anything, do you? However, in this film, that's just what John Lydon does while talking about Sid Vicious at one point! So, overall, "The Filth and the Fury" is a well done, insightful film about a groundbreaking band, and I recommend it for any Pistols fan. Unlike its predecessor, one can watch this film for more than just entertainment, though it can be good for that as well. No wonder it's more popular than the disjointed mess that came before it.

gut-6 In interviews done at the time of the film's release, Julien Temple talked about the genesis of this film, and the reasoning behind some of the peculiar and novel gimmicks he used. Basically he had some out-takes that he had filmed for "The Great Rock & Roll Swindle", as well as some random British TV recordings from the 1970's that he had recorded on one of the first commercial VCR's. Temple wanted to use this material to tell the story of the Sex Pistols from their point of view, rather than Malcolm Maclaren's point of view presented in "The Great Rock & Roll Swindle". He said he included the ancillary material such as the video recordings to give a flavor of the times. The reason he gave for recording the living Pistols in witness-protection style silhouette (and Maclaren in a mask) was to hide their age and make it seem like the interviews were contemporaneous with the other footage, especially with regard to the interview of a non-silhouetted Sid Vicious in London's Hyde Park in 1978. In practice, the silhouettes are annoying and repetitive and make it hard to identify who is speaking on first viewing.This film has exactly the same flaws as Temple's original effort, "The Great Rock & Roll Swindle" - its account of the Pistols' story is a biased, inaccurate, incomplete, poorly-structured mess, frequently interrupted by unnecessary, gimmicky, distracting, pretentious irrelevant inserts that have nothing to do with the main story. Only this time, instead of portraying the Sex Pistols as mindless puppets in a cynical commercial ploy by a clever manager, they are portrayed (implicitly via news footage from the 1970's) as idealists making political statements about their society, financially exploited by a useless Maclaren. Both slants are fantasy. The Pistols have repeatedly pointed out they were not political, although Rotten has in recent years started parroting some of the fantasies written about him and the punk scene by intellectuals; any quasi-political imagery foisted on the band was largely the doing of the supposedly useless Maclaren and his cronies. We see all the usual tricks of agenda-pushing documentaries, with isolated, possibly irrelevant snippets of visual interest (e.g. a fat racist squirming through a window to rant to a TV camera) edited together to imply relatedness. What's more, many of these clips appear to date from long after the Pistols formed. Likewise we see the bad guys (Maclaren and cronies) in unflattering shots and the good guys (the Pistols) in flattering or neutral shots. That's just childish, as are the sudden dramatic increases in volume every time a Pistols song starts playing.Instead of Rock & Roll Swindle's cutaways to shots of Maclaren singing, mugging and pontificating, we get Olivier playing Richard III or TV ads or weather reports or forgotten comedians. These non-sequiturs are supposedly justified on the grounds of Rotten citing his influences or as a reflection of life in the 1970's, but it goes on and on and on long after the original point (if any) was made, until the original point is lost. When Temple was asked if there was any Pistols footage left unused after "The Filth and The Fury", he said there wasn't really, apart from additional concert footage which he considered redundant. This, I suspect, is the real reason for the excessive irrelevant footage, i.e. filler to get a commercial length for a feature film. I would dearly love to have seen the "redundant" concert footage instead. It would have been infinitely more interesting, entertaining and relevant. Temple's TV archives could have interest in their own right, but they belong in a separate documentary.Ignoring the inept, pretentious directing, this film does have many priceless moments, and does reveal a number of obscure or unknown facts about the Pistols, although I was surprised at how little unused footage there really was, and how much was reused from the final cut of "Swindle". The Pistols are shown to be funny, intelligent and personable, far removed from the punk caricatures. The 3 Johns, and John's closeness to Sid, and John's crying over his dead friend are a revelation. So too, the Pistols' last concert before their American tour, a firemen's benefit with lots of young dancing children joining the band in a cream pie fight - not very punk, but oddly touching. We see footage from the Pistols' very earliest days, together with some of the bizarre early fans like Sue Catwoman highlighting the bohemian roots of the punk scene. We get to see footage of the disgusting Nancy Spungeon. In a remarkable stroke of luck, Temple captured skinny teenage punk fan Shane MacGowan, long before he was famous, doing an acapella rendition of "Anarchy in the UK" on the grounds of a council flat, and schoolteacher Sting playing a gay rapist in a scene from the abortive "Who Killed Bambi" movie. But by far the funniest scene in the film was the intro to a 1978 American TV music show, in which the Pistols were the most normal, most successful, and least ridiculous-looking band to appear on the program.In summary this film was a wasted opportunity on account of the talentless director. But it's still essential for the odd gem of obscure Pistols footage, which even Temple couldn't mess up. If you want to see the definitive Pistols documentary, check out the "Never Mind The Bolloks" episode of the "Classic Albums" TV documentary series.

Xenzi It probably takes someone like Julien Temple, who has been intimately involved in the Pistols' history, to make such a compelling documentary. Not being much of a Pistols fan, I didn't expect to be moved very deeply by this narrative, but I found myself fascinated by the plethora of material Temple has dug up, and the sophisticated, multi-layered editing. The film not only follows the Pistols' lives, but gives us a rich and detailed picture of the times that spawned them. And it completely validates their attitude - the Pistols are the only people shown here who appear completely contemporary, in contrast to a stifled society that, looking back, seems almost grotesque. It was time for the Pistols' full history to become known, including the details of their demise. Thanks to the filmmakers, now it is.

mattaspin Anarchic and crudely thrown together documentary charting the rise and fall of the legendary Sex Pistols. Interviews with the surviving band members and some with those no longer with us (including candid footage of both Sid Vicious and Heroin groupie Nancy Spungen) make up the majority of this romantic yet regretful look back at the Punk-era. John'Johnny Rotten' Lydon has the most to say (no surprise there then) and it is quite moving to see another side to the quintessential anarchist as he breaks down when discussing Sid's death and the extent to which Sid's name has been used as a way of making money. Essential viewing for fans, every bit as shambolic as the punk movement.